Curator Wayne Tunnicliffe Assembles Blockbuster Pop Exhibit

The Art Gallery of NSW’s art curator New Zealander Wayne Tunnicliffe has spent more than two years assembling a pop art collection of 200 artworks from Australia, Britain, Germany, Portugal, France, Spain and the US.

The exhibition called, Pop to Popism features some of the genre’s biggest stars – Warhol, Lichtenstein and Hockney. No first names required.

Some lenders are private individuals, others are prestigious public institutions, among them the Tate and New York’s Museum of Modern Art, all of which makes the local contingent’s inclusion more interesting.

“Australian work from that period is really strong, it absolutely stands up,” Tunnicliffe says.

The gallery has devoted its entire lower-level modern and contemporary space to the exhibition, such is the importance of this summer blockbuster.

Tunnicliffe has curated the contemporary Australian collection at the gallery since 2001 and has been responsible for some of the gallery’s most significant acquisitions by living artists.

Pop to Popism runs through 1 March 2015.

Original article by Michaela Boland, The Australian, October 31, 2014.