Showing in the West Space Window from 25 January to 1 March, a new project by Emily Hubbard explores the way art, images and ideals from the U.S. have come to dominate culture in Australia. Hubbard reflects on two key moments in the popularisation of U.S. art in Australian society.

The first occurred in 1973, when the National Gallery of Australia, purchased 'Blue Poles' by Jackson Pollock with the support of then-Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. The painting cost $1.3 million — the most ever paid for an American painting in the world at that time. The second was in 1984, when Keith Haring spent three weeks in Australia on the invitation of ACCA Melbourne.

Haring completed two temporary murals, at the National Gallery of Victoria and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, with a third more permanent mural at the Collingwood Technical College — now Collingwood Yards, where West Space resides.

Hubbard renders these histories in t-shirt screen-printing materials and techniques to consider whether it is possible to creatively engage with the imported culture of dominant imperialist powers, or whether we are inescapably pawns of the U.S — with art as a tool of soft political power.

Based in Naarm/Melbourne, Emily Hubbard is interested in exploring the relationship between art and popular culture, drawing inspiration from her experiences as a services' worker in galleries, museums and libraries to produce art that counters individualism and builds solidarity.

Supported by City of Yarra through the Annual Grants Program.

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