NOOSA REGIONAL GALLERY | 2012
The John Mainwaring Collection, Noosa, Australia –– In 2012, The Noosa Regional Gallery presented An Architect’s Eye: The John Mainwaring Collection, a traveling exhibition curated by Maura Reilly. Since the late 1980s, award-winning architect John Mainwaring has amassed an extraordinary collection of mostly contemporary Aboriginal art by some of today’s most well known practitioners, including, among others, Eubena Nampitjin, Gloria Petyarre, Sally Gabori, Janangoo Butcher Cherel, Terry Ngamandara Wilson, Netta Loogatha, Elizabeth Nyumi Nungarrayi. Throughout his career, Mainwaring has been inspired by this collection and, in particular, by the patterning, geometries, abstraction, layering, structures, shading, surface textures, that are so integral to many of the works. This exhibition investigates the direct relationship between Mainwaring’s art collection and his architectural vision and practice. The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue––with essays by Reilly, as well as Di Moon, Curator, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.
