Reality Bites
Mark Titmarsh, Australia b.1955 / Enemy of irony 1990 / Synthetic polymer paint on canvas / Triptych:190.6 x 228cm (overall) / Purchased 1990. The 1990 Moët & Chandon Art Acquisition Fund / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Mark Titmarsh / View full image
When
31 Oct 2026 – 1 Aug 2027
Where
Queensland Art Gallery, Watermall
Admission
Free
About
'Reality Bites' features paintings that consider the value of artistic labour in an era of mass production.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is only the latest machine to make quick, easy images with little human effort. Across the twentieth century, advances in photography, mass reproduction and computing changed the way images were created, consumed and appreciated. Australian artists working in the 1980s and 1990s grappled with the purpose of art-making, including questioning whether long-held traditions, such as painting, were ‘dead’.
Elizabeth Pulie, Australia b.1968 / Twenty-nine (from untitled series) 1991 / Synthetic polymer paint on canvas / 140 x 90cm / Purchased 1992 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © QAGOMA / View full image
Debra Dawes, Queensland Australia b.1955 / Gingham (centrifugal) 1995 / Synthetic polymer paint on canvas / 239.5 x 165.2cm / Purchased 2003.The Queensland Government's special Centenary Fund / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Debra Dawes / View full image
Andrew Arnaoutopoulos, Queensland Australia b.1945 / Industrial surface no. 3 1990 / Synthetic polymer paint on canvas / 168 x 168cm / Purchased 1990. The 1990 Moët & Chandon Art Acquisition Fund / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Andrew Arnaoutopoulos / View full image
Mark Webb, Queensland Australia 1957– 2022 / Abstract painting (Before and after Science) 1989 / Oil on canvas / Three panels:183 x 135.4cm (each) / Purchased 1989 under the Contemporary Art Acquisition Program with funds from Maclean, Wargon, Chapman through the QAG Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Mark Webb Estate / View full image
Mark Titmarsh, Australia b.1955 / Enemy of irony 1990 / Synthetic polymer paint on canvas / Triptych:190.6 x 228cm (overall) / Purchased 1990. The 1990 Moët & Chandon Art Acquisition Fund / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Mark Titmarsh / View full image
