Temporary road closures will be in place around the Gallery from 26 February during the Enlighten Festival.
Acclaimed artist Bea Maddock AM studied at the Hobart Technical College in the early 1950s before travelling to London, where she attended the Slade School from 1959–61. Coming to prominence in the early 1960s, her longstanding career spanned ceramics, drawing, printmaking, painting and installation, with her subject matter often exploring existentialism and humanism. In February 1983, Maddock’s home and studio in Victoria’s Mount Macedon were razed in the Ash Wednesday fires, one of the deadliest bushfires in Australian history. She was forced to flee, with decades of work destroyed. Using the technique of photo screenprinting, Fleeing figure imbues a haunting sense of eeriness. Maddock inscribed on the work, ‘The figure in studio overalls shows me feeling the night-time glow of approaching fire.’ She created many self portraits titled Fleeing figure in response to the traumatic event.
Gift of David Archer 2016
David Archer (2 portraits)
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