GOMA Conjures up ‘Fairy Tales’ Exhibition in Brisbane

Del Kathryn Barton and Brendan Fletcher, The Nightingale and the Rose (2015) (still). Single-channel video: 14 minutes, colour, sound. © Del Kathryn Barton. Courtesy the artist and RoslynOxley9 Gallery, Sydney.

By Sam Gaskin – 27 September 2023, Brisbane

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Brisbane‘s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) will present the exhibition Fairy Tales across its ground floor from 2 December 2023 until 28 April 2024.

‘The exhibition explores enchantment, thresholds, and transformation while articulating concerns that have always been inherent in fairy tales, such as power imbalances, injustice, ageing, gender and otherness, and resilience in the face of adversity,’ said exhibition curator Amanda Slack-Smith.

Trulee Hall, Witch House (Seance of the Umbilical Coven) (2020) (detail). Wood, paper mâché, resin, fabric, stuffing, fake fur, synthetic hair, altered sex dolls, acrylic paint, spray paint, found candle holders, cornucopia baskets, found ceramic cornucopia, found crystal balls, convex mirror, polymer clay, hardware, LED candle. 431.8 x 685.8 x 436.88 cm. Photo: Joshua White.

The exhibition will be presented in chapters, beginning with ‘Into the Woods’, which features a twisted forest installation made from found tree branches, plywood and salvaged timber by Brazilian sculptor Henrique Oliveira.

Other works by contemporary artists include photos from Abdul Abdullah‘s animal-headed portrait series ‘Coming to Terms’ (2015), Anish Kapoor‘s concave mirror Red and Black Mist Magenta (2018), and Trulee Hall‘s Witch House (Umbilical Coven) (2023).

Abdul Abdullah, Reconciliation (of self) (2015). Type C photograph from the ‘Coming to Terms’ series. 100 x 100cm. Courtesy the artist and Yavuz Gallery, Sydney.

Works in the ‘Through the Looking Glass’ chapter include Carsten Höller‘s interactive sculpture Flying Mushrooms (2015) and Patricia Piccinini‘s Enchanted Field (2023), a pathway beneath a canopy of 3,000 genetically modified blooms.

Finally, the ‘Ever After’ chapter includes Timothy Horn‘s rock sugar stagecoach Mother-load (2008), Ron Mueck‘s sculpture Pinocchio (1996), and Del Kathryn Barton and Brendan Fletcher’s animation The Nightingale and the Rose (2015).

Timothy Horn, Mother-load (2008). Crystalised rock sugar, plywood, steel. 292.6 x 182.9 x 170.7cm. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Jason Schmidt / New York Times.

In addition to artworks, the exhibition will present images, props, and wardrobe from the worlds of literature, film, and TV.

Visitors will happen upon costumes made by the Jim Henson Creature Shop for the 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are and a costume worn by David Bowie in Labyrinth (1986), among many more fantastical finds. —[O]