ROSEMARY LAING
born 1959 in Brisbane, lives in Sydney
Rosemary Laing is internationally recognised as a leader in the field of concept-based photo media.
Trained as a painter, Laing has explored conceptually based photography and performance since the 1980s. Laing's work is all about dramatisation, using people, props and stunts to create miniperformances in which the landscape symbolises something other than the "usual". From these elements Laing crafts beautiful, hyperreal images that seem impossible.
Laing has exhibited extensively in Australia and her international profile and reputation have become firmly established with shows across the United States, Europe and Asia. Her work was shown among others at North Carolina Museum of Art, Worcester Art Museum, Centro de Fotografia Salamanca, Spain, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, at the MCA, Sydney and Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany. In 2007 she was selected to show at the Venice Biennale as part of the exhibition Think with the Senses - Feel with the Mind. Art in the Present Tense curated by Robert Storr.
Her work is held in major private and public collections worldwide.
Individual Exhibitions
2011
leak, CONRADS, Duesseldorf, Germany
leak, Torlano gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2010
a dozen useless actions for grieving blondes, Conrads, Duesseldorf, Germany
2009
prostrate you horses: weather and then some, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane
a dozen useless actions for grieving blondes, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA
a dozen useless actions for grieving blondes, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne
2008
to walk on a sea of salt, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, South Australia
2007
weather, FILIALE, Berlin, Germany
Flight, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
weather, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA
weather, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne
2006
weather, Galerie Conrads, Düsseldorf, Germany.
2005
to walk on a sea of salt, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne
Rosemary Laing: groundspeed, Galerie Conrads, Duesseldorf, Germany
the Unquiet Landscapes of Rosemary Laing, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; travelled to Kunsthallen Brandts Klaedefabrik, Odense, Denmark (2006).
one dozen unnatural disasters in the Australian landscape: a collaboration with Stephen Birch, GrantPirrie Gallery, Sydney
2004
Rosemary Laing, Domus Artium 2002, Salamanca, Spain
one dozen unnatural disasters in the Australian landscape, Conrads, Düsseldorf, Germany.
one dozen unnatural disasters in the Australian landscape, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA
2003
one dozen unnatural disasters in the Australian landscape, Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney
Rosemary Laing: A Survey 1995-2002, Brisbane City Gallery, Brisbane
bulletproofglass, Galerie Conrads, Düsseldorf, Germany
2002
bulletproofglass, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA
bulletproofglass, Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney
2001
groundspeed, Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney
2000
gradience, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney
flight research, Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney
1999
aero-zone, National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan; travelled to Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne; Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth (2000)
1998
brownwork, Annandale Galleries, Sydney
1997
brownwork (within Envisioned), Monash University Gallery, Melbourne
1995
greenwork, International Terminal, Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport, Federal Airports Corporation, Sydney
greenwork, Annandale Gallery, Sydney
1993
blow-out, Annandale Gallery, Sydney
1992
from Paradise work (works 1-6), Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
1991
from Paradise work (works 1-4), Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide
from Paradise work (works 1-4), 200 Gertrude Street, Melbourne
1990
from Paradise work (work 3), First Draft West, Sydney from Paradise work (work 1), Photospace Gallery, Canberra Institute for the Arts, Canberra
1989
Natural Disasters, Milburn + Arte Gallery, Brisbane
1988
Natural Disasters, Artspace, Sydney
1987
A Real Person, Avago, Sydney University, Sydney Speaking from the Silence, First Draft, Sydney Petits Sciseaux, Painters Gallery, Sydney
1986
A Portrait of Rationality, Avago, Sydney Table Suite, Performance Space Gallery, Sydney
1985
Table Suite, Chameleon Gallery, Hobart
1979 Two Women, La Boite, Brisbane
1978 Views and Influences, Queensland University, Brisbane
Group Exhibitions
2011
Photography & Places, Australian landscape photography 1970s until now, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Small Fires, Sint-Lukas Gallery, Bruxelles, Belgium
2010
Stormy Weather: Contemporary Landscape Photography, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Timelines: Photography and Time, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Be a Star,
Play a Model, Cultural Institution, Knokke, Belgium
Reference and Affinity: Art of the 21st Century from the Collection, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland
2009
Almanac: The Gift of Ann Lewis AO, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney Clouds....over there....marvellous clouds! Around Eugene Boudin’s studies of the sky:tributes and digressions. Musee Malraux, Le Harve, France
Queensland Art, Pestorius Sweeney House, Hamilton, Brisbane
Varios Artistas: Tiempo Suspendido, Domus Artium 2002 Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
The Edge of Reason: Australian Women Photographers, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo
Light Sensitive Material: Works from the Verghis Collection, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst
Manipulating Reality: How Images Redefine the World, Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence
Curating the COFA Collection, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
Collecting Lines: Selected Works from the Geoff and Vicki Ainsworth Collection, Maitland Regional Art Gallery, Maitland
Reframing Darwin: Evolution and Art in Australia, Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, Melbourne
Silence, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland
Other Worlds, Confederation Centre Art Gallery, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Ferne Nähe, Remote Proximity: >Nature< In Contemporary Art, Kunst Museum Bonn, Germany
Trouble in Paradise: Examining Discord Between Nature and Society, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, USA
2008
Primary Views, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne
New: selected recent acquisitions 2007-2008, University of Queensland Art Museum Queensland
Surreale, Mimmo Scognamiglio Artecontemporanea, Milan, Italy.
