This exhibition features 110 small artworks by 55 regional and metropolitan Australian artists in an exhibition and art swap event. The annual art swap allows artists to exchange works and connect with each other's art. The exhibition serves to introduce the artists' works to a new audience and engage the local community with a variety of contemporary art forms. It provides opportunities for artists to showcase their works and exchange ideas.

1. EXCHANGE
55 artists from regional
and metropolitan areas
around Australia.
110 small scale art works.
Exhibition and Art Swap.
Gatakers Artspace
311 Kent Street Maryborough Qld
Curated by Amanda van Gils Wed 3rd - Wed 30th Nov
www.artwhatson.com.au/Exchange Opening
www.facebook.com/ExchangeExhibition Sat 5th Nov,
2pm

2. F
ew artists would deny Ah, La Belle Epoche. But romantic Regional Queensland. There she their work to a new audience and
an occasional, wistful notions aside, the studio remains a experienced firsthand life as an provides the local community with
hankering for La Belle solitary place where one engages artist far from the creative hub of an opportunity to engage with
Epoche - ‘the good old days’ with his or her elusive muse. capital cities. She now resolved a broad cross-section of quality
of the legendary Parisian cafe Moments of frustration, doubts to promote an active, vibrant contemporary art.
scene in the years leading up to and breakthroughs fluctuate in interaction - or exchange - not only
the outbreak of WWI. There, repetitive cycles. Relationships between artists, but within regional The Annual Art Swap started four
in the steep village streets of with galleries and concerns about communities as well. By the end of years ago as a means for artists
Montmartre and across the exhibition opportunities - or lack that year this connective spirit was to connect and get to know each
river Seine in Montparnasse, of - are pondered in silence. celebrated in a major exhibition other’s work as well as enabling
artists from many lands set The communal meeting place of curated by van Gils at the Art them to build up a personal
up tiny studios minutes away a local cafe or bar is perhaps no Gallery of Ballarat. Net Work: the
from each other. The local cafe longer a stroll away yet artists TLF Exhibition showcased 100
played a crucially important being the resourceful and creative works by 38 contemporary artists.
part in the life of the artist. It individuals they are, have found Amanda van Gils’ unceasing
was a meeting ground for the new ways to come together. It ‘arts activism’ is once again in
cross-fertilisation of ideas and would be rare these days to find a evidence with The Exchange
gathering of information. Here studio that doesn’t have a computer exhibition at the Gatakers Artspace
the avant-garde gathered to plan and digital camera close at hand. in Maryborough, Queensland.
exhibitions and find patrons In embracing current technology The exhibition has a threefold
and publishers. Artists swapped artists now share experiences, purpose: it encompasses the fourth
their works and often proffered exchange ideas and information Annual Art Swap in which artists
them in exchange for art - and occasionally their art - via exchange works with each other;
materials or perhaps just a cyberspace concourse. gives artists the occasion to show
glass of absinthe. Not since 7
The artists in Exchange comprise a
the Renaissance had painters,
network of online contacts residing
writers, musicians and actors
in diverse metropolitan and
lived and worked together in
regional areas around Australia. It
such an atmosphere of creative
seems that the mute keyboard and
ferment and collaboration.
computer screen has of necessity,
Over a century has passed replaced the lively exchange
but artists the world over across a cafe table as the means of
have continued to seek the garnering “encouragement, support
camaraderie and exchange of and stimulation”.
ideas in inner city areas where
At the beginning of 2010, Amanda
low rents, pubs and ‘cheap
eats’ could be found within van Gils relocated from hometown
Melbourne to Hervey Bay in
walking distance. Alas, this way 15 16
of life has all but disappeared,
usurped by affluent folk desirous
of a ‘slice of the colour’ that
such bohemian communities
engender. One by one, the old
warehouses, factories and tiny
cottages that once quartered
studios have been acquired
by developers and renovators,
forcing artists further and further
afield - and apart.
25 26 27

3. 1 2 3 4
8 9 10 11
17 18 19 20
28 29 30 31

4. 1. Kim Anderson 11. Amy Clarke
2. Aliey Ball 12. Simon Collins
3. Jan Berg 13. Jacqui Comer
4. Sue Beyer 14. Dagmar Cyrulla
5. Joseph Bezzina 15. Inga Dalrymple
6. Louise Blyton 16. Chris Delpratt
7. Mishka Borowski 17. Robert Fenton
8. Claire Bridge 18. Stefan Gevers
9. Susan Buret 19. Michelle Giacobello
10. Carmel Byrne 20. Triecia Gibney
21. Erika Gofton
6 22. Alizon Gray
23. Tim Gresham
24. Brett Hayes
25. Debbie Hill
26. Belinda Johnstone
27. Gabrielle Jones
28. Meryn Jones
29. Julie Keating
30. Siobhan Kelley
31. Deborah Klein
32. Sue Kneebone
33. Emma Langridge
34. Sheena Larsen
35. Emma Lindsay
13 14
22 23 24
33 34 35

5. 36 37 38 39
collection. The first swap was
a simple affair of 12 artists
swapping a small work, ‘kris
kringle’ fashion, with each other.
Up until now the works were
simply posted to the recipient
and never publicly displayed.
The 2011 Annual Art Swap
exhibited in Exchange, has
works by 55 emerging and
established artists. Pushing
aesthetic boundaries, visually, 44 45 46
conceptually and in the use of
materials, the works on display textures are orchestrated to convey
present a wonderful spectrum a particular mood. Others strive for
of creative expression. The a transcendence by investigating
paintings, drawings, sculptures, conceptual space and minimalist
constructions, collages, forms. Alternatively, certain artists
photographs and digital pieces are grounded in the dynamics of
give ample testimony to the everyday life or the relationships
vitality of art in Australian today. between human habitation and
Art illuminates life - it excites the environment.
the senses and animates our The Exchange exhibition is a
critical faculties. A deep veritable cornucopia of visual
involvement with an artwork experience. The exchange of views
50 51
is rewarded not only with and artworks between widely
an increased awareness of diverse and dispersed artists has presence of this prodigious body
aesthetic possibilities, but it culminated in this significant of work we are charmed, inspired
can extend our perception of exhibition at Gatakers Artspace. and occasionally challenged to
socio-cultural issues. Regardless The exchange however, is only reflect on art and our common
of the style employed, artists completed by an interaction existence in a new and completely
seek to give pictorial voice to with the audience. Art is made enjoyable way. Time now to
their individual perceptions of to communicate, to share engage in some lively cultural
reality. Works of extraordinary observations, thoughts and feelings exchanges of our own!
realism vie with abstractions about the inner and outer worlds,
where gestural strokes, random and as such needs the viewer’s JACQUELINE HOUGHTON
scratch marks, colours and response to give it life. In the
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6. 40 41 42 43
36. Glenn Locklee
37. Vito Manfredi
38. V.R. Morrison
39. Nicola Moss
40. Deb Mostert
41. Ilona Nelson
42. Alexandre Prado
43. Chris Ramsey
44. Meaghan Shelton
45. Caitlin Street
46. Rosa Tato
47. Mark Threadgold
47 48 49 48. Merryn J. Trevethan
49. Joanne Turner
50. Amanda van Gils
51. Steve Warburton
52. Irene Wellm
53. Ian Wells
54. Dominic White
55. Darian Zam
52 53 Proudly Supported by
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