SCAF Sydney Celebrates Christian Thompson’s Innovative Art
Indigenous Australian artist Christian Thompson is not only one of the country’s most talented and exciting contemporary artists, he is also one of its most internationally successful and widely exhibited creative talents. Sydney’s Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) is celebrating Thompson’s engaging and innovative practice with its fifth “Collection+” exhibition which will navigate the intersection of art and fashion through his cross-disciplinary work.
Born in Australia and based in London, Thompson explores notions of identity, cultural hybridity & history through a multi-disciplinary practice that spans photography, performance, video, sculpture, sound, and often incorporates fashion-related imagery. Originally trained as a sculptor, Thompson made history in 2010 when he became the first Aboriginal Australian to be admitted into the University of Oxford where he obtained a Doctorate of Philosophy (Fine Art).
“Collection+: Christian Thompson” is curated by emerging Melbourne-based curator and lawyer Alana Kushnir who has explored concepts of collection and ownership, the extinction and rediscovery of language, and the appropriation of Indigenous Australian material culture. As with all of the “Collection+” exhibitions, key works from the Gene & Brian Sherman Collection will feature alongside works loaned from major public and private collections worldwide.
SCAF Executive Director Gene Sherman commented on Thompson’s practice: “A longstanding passion for fashion meshes with the artist’s deeply thought-through costume play. As a result of this and several other overlapping interests – including a need to foreground society’s marginalised – my personal connection with the artist’s practice intensified over the years.”
“Collection+: Christian Thompson” will be on show at SCAF from 23 October until 12 December 2015 (Opening night: Thursday 22 October, 6–8 pm).