Marian Drew

Marian Drew was born in Australia in 1960 and studied visual art at Canberra School of Art from 1980 -1984. Drew studied in Germany, Experimental Photography, Kassel University,  post graduate studies 1984-1985 and has been Senior Lecturer, Photography Art Practice , at the Queensland College of Art from 1986 to current.

From 1983 to 2007  Marian Drew has held twenty one solo exhibitions in Australia, the United States, France and Germany.

She represented Australia in the First Asia Pacific Triennial at the Queensland Art Gallery.

Drew's work is represented in National Gallery of Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, South Australian Art gallery and numerous other major photographic collections in Australia.

The first monograph "Marian Drew Photographs and Video Works", was published by the Queensland Center for Photography, in 2006.

She has held group exhibitions in China, Germany, the United States and over forty curatorial shows in Australia   between 1985 -2007.

Completed several major public art commissions in Australia for permanent architectural art works in public buildings 1998-2007.

Nominated as one of Australia’s fifty most collectable artists in Australian Art Collector magazine, 2006

Artist Statement "Every living Thing"
"In 2002, I travelled to Germany, where I studied the still life paintings in museums and in particular an extensive collection at Wilhelmshoehe, in the city of Kassel. On my return home these ideas united with the imagery of the animals I saw killed on roads in Australia. in the course of daily life these native animals are killed by cars, domestic pets or power lines and are easily found scattered beside the roads through our urban environments.

This new perspective made me question our existing relationship to wild animals, the wealthy landowners in Renaissance Europe believed that the abundance of nature was there for human consumption. I found correlations to these ideas whithin the local attitudes to wildlife that are killed in the drive for urban expansion and economic growth.

By imitating the historic painted forms of the 'Still Life', but replacing paint with photographic verisimilitude, and familiar European animals with Australian native species, a discord is exposed.

This work aims to overlay the historical and the present, the European with the antipodean and photography with painting, while exploring contemporary notions of death and a changing relationship to animals."

Solo exhibitions
2008
'Every Living Thing', Hill smith Gallery, Adelaide
2007                     
Every Living Thing Hous Projects, 31 Howard St, Soho,  New York
2006                     
Dianne Tanzer Gallery  Melbourne Art Fair
Robin Gilbson Gallery Sydney Still Life and Landscape
2005                             
Dianne Tanzer Gallery , Melbourne, Australiana.
2004           
Robin Gibson Gallery, Darlinghurst,  Sydney Australiana
2003           
Gallery 482 Australiana Brisbane
2000
Brisbane Powerhouse Performing  Arts Complex –Photographs
Opening -Inaugural Exhibition 
1999
Gallery 482, Fortitude Valley, This is what I think 
Colour photographs and video projection installation Woman/Fountain
1998
Gallery 482, Fortitude Valley, Black and White
Black and white photographs - unique prints.
1997           
Bundaberg City Art Gallery.  Marian Drew - A Retrospective. 
Showing selected photographic works from 1984 to 1997.
1996      
Brisbane City Art Gallery.  Persistent Blindness.
Colour photographs and video installation. Artist Diaries 1986-1996
1994      
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne.  Things Past.
Site Specific video installation, incorporating drawings, photographs,  three video projectors and found objects.
1993      
Sommerville House, Artist in Residence Exhibition.
Colour photographs
1992           
Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney.  Large scale colour photographs.
1990      
Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney.  New York Series.
Large scale colour photographs
Queensland College of Art Gallery, Brisbane.  New York Series.
Large Scale colour photographs
1988      
Canberra School of Art, Photospace Gallery.
Colour Photographs made in Germany and Brisbane.
1987      
Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane.  Colour Photographs.
1986      
Gallery Etoile, FNAC (Fonds National D’Art Contemporain), Paris, France.  Colour Photographs. Bush Projection Series.
1985
Kassel University Gallery, Kassel, Germany.  Drinnen-Draussen.  Exhibition of Colour Photographs and Installation involving two slide projectors and 4 meter haystack and 5 meter paper figures.
1983           
Images Gallery, Sydney.  Colour Photographs.

