Survey of the Orient

By Dion Teasdale
TARRAWARRA Museum of Art in Healesville is currently staging its first major solo survey exhibition titled Orient/Occident – A Survey of Works 1978-2005.
The exhibition, which opened in November and runs through until early April, features the work of Melbourne artist John Young.
The works in the exhibition have been selected from painting created during three main periods of Mr Young’s career.
Mr Young, who was born in Hong Kong in 1956 and moved to Australia at the age of 11, has produced a substantial body of work over the past 25 years.
Museum director Maudie Palmer said she has been an avid fan of Mr Young’s paintings since seeing an exhibition of his work at the United Artists Gallery in the mid 1980s.
“From that time I have been fascinated by his juxtaposition of contrasting elements exploring a vast range of art historical associations and probably, most importantly, testing cross-cultural references,” she said.
Ms Palmer said Mr Young’s experience living away from his country of birth has allowed him a unique cross-cultural perspective on the world, contributing to the vibrancy of Australian contemporary art.
“Through his work he has explored and gradually merged a diverse range of themes including the crossing of cultures and the heritage of modernism within a post-modern context,” she said.
“The exquisite beauty of his paintings does not belie the serious issues John deals with. Instead, it emphasises their poignancy.”
Ms Palmer said this significant mid-career exhibition provides an opportunity to gain an understanding of Mr Young’s visual journey and intellectual engagement with the development of his practice.
The exhibition begins with Mr Young’s earliest, conceptual and minimal works and moves through pieces from his Silhouette, Polychromes and Double Ground series.
Tarrawarra Museum of Art is located at 311 Healesville Yarra Glen Road, Healesville. Phone 5957 3100.