Tony Albert Rug

Description

Renowned for his distinctly contemporary imagery, which engages with political, historical and cultural Aboriginal and Australian history, Tony Albert has long been fascinated by the tension between the visibility and invisibility of Aboriginal people across the news media, literature and the visual world. Put simply by the artist ‘what is seen and unseen.’

In the body of work entitled Conversations with Margaret Preston he looks at the ideas, philosophies behind Preston’s push to create a visual national identity, her artistic influence in the branding of a nation, and the resulting spawning and saturation of a mass market industry of kitsch objects that naively and stereotypically depict Aboriginal people and their culture, termed by Albert as “Aboriginalia”.

Albert turns the tables on history, cheekily yet assertively reclaiming the designs and motifs from Preston’s Aboriginal woodblock prints, to honour the subjects and voices of the work’s original creators.

About the Artist
Over the past 10 years Tony Albert has achieved extraordinary visibility and much critical acclaim for his visual art practice which combines text, video, drawing, paintings and three-dimensional objects. Examining the legacy of racial and cultural misrepresentations, particularly of Australia's first nations people, Albert has developed a universal language that seeks to rewrite historical mistruths and injustice. Alberts work can be seen in major national and international museums and private collections.

About Third Drawer Down:

Since 2003, Third Drawer Down has collaborated with the most influential artists of our time, translating their works into gift and homeware collections with an uncompromising dedication to artistic integrity, functionality and making art accessible. Originally established as a project producing limited edition artist tea towels as prints-on-linen, Third Drawer Down has grown into a global business whose superbly crafted artist-driven objects and souvenirs nurture the ecosystem of museums, cultural institutions and artist studios.

Materials + Care Instructions
-100% low pile polyamide
-Gift Packaged

Size
-1.2 x 1.6 m (47.2" x 63")

Please contact us for custom sizes.

Artwork
Abstract: Aboriginal Art VI, 2020 © Tony Albert