selected group exhibitions
2007                    
Human Hous Projects New York Australian photography sculpture and painting
Boom ! Taiwan  Australia New Media Arts Festival, 2 concurrent exhibitions- Taipei University and Taiwan University2007 Snap Freeze :Still Life Now  Tarrawarra Museum of Art, Victoria2007 Twenty artists Twenty years  Museum of Brisbane2007 Antipodean Bestiary RMIT University Project Space Spare Room2007 Beneath the Surface Kick Arts Centre for Contemporary Art Cairns
PHOTO  Los Angeles – the 16th International Photographic
Exposition Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, USA
2006           
Rockhampton Art Gallery Other Dimensions – Contemporary
Photomedia from Australia, China and Japan -
RMIT  Art Gallery, Melbourne International Arts festival - The Idea of the Animal. 2005            QCA Gallery, SouthbankChance Encounters Bejing Art Academy staff and their mentors -QCA Photography lecturers,.2004            Southbank Parklands Scribble Art +Architecture South Bank Simon Laws & Marian DrewFountain of river water , garden hoses, pump 36m x 6 m x 6 m 2004           
Back to Kassel- part 3- Photographie Kassel Kunstverein, Germany. (15 works)          
Camera-less – Another View point, Qld Centre for Photography2002            Awake Asleep -Double exposures -Thomas Bachler/Marian Drew Australia Centre, Berlin 2001             Styx-Projektionen Video Art  European Kunst Akadamie Trier Germany 2001            Buried in Cotton  Large scale photograms as Palladium prints on cotton paper, Gallery 482, Brisbane.
1998      
Spatial Eclipse/ Temporal Anchorings  Changing Notions of Time and Space, Selected works by Frank McBride, Marlene Hall and Pat Hoffie, Qld College of Art Gallery
Signature Works - 25 Years of Australian Photography, Australian Center for Photography, Sydney.
Sculpture by the Sea  Olympic Arts Festival, Collaborative site specific installation with Bruce Reynolds, Rex Roubin.
Curated by the Noosa Regional Art Gallery.
Agfa Photographic Award Exhibition, Albury Regional Art Gallery NSW.
1996      
A Matter of Making, Canberra School of Art Gallery.
The Power to Move, Queensland Art Gallery.
5 Photographers, Gallery 482, Brisbane.
1994      
Mad and Bad Women, Queensland Art Gallery , travelling Qld.
Eidectic Experience, Contemporary Queensland Photography, Travelling Exhibition.
1993      
First Asia-Pacific Triennale of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery. Represented Australia.
1992           
Twentieth Century Fops, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.  Installation with Bruce Reynolds. Carpet and Video projection.
Empty Land, curated by Camerawork London and travelling the United Kingdom.
1990      
Fragmentation and Fabrication, Recent Australian Photography, Art Gallery of South Australia.
The Artist’s Eye, curated by Alun Leach-Jones and Colin Lancely.  Rex Irwin Gallery, Sydney.
1989      
Private Views - Public Spaces, curated by Queensland Art Gallery.
1988      
Seven Queensland Women Artists of Distinction, Queensland College of Art Gallery.
To Climb a Mountain, Noosa Regional Art Gallery.
1987      
Moments in Queensland Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery.
1986      
Young Contemporaries, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.
1985      
Kasseler Kunstler, Neue Galerie, Kassel, Germany.
1983      
New Light, Australian Centre for Contemporary Photography, Sydney.
1982           
Three Canberra Artists, Australian Craft Council Gallery, Canberra.

Public Collections
Australian National Gallery
Brisbane City Council
Queensland University of Technology
Art Gallery of South Australia
Queensland Art Gallery
Power House Arts Complex
Monash University
Griffith University Collection
Suncorp Collection
University of South East Queensland
Waiverly City Council Art Collection, Melbourne
Fonds National D’Art Contemporain (FNAC), Paris, France
Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery
Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery, Stanthorpe, Queensland
Australian Institute of Sport, Melbourne
Artbank, Sydney