neo goth: back in black, University of Queensland Art Museum, Queensland
Holding on, letting go, Monash Gallery of Art, Victoria.
Revolutions: Forms That Turn. 16th Biennale of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
FX in Contemporary Photography, McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, Victoria.
Depth of field: contemporary photography from the Collection, University of Queensland Art Museum, Queensland
2007
Garden of Eden - The Garden in Art Since 1900, Kunsthalle Emden, Emden, Germany.
Lives and Times: a selection of works from the Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists. National Gallery of Victoria; travelled to Regional Australian Galleries (2007/2008) Janus.
Photography’s Double Face. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
Think with the Senses - Feel with the Mind: Art in the Present Tense. 52nd International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale
New Nature, Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Zealand June Bride, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York Grey Water, Institute Modern Art, Brisbane
The BIG Picture, North Carolina Museum of Art, USA
2006
Prism: Contemporary Australian Art, Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan Art,
Life and Confusion, 47th October Salon, Belgrade, Serbia
Scary Tales, FILIALE, Berlin, Germany
Dresscode, Historisches + Völkerkundemuseum, St Gallen, Switzerland
The Genius of Place, Museum of Western Virginia, Raonoke, Virginia, USA
Shifting Terrain: Contemporary Landscape Photography, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT, USA
Mite! Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art, Okayama, Japan
Strange Cargo: Contemporary Art as a State of Encounter, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Newcastle; travelled to Broken Hill, Bendigo, Orange, Wagga Wagga, Tweed River and Ipswich (2008).
Artbank: Celebrating 25 Years of Australian Art, Artbank, Sydney; travelled to Regional Australian Galleries (2006/2007).
Decade Acquisitions 1996-2006, Bendigo art Gallery, Victoria.
2005
The Forest: Politics, Poetics and Practice, Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
Points of View: Australian Photography 1985–95, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
Beyond Real. Part 2: Making A Scene, Australian Centre of Photography, Sydney.
Time’s Arrow, Twelve Random Thoughts on Beauty, Rotunda Gallery BRIC, Brooklyn, USA.
a kind of magic: The Art of Transforming, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland.
Points of View: Landscape and Photography, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA.
Out There: Landscape in the New Millennium, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland MOCA, Ohio, USA.
Picturing the Landscape, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Grosvenor Place Building, Sydney.
Art Almanac: Cover Stories 269, Sir Hermann Black Gallery, University of Sydney, Sydney.
After Nature, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, Lake Macquarie, New South Wales.
2004
Revealing Secret Treasures: Women Artists from the Reg & Sally Richardson collection, Manning Regional Art Gallery, Taree; travelled to Coffs Harbour, Tamworth, Armidale, Maitland and Mosman (2005).
The Nature Machine: Contemporary Art, Nature and Technology, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.
Apparently Light, Galerie Nei Liicht, Dudelange, Luxembourg.
Femina, Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Paris, France; travelled to Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Brussels, Belgium.
Clouded Over, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth.
2004: Australian Culture Now, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Adrift, Queensland Centre for Photography, Brisbane.
Penumbra: Images of darkness and light, McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, Victoria.
Flock and Fable: Animals and Identity in Contemporary Art, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, USA.
Busan Biennale, Busan Metropolitan Art Museum, Busan, Korea.
More Easily Imagined, Crossings of the Blue Mountains, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst.
Breathtaking, Art Institute of Boston Gallery, Lesley University, Boston, USA. Arquitecturas Urbanas, Centro Municipal de las Artes de Alcorcón, Madrid, Spain & Centro Nacional de Fotografía Torrelavega, Santander, Spain.
