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ARTISTS: John Citizen, Amanda Davies, Diena Georgetti, Raafat Ishak, James Morrison, Boxer Milner Tjampitjin, Nancy Naninurra Napanangka and Elizabeth Newman.

CURATOR: Zara Stanhope, Senior Curator Deputy Director at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne

The world in painting brings together eight of Australia’s most distinguished artists, that collectively presents personalised worlds through painting that range from domestic interiors to dream-like landscapes.

In the west, as in the east painting, like sculpture, is a tradition with a history reaching back over a thousand years, and a device employed by religion, state and private patrons, and hence, is perceived as a conventional art form. In addition, having been an essential component of pre-modern and modern culture, how then does painting manage to retain its contemporary relevance and freshness?

Conditions have helped painting survive the demise that art critics diagnosed in the late 1980s.  Painting has become less elite and a more familiar art form to the general public, it continues to be taught in schools and studios, is ever attractive to collectors and continues to be presented in museums and galleries that have been purpose-built for its optimal display. Boosted by events that assist its commercial sustainability, painting has also been invigorated by participating in the cultural cross-fertilisation that has occurred across the globe during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Today however, painting can mean something very different to paint and pigment on canvas for artists. The world of painting embraces both the painter’s vision and the form in which these ideas are manifest. Recognising diversity, this exhibition celebrates the freshness artists bring to a now venerable medium.

In Australia, contemporary art can be said to emanate from two distinctive ways of being in the world, very broadly an urban, western existence that includes artists trained at art school, and Australian Indigenous artists living in desert or non-urban communities and who have generally received no formal art training. Yet although this informs art making, the art of all eight Australian artists included in this exhibition emanates from the rich diversity of life in a postcolonial situation, which is greater than specific geographical, cultural or personal contexts.

	John Citizen Interior (Grey Couch) 8 Jan 2007 synthetic polymer paint on canvas 137x 137 cm Private collection, Brisbane Courtesy of the artist and Sutton Gallery, Melbourne
	Amanda Davies Anodyne 2007 enamel on plastic and canvas 122 x 112cm Courtesy of the artist and Bett Gallery, Hobart
	Elizabeth Newman (left) Untitled 2004 fabric, cut 210 x 157 cm (right) Untitled 2004 fabric, cut 222 x 162cm Courtesy of the artist and Neon Parc, Melbourne

Boxer Milner Tjampitjin Purkitji 2006 Synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen 120 x 80 cm Cat no.989/06 Private collection, Sydney Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi	Raafat Ishak Responses to an immigration request from one hundred and ninety four governments 2006/07 oil and gesso on composition board 8 panels, from a series of 194 panels, 30x 20cm each Courtesy of the artist and Sutton Gallery, Melbourne

Diena Georgetti All day I've built a lifetime 2006 synthetic polymer paint on board 65.5 x 56.5 cm Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne	Nancy Naninurra Napangka Untitled 2004 Cat no.496/04 Synthetic polymer paint on linen 150 x 75 cm Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne

James Morrison Elizabeth 2004 oil on canvas, 3 panels 100 x 300cm (overall) Private collection, Melbourne Courtesy Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney

Exhibition dates & venues:

Chiang Mai: 3-31 October 2007, Chiang Mai University Gallery
Bangkok: 29 November 2007 – 5 January 2008, The Art Centre, Chulalongkorn University
Manila: 23 January – 13 February 2008, Yuchengco Museum
Hanoi: 5 - 18 April 2008, Vietnam Fine Arts Museum
Melbourne: 26 July - 9 November 2008, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Heide
Newcastle (Australia): 14 February - 3 May 2009, Newcastle Regional Gallery
Morwell (Australia): 27 June - 23 August 2009, Latrobe Regional Gallery
Warrnambool (Australia): 19 September - 15 November 2009, Warrnambool Art Gallery