Tony Albert is one of Australia’s foremost contemporary artists with a longstanding interest in the cultural misrepresentation of Aboriginal people. Drawing on both personal and collective histories, his multidisciplinary practice considers the ways in which optimism might be utilised to overcome adversity. His work poses crucial questions such as how do we remember, give justice to, and rewrite complex and traumatic histories?
Albert is acknowledged industry wide as a valued ambassador for Indigenous community and culture. He was recently announced as the inaugural Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain First Nations Curatorial Fellow. He is the first Indigenous Trustee for the Art Gallery of New South Wales, a member of the Art Gallery of New South Wales Indigenous advisory, a board member for the City of Sydney's Public Art Panel and member of the Art & Place Board at the Queensland Children's Hospital and in January 2023 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Griffith University for his significant contribution to the arts.
Selected Works
Overview
appropriated found vintage objects
200 × 400 cm
Tony Albert, Conversations with Preston: Christmas Bells 2021
Collection of National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Found kitsch objects applied to vinyl letters
200 × 510 × 10cm
Collection of Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Mordern Art
Found kitsch objects applied to vinyl letters
150 × 150 cm
Collection National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Tony Albert, David C Collins and Kieran Smythe-Jackson
Warakurna Superheroes #5 2017
archival pigment print on paper
100 × 150 cm, edition of 3 plus 2 artist's proofs
Collection of Home of the Arts, QLD
Collection of Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, QLD
Tony Albert, David C Collins and Kieran Lawson
Warakurna Superheroes #1 2017
archival pigment print on paper
100 × 150 cm, edition of 3 plus 2 artist's proofs
Collection of Western Australian Museum
Collection of Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, QLD
Tony Albert, David C Collins and Kieran Smythe-Jackson
Warakurna – The Force is with us #5 2017
archival pigment print on paper
100 × 150 cm, edition of 3 plus 2 artist's proofs
Collection of Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, QLD
Tony Albert, David C Collins and Lucy LewisWarakurna
The Force is with us #1, 2017
archival pigment print on paper
100 × 150 cm, edition of 3 plus 2 artist's proofs
Collection of Western Australian Museum
Collection of Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, QLD
Tony Albert Visible 2018
Installation view Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art
Tony Albert, Brothers 2013
Installation view, Sullivan+Strumpf, Eora / Sydney
Photography by Aaron Anderson
Tony Albert, Mid Century Modern 2016
Collection of Home of the Arts, Gold Coast QLD
installation view Sullivan+Strumpf, Eora / Sydney
Photography by Aaron Anderson
acrylic on canvas
120cm diameter
acrylic on Belgian linen
150 × 120cm
acrylic on canvas
180cm diameter
acrylic on Belgian linen
150 × 120cm
Exhibitions
By submitting this form, you consent to receive messages from Sullivan + Strumpf. Message frequency varies. You can unsubscribe at any time by replying STOP or clicking the unsubscribe link (where available) in one of our messages.
About
Tony Albert
Biography
Tony Albert is one of Australia’s foremost contemporary artists with a longstanding interest in the cultural misrepresentation of Aboriginal people. Drawing on both personal and collective histories, his multidisciplinary practice considers the ways in which optimism might be utilised to overcome adversity. His work poses crucial questions such as how do we remember, give justice to, and rewrite complex and traumatic histories?
Albert is acknowledged industry wide as a valued ambassador for Indigenous community and culture. He was recently announced as the Artistic Director for the 5th National Indigenous Art TrienniaI: After The Rain for the National Gallery of Australia. He is the first First Nations Curatorial Fellow for the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, the first Indigenous Trustee for the Art Gallery of New South Wales, a member of the Art Gallery of New South Wales Indigenous advisory, a board member for the City of Sydney's Public Art Panel and member of the Art & Place Board at the Queensland Children's Hospital and in January 2023 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Griffith University for his significant contribution to the arts.
Albert was recently awarded several prestigious public commissions both within Australia and internationally, including an installation for Public Art Fund’s Global Positioning, which debuted in January 2022 on bus shelters throughout New York City, Chicago, and Boston. He represented Australia with his commission for Constellations: Global Reflections, a first of its kind exhibition curated by world-renowned US based art curator Lance Fung which took place during the 2022 G20 Summit in Bali. Also, in 2022 he was included in Prime: Arts Next Generation (Phaidon) featuring the top 100 most distinctive and innovative young artists from around the world. Most recently, renowned Indigenous collective proppaNOW, of which Tony is a founding member, were awarded the prestigious 2022-24 Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice (USA).
Upcoming commissions within Australia include Inhabitant, a monumental 15-metre-long floating botanical sculpture which will welcome visitors at the entrance of the transformed Queen’s Wharf in Brisbane, and The Big Hose, an iconic outdoor play sculpture for QAGOMA which is being made in collaboration with artist Nell. His collaboration with Angela Tiatia, Murmurations, was launched at Museum of History NSW, Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney in 2023 and Two Worlds Colliding, a culturally informed design and artwork for Allianz Sydney Football Stadium was unveiled in 2022. Other significant national commissions include Healing Land, Remembering Country, NIRIN: the 22nd Biennale of Sydney (2020). House of Discards, The National: New Australian Art, Carriageworks, Sydney (2019): I am Visible, The National Gallery of Australia (2019) and Yininmadyemi Thou didst Let Fall Sydney Hyde Park War Memorial, City of Sydney (2015).
Albert is strongly represented in major national and international collections including Fondation Opal, Switzerland; National Gallery of Australia; National Gallery of Victoria; Australian War Memorial, Canberra; Parliament House New South Wales, Sydney; Art Gallery of New South Wales; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Art Gallery of Western Australia; Art Gallery of South Australia; and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.
Sullivan+Strumpf acknowledge the Indigenous People of this land, the traditional custodians on whose Country we work, live and learn. We pay respect to Elders, past and present, and recognise their continued connection to culture, land, waters and community.