Robert Jacks: Paintings/Sculptures Melbourne/New York 1967-

22 August 2004 - 7 November 2004

This exhibition was built around Robert Jacks' Red Painting in the TWMA collection. It included a body of work which Jacks commenced at the same time as that painting, dealing with the same issues that intrigued him then. Red Painting was created at the beginning of 1968, soon after Robert left Melbourne and settled in New York, where most of these works were conceived. Red Painting represents a move away from cubist inspired monochrome compositions to a fresh, energetic foraging into colourfield abstraction. Conceptually based cut paper, felt and rubber works are shown with primary coloured open sculptures that lean up against walls in relationship to the hanging cardboard, string and wire assemblages. These minimal works were juxtaposed with small abstract monuments installed on the floor.

While many of these works have been shown in Canada and New York, this was the first ever exhibition of this body of work in Australia.

Robert Jacks comments: ‘My minimalist bias in New York was both liberating and restricting. At that time even though I thought of myself as a Melbourne artist we were all part of an international scene and when I came back to Melbourne it was trying to reinvent this language and seeing myself within an international context which continued to preoccupy me.’

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