Landscape & Memory, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain. Rendezvous mit Gitt–Volume 4, Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney.
Living together is easy, Art Tower Mito, Tokyo, Japan; travelled to National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Contemporary Photomedia, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.
2003
Defying Gravity: Contemporary Art and Flight, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
The Fleeting Moment Between Photography And Cinema, Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin and Museo Nazionale del Cinema of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Face Up Contemporary Art from Australia, Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum for the Present, Berlin, Germany.
Hothouse -The flower in contemporary art, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne; travelled to State Library of Victoria; Ballarat Fine Art Gallery; McCelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, Victoria; Geelong Art Gallery; National Library of Australia, Canberra; Gippsland Art Gallery, Victoria; Keith Murdoch Gallery, Melbourne.
Nature and Nation: Vaster than Empires, Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, Hastings, UK; travelled to Worcester City Museum and Art Gallery, Worcester, UK; Yard Gallery, Wollaton Park, Nottingham, UK; Lethaby Gallery, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, UK.
As Heavy as Heaven: Transformations of Gravity, Kunsthallen Brandts Klædefabrik, Odense, Denmark; travelled to Landesmuseum Joanneum und Grazer Altstadt, Graz, Austria.
Rendezvous mit Gitte volume 3, Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney.
Picturing Paradise, Mori Gallery, Sydney.
2002
2002: The Year in Art, S.H.Ervin Gallery, Sydney. out of the dark, AdelaidePerry Gallery, Presbyterian Ladies College, Sydney.
A Silver Lining & A New Beginning, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney.
Tales of the Unexpected, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
10th Anniversary Exhibition, Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney. Faux/ Real, Borusan Art Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey.
Gold Coast Ulrick Schubert Photographic Art Award, Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Gold Coast.
2001
Staged!, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. Stellar: Contemporary Art Auction, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne.
Shoot, Gold Coast City Gallery, Gold Coast; travelled to Carneigie Gallery, Hobart; Coffs Harbour Regional Art Gallery, Queensland; Caloundra Regional Art Gallery, Queensland.
A Century of Collecting 1901-2001, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney.
Rendezvous mit Gitte, Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney. low-down, Monash University Gallery, Monash University, Melbourne.
2000
art at work: Photography and Moving Image, International Terminal, Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport, Sydney Contemporary Photographic Art from Australia, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany; travelled to Museum Schloß Hardenberg, Velbert, Germany; Kunstsammlungen, Chemnitz, Germany; Kulturzentrum der Stadt, Stuttgart, Germany; Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne (Lightness of Being (2001).
A Place I've Never Been To, Umjetnicki pavilion, Zagreb, Croatia.
Images of Women by Women, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne.
Sporting Life, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. Body Language, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, University of NSW, Sydney.
The Song of the Earth, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany.
1999
Moral Hallucination: Channeling Hitchcock, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
Something for above the couch, Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney.
National Photographic Purchase Award, Albury Regional Gallery, Albury.
Contempora 5, Ian Potter Museum of Art in association with National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Natural Disasters/ Disasters Unnatural, Monash University Gallery, Melbourne.
Passion for Wings, National Aviation Museum, Ottawa, Canada.
1998
The Seppelt Contemporary Art Award, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
Blue, Annandale Galleries, Sydney.
After the Masters, 1993 - 1997 selected work, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney.
1997
Sex-tet, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney. Fascination Street, Michael Milburn Gallery, Brisbane.
1996
RUN, Michael Milburn Gallery, Brisbane. florescence, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney; travelled to Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Newcastle (1997); Campbelltown City Art Gallery, Campbelltown; (1997) Tammworth City Art Gallery, Tammworth (1997).
Koncept, International Exhibition of Contemporary Photography, Umjetnicki paviljon and Galerija Gradska, Zagreb, Croatia.
Digital Gardens: a World in Mutation, Power Plant, Toronto, Canada. Beyond the Sublime, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney.
Photography is Dead! Long Live Photography!, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
Perception and Perspective, Next Wave Festival, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
View of the New, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. 1995 New Orientation: The Vision of Art in a Paradoxical World, 4th Istanbul Biennial - International Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Antrepo, Istanbul, Turkey.
Australian Contemporary Photography: from the Moet & Chandon Art Acquisition Fund, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth.
The Artists Garden, Gallery 7, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
Decadence: 10 Years of Exhibition at 200 Gertrude Street, 200 Gertrude Street, Melbourne.
