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 - "Fresh Conversations"
'Fresh Conversations' connects table arrangements with narratives of play and landscape. "In response to traditions in still life painting I aimed in this work to raise the image of temporality and lightness and to bring a certain joie de vivre to the site and conversation of the table. Where traditional still life tableaux engage the viewer in allegories of wealth, power and mortality, these works explore playful exuberance and suggest ways for living."
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
2015
Fresh Conversations, Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide
Conceit, Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, Melbourne
2014
Centrepiece, Turner Gallery, Perth
Fresh, Amelia Johnson Contemporary, Hong Kong
2013
Ornamental, Hazelhurst Regional Art Gallery, Sydney
Dianne Tanzer Gallery, Singapore Art Fair, Singapore
2012
Body and Grace, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney
2010
All that Remains, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney
Fancywork, Diane Tanzer Gallery, Melbourne
2009
Birds, Queensland Centre for Photoraphy
Birds, Diane Tanzer Gallery, Melbourne
2008
Every Living Thing, Hill smith Gallery, Adelaide
Every Living Thing, Fremantle Arts Centre, Perth
Every Living Thing, Australian Centre for Photography
2007
Every Living Thing, House Projects, 31 Howard St, Soho, New York
2006
STILL LIVES 2, Dianne Tanzer Gallery Melbourne Art Fair
Still Life and Landscape, Robin Gilbson Gallery Sydney
2005
Still Lives, Dianne Tanzer Gallery, Melbourne
2004
Australiana, Robin Gibson Gallery, Darlinghurst, Sydney
2003
Australiana, Gallery 482, Brisbane
2000
Marian Drew: Powerhouse Photographs, Brisbane Powerhouse Performing Arts Complex Opening - Inaugural Exhibition
1999
This is what I think, Gallery 482, Fortitude Valley
1998
Black and White, Gallery 482, Fortitude Valley
1997
Marian Drew - A Retrospective, Bundaberg City Art Gallery.
Persistent Blindness, Brisbane City Art Gallery
1994
Things Past, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
1993
Sommerville House, Artist in Residence Exhibition
1992
Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney
1990
Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney
Queensland College of Art Gallery, Brisbane
Selected group exhibitions
2014
Volta Basel, Art Fare, Dianne Tanzer Gallery
LA Photo, Queensland Centre for Photography, USA
Animal Fanfair, Pine Rives Regional Art Gallery
2013
But mostly air, Australian National University Gallery, Canberra, ACT
10 Years: 30 residencies, Turner Gallery, Perth, WA
Silver, commissioned collaboration with Barbara Heath, Museum of Brisbane, Queensland
Mentors: Inspirational Women Works, Smith Art Gallery, Sydney
Year of the Bird, Maitland Regional Art Gallery, NSW
2012
Animal Human, University of Queensland Art Museum
Landscape an the Urban Environment, Amelai Johnson Gallery, Hong Kong
Michael Reid, Berlin Art Fair Preview
2011
International Studio and Residency Program (ISCP) open studio exhibition
2010
In focus: Still Life, Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Pingyao International Photography Fedstival, Australian Photography
The State we are in - Contemporary Queensland Photography, University of Queensland Art Museum
Synchronicity: Contemporary Queensland Photography, Redcliff City Art Gallery
2007
Human, House Projects, New York
Boom!, Taiwan Australia New Media Arts Festival, Taipei University and Taiwan University
Snap Freeze :Still Life Now, Tarrawarra Museum of Art, Victoria
Twenty artists Twenty years, Museum of Brisbane
Antipodean Bestiary, RMIT University Project Space Spare Room
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
Chance Encounters, Bejing Art Academy staff and their mentors, QCA Gallery, Southbank
2004
Back to Kassel- part 3- Photographie Kassel Kunstverein, Germany
Camera-less – Another View point, Qld Centre for Photography
2002
Awake Asleep -Double exposures, Thomas Bachler/Marian Drew, Australia Centre, Berlin
2001
Styx-Projektionen Video Art, European Kunst Akadamie Trier Germany
Buried in Cotton, Gallery 482, Brisbane
1999
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
1998
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.
1996
A Matter of Making, Canberra School of Art Gallery
The Power to Move, Queensland Art Gallery
5 Photographers, Gallery 482, Brisbaney
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.
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
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
National Gallery of Australia
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
Marian Drew
Tasmanian Rosella with Apple
Medium
archival pigment on hahnemule cotton paper
Dimensions
90 cm x 110 cm
Numbered 4 of 5
Marian Drew
Lorikeet with Green Cloth
Medium
archival pigment on hahnemule cotton paper
Dimensions
70 cm x 90 cm
Marian Drew
Crow with Salt
Medium
archival pigment on hahnemule cotton paper
Dimensions
70 cm x 90 cm
Numbered 6 of 10
Marian Drew
Pelican on Paper and Linen
Medium
archival pigment on hahnemule cotton paper
Dimensions
70 cm x 90 cm
Numbered 9 of 10