The Island IV
(2008)
from The Island series 2008
Medium
synthetic polymer paint and screenprint on blue metallic foil on canvas
Measurements
250.3 × 300.4 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Michael Schwarz and David Clouston through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2017
© Brook Andrew/Copyright Agency, 2023
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work
The Island IV reimagines an etching by Wilhelm von Blandowski that depicts a group of Nyeri Nyeri men engaged in ceremony. Brook Andrew’s gigantic screenprint parodies Blandowski’s grotesque misunderstanding of the customary ritual of tooth evulsion. In Andrew’s work, the etching is transformed into a lurid blue landscape invaded by crudely drawn ‘savages’ – whom Blandowski described as ‘writhing and convulsing in the dust.’
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Melbourne, Victoria
Edition
ed. 3/3
Accession Number
2017.212
Department
Contemporary Art
Subjects (general)
Human Figures
Subjects (specific)
colours (hues or tints) cultural ceremonies indigenous people men (male humans)