Alternative Realities: Australian artists working with technology, Ian Potter Gallery, University of Melbourne Museum of Art, Melbourne; travelled to University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong; Zhu Qizhan Gallery, Shanghai; Wang Fun Art Gallery, Beijing; Gallery Artbeam, Seoul, Korea; Pacific Cultural Centre, Taipei, Taiwan; (1996) Tamsui Centre of Art, Tamsui, Taiwan; (1996) Mountain Art Gallery, Kaohsiung,Taiwan; Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath Gallery Bangalore, India; Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh, India.
Birds Eye View, New Media Network, Melbourne.
Girls! Girls! Girls!, Orange Regional Art Gallery, Orange & Annandale Gallery, Sydney.
Interlude, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney. 1994 E-Topia, New Media Network, Melbourne.
Don't Stop, Geelong Regional Art Gallery, Geelong.
Horizons, Annandale Gallery, Sydney. Media Lounge International Symposium for Electronic Arts, Helsinki, Finland.
Don't Stop, Linden Gallery, Melbourne. 1993 Perspecta, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
Benefactors Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
Virtu, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney. March, Michael Milburn Gallery, Brisbane.
1992
Strangers in Paradise, Korean National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea; travelled to Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (1993).
Manu et Mente, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney.
but never by chance, Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide; travelled to Canberra College of Art Gallery, Canberra Institute for the Arts, Canberra; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane; Ian Potter Gallery, University of Melbourne, Melbourne (1993).
1991
First Draft West 1985-1991, First Draft West, Sydney.
Industry, First Draft West, Sydney.
Over East, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth. 1990 Amore, Artspace, Sydney.
10 x 10, Milburn + Arte, Brisbane.
Real Art, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.
1988
Ariennale, EMR Gallery, Sydney.
1987
Self Portrait Show, COG Gallery, Sydney.
True Pictures, Syn Petticot Syndicate, Sydney. 1986 Gallery Artists, Parker Bratten Gallery, New York, USA.
Femmes de Monde, Parker Bratten Gallery, New York, USA.
1985
In Almost Every Case, Performance Space Gallery, Sydney.
Queensland/Works 1950-1985, University Art Museum, Brisbane. Introspector, Avago, Sydney.
1984
Bras Icons Rooms, Artspace, Sydney.
1983
Open Video Show, Artspace, Sydney; travelled to Royal Melbourne Institute of T echnology, Melbourne; ANZART, Hobart.
1982
Detours by Tender Aliens, Long Gallery, Hobart. Chameleon, Long Gallery, Hobart.
Performances
1986 Contact, Brooklyn Bridge, Canal Street Subway, Mercer Street Soho: New York, USA.
1982 A Clear Position, Tasmanian Women and Arts Festival, Long Gallery, Hobart. A Clear Position, Tasmanian School of Art Gallery, Hobart.
1979 Spheres, Brisbane College of Advanced Education, Brisbane. Commissioned Projects 2005 bulletproofglass #2, architectural light box, Deutsche Bank, Sydney.
2002 flight research #5, billboard, Socrates Sculpture Park, New York, USA. flight research #4, billboard, Yarra's Edge -Urban Art, Mirvac, Melbourne. 2000 airport #3 stART, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
The Game, Visionaire, New York, N.Y. Jan 2000 Issue.
Awards 2009 Fellowship, Visual Arts, Australia Council.
2001 Greene Street, New York Studio Residency, Visual Arts/Craft Board of the Australia Council.
2000 Australian Research Council Grant, University of New South Wales. 1999 National Photographic Purchase Award, Albury Wodonga Regional Art Foundation. Australian Research Council Grant, University of New South Wales.
1998 Industry and Cultural Development Grant, Australian Film Commission.
1998 Australian Research Council Grant, University of New South Wales. 1997 New Work, Visual Arts / Craft Fund, Australia Council. 1997 Faculty Research Grant, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales.
1996 Faculty Research Grant, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales.
1995 Faculty Research Grant, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales.
1994 Faculty Research Grant, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales.
1993 Fellowship recipient, Visual Arts / Crafts Board of the Australia Council.
1992 Blanche Louisa Buttner Bequest, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane. 1991 Perc Tucker Acquisition, Townsville Regional Gallery, Townsville.
1990 Rothmans Foundation Postgraduate Scholarship, Sydney College of the Arts. Artist in Residence. Canberra Institute for the Arts, Canberra.
1989 Artists Development Grant. Visual Arts/Craft Board of the Australia Council.
1985 Project Grant. Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council.