Adelaide Biennial: Magic Object | This Is No Fantasy

Jacqui Stockdale
Along the Track, 2016
Type C Print, Edition of 8 + 2 AP
140 x 110 cm

Jacqui Stockdale

27 Feb - 15 May 2016

Jacqui Stockdale is highly regarded for her practice as a painter, drawer and photographer and has been recognised in major awards, prizes and institutional exhibitions. In her work Stockdale sets up theatrical scenes using carnival masks, costumes and objects collected from her travels to comment on history, culture and identity.

Stockdale’s new series, The Boho, is being shown in the Adelaide Biennial at the Art Gallery of South Australia from February to May 2016 and will be shown at the gallery from 2 April to 23 April 2016.

‘The Boho’ is a series of large scale photographic portraits. Jacqui’s hand-painted landscape paintings of rural Victoria form the backdrop of the works. The images playfully draw on the nineteenth century Australian folk narrative surrounding the popular larrikin and anti-hero Ned Kelly. They combine Stockdale’s fascination with Australian colonial folklore and masquerade. The life size portraits depict subjects – including Paul Kelly and Missy Higgins, in front of iconic ‘Kelly country’ landscapes, such as String Bark Creek and Power’s Lookout in the King Valley.

Curated by Lisa Slade, the 2016 Biennial takes inspiration from the Wunderkammer, delving into a world of wonder and enchantment through the eyes of Australian contemporary artists. Magic Object will offer a space where free associations and insights are made possible by artists and audiences – the Wunderkammer offers itself up as tool with which to not only view the world, but to critique it.

More information about Adelaide Bienniel 2016