The 2018 Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) Foundation Appeal invites support for the acquisition of Metafisica Australe 2017, an extraordinary collaboration between two leading Australian artists, Michael Nelson Jagamara and Imants Tillers.

Foundation President Tim Fairfax AC, joined by both artists, alongside Michael Eather, Director, FireWorks Gallery and QAGOMA Director Chris Saines, launched the Appeal at QAGOMA on Saturday 12 May.

‘Warlpiri/Luritja artist Jagamara and Tillers have collaborated on 24 artworks together since 2001, and it is with great pleasure that we announce the latest of these, the striking 72-panel painting Metafisica Australe as the subject of our 2018 Foundation Appeal,’ Mr Fairfax said.

QAGOMA Director Chris Saines said the expansive and compelling work holds special meaning, as it reflects on how the artists embarked on a working relationship that developed following Tillers’s use of elements from Jagamara’s milestone painting, Five Stories 1984.

‘Metafisica Australe 2017 is the next chapter in the long-term collaboration between these much-loved Australian artists, and the Gallery relishes this opportunity to celebrate an important artistic partnership that began nearly two decades ago,’ Mr Saines said.

‘Their continuing conversation has a deep resonance with our Gallery’s Australian collection display, highlighting a unique exchange between an Indigenous and a non-Indigenous artist.’

‘The 2018 Appeal will help us to represent one of the most thought-provoking collaborative partnerships in Australia’s contemporary art landscape, and we strongly believe this compelling work will find a perfect home within QAG’s reimagined Australian collection display, where we have aimed to bring the Indigenous and contemporary Australian collections together with the Gallery’s historical holdings, to tell a fuller story of Australian art.'

ABOUT THE QAGOMA FOUNDATION

The Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) Foundation is the Gallery’s vital fundraising body. Since its establishment in 1979, the Foundation has raised more than $130 million, enabling the acquisition of more than 8000 artworks and supporting the development of QAGOMA exhibitions, publications and programs.

The 2018 Foundation Appeal is now open. Donations of all sizes are welcome, and those of $2 or more are tax deductible. Visit qagoma.qld.gov.au/2018appeal to learn more about the Appeal.