Given the building excitement surrounding HOTA Gallery, we knew the opening program of exhibitions would be big but this is next level! In the first year alone, the gallery will host three major exhibitions including a world premiere, new work in the dedicated Children’s Gallery and curated selections from the City Collection in HOTA Collects. First up is Solid Gold: Artists from Paradise (April 10 to June 20, 2021) featuring works by emerging and established Australian artists with a connection to the Gold Coast region. The collection will celebrate the diversity and richness of the area and contain pieces from Hiromi Tango, Michael Candy, Abbey McCulloch, Samuel Leighton-Dore and Libby Harward. Next up is Lyrical Landscapes: The Art of William Robinson (July 24 to October 3, 2021), which pays homage to one of Australia’s foremost living artists and greatest landscape painters. The major exhibition will see Robinson’s entire Creation Series, produced over 16 years, presented together for the first time.
In a massive boon for the coast, and indeed Australia, HOTA Gallery will present the world-premiere exhibition of Contemporary Masters from New York: Art from the Mugrabi Collection (November 13 2021 to February 27, 2022) featuring approximately 70 works from some of the world’s most influential contemporary artists including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Richard Prince, and Jeff Koons. Developed by HOTA Gallery Director, Tracy Cooper-Lavery and drawn entirely from the Mugrabi’s famed private collection, the exhibition marks the first time these iconic works have been shown in Australia. Alongside the premiere exhibitions presented in the main space, HOTA Gallery will also showcase works from the $32 million City Collection. Consisting of more than 4,400 artworks, the collection includes one the largest collections of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art in regional Australia.
Information on the 2021 exhibition program can be found at HOTA, with further details and programming to be announced in 2021.
Image 1: Jean-Michel Basquiat 1985 © Lizzie Himmel. Artwork © Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Licensed by Artestar, New York
Image 2: Keith Haring 1985 © Jeannette Montgomery Barron / Trunk Archive
