Peter Cripps

Another History of H.B. and R.L., 1991, Museum of Contemporary Art, purchased 1993, Courtesy the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery

Influential Australian Artists series
Peter Cripps

8 June – 25 July 2010

A major survey of work by pioneer Australian artist Peter Cripps will open in ACCA in June, as part of ACCA’s Influential Australian Artists Series.

Peter Cripps is an artist, curator and educator who has worked in Australian museums, galleries, universities and the related art industry since the 1970s.

Cripps makes meticulous structures that investigate the development of radical modernism and design in Australian art.

This exhibition, his first major survey, includes over 50 works and will bring together several of Cripps’ significant sculptures and installations. It will change twice during the installation to enable a comprehensive and episodic understanding of Cripps’ practice, and some works not seen since their first showing will also be displayed, including Another History for H.B & R.L,1991 and Entering du Prel’s projection: shells of past activity, 1976.

Peter Cripps was born in Melbourne in 1948. In his early career he worked in Australian museums and galleries, curating over 55 exhibitions at the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane, the National Gallery of Victoria, ACCA and regional galleries around Australia. A Senior Lecturer at the School of Art, RMIT, his work is included in most state gallery collections across Australia, the National Gallery of Australia and in private collections in Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

Cripps’ practice has informed and inspired hundreds of Australian artists since the 1970s, when he first exhibited at the seminal Ewing and George Paton Galleries. His interests lie in the relationships between history and memory, time and space, ideas and possibilities for a critical contemporary art practice.

ACCA’s Influential Australian Artists Series highlights the practice of artistic innovators whose work and approach has evolved to significantly influence further generations of artists. Previous artists who have exhibited in the series include Susan Norrie, Domenico de Clario, Lyndal Jones and A Constructed World.

As part of the series, ACCA produces a comprehensive catalogue offering new interpretations and texts to enlarge the understanding of the artist’s artistic and theoretical approach. The Peter Cripps monograph will include existing writings and criticism that have been published over the period of Cripps’ career, the academics and social commentators reflecting on Cripps’ career.

Peter Cripps: Towards an Elegant Solution
8 June – 25 July 2010

Installation 1: June 8 – 27
Installation 2: June 29 – July 11
Installation 3: July 13 – 25

Australian Centre for Contemporary Art
111 Sturt Street, Southbank.
Gallery hours: Tuesday-Friday 10am–5pm. Weekends 11am-6pm. Mondays by appointment. Tel: 03 9697 9999. Admission: Free. www.accaonline.org.au

For further media information: Katrina Hall on 03 9697 9999,
mobile 0421 153 046 or email khall@accaonline.org.au

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