Acting as part of the ongoing Artist and the Collection series of exhibitions which kicked off in 2015, Tasmanian artists Barbie Kjar, Jennifer Marshall and Milan Milojevic are featured in the current iteration.

“We’ve got a very important and significant historical art collection,” QVMAG curator Bridget Arkless said.

“All of the artists love the opportunity to get access to our collections, but we like the fact we can see these collections through fresh eyes.”

The artists were directly inspired by works from contemporary Indigenous artist Lola Greeno and colonial artists John Glover and WB Gould.

The trio then each produced a new body of work for the show. 

“Jennifer, Milan and I have been working in collaboration for a quite a few years,” artist Barbie Kjar said.

“We approached QVMAG to host an exhibition and then individually we chose pieces from their collection to work from.”

Kjar produced two portraits of notable Tasmanian elders Lola Greeno and Jim Everett, along with a pair of landscapes.

“I asked Lola and Jimmy and asked if I could draw their portrait, and I don’t think either of them have been drawn before, so it’s quite an honour,” Kjar said.

“Milojevic looked at the Gould work hanging in our colonial art galley and it’s always very interesting when a contemporary artist plays around with the imagery from the colonial times,” Arkless said.

Gould’s botanical drawings were a natural reference for Milojevic’s modern prints.

“For a lot of my work I’ve created fictitious flora and fauna made up of hybrid bits and pieces,” Milojevic said.

Marshall’s series of landscape images are presented on varying mediums in response to John Glover’s study of trees along with his landscape works from Tasmania and Italy.

Undercurrents is on show daily now until May 19 at the Queen Victoria Art Gallery at Royal Park.