Behind the Art Rockhampton Museum of Art

Hamish Sawyer speaks with Emily Wakeling about the Bayton Award 2023.

Hamish Sawyer is a curator, writer and currently the
Artistic Director of NorthSite Contemporary Arts, Cairns.

Anitha Menon talks with Easton Dunne about her practice and inspirations from the RMOA collection during her time as artist in residence at the museum.

Pat Hoffie speaks with Jonathan McBurnie about her involvement in the WrestleMANIA exhibition. Hoffie discusses the biblical influences, as well as that of outsider artist Henry Darger, in her large scale paintings. Touching upon her artistic process, Brisbane’s Festival Hall (once a key venue for pro wrestling for Queensland) and conspiracy theory, Hoffie offers fascinating insight into studio practice.

Locust Jones speaks about his large scale drawings made for WrestleMANIA. Jones’ pieces are made as realtime responses to the global news cycle, and circumnavigate the artist’s sense of outrage, the absurd and tragedy, trying to make sense of the static. Jones discusses his early experiences of televised wrestling during his New Zealand childhood and incorporating its larger-than-life iconography into his larger-than-life drawings.

Erica Gray speaks about her textile installation exhibited in WrestleMANIA. Gray plays with the theatrical, performative aspects of Wrestlers and their audiences to create a vivid representation of the (melo)drama of wrestling.

Bruce Reynolds discusses his work for WrestleMANIA. With an enduring interest in the antiquity and remix culture, Reynolds reflects upon his limited childhood experience with television and, through it, wrestling.