Sculptures in the Garden at Mudgee's Rosby vineyard is pleased to announce that the 2016 exhibition will be opened by long-time Art Gallery of NSW director Edmund Capon.
Sculptures in the Garden is an outdoor sculpture exhibition on the weekend of October 8 and 9, 2016, which showcases hundreds of artworks annually in the setting of the Rosby homestead and vineyard outside Mudgee.
Guest speakers in previous years have included Professor The Honourable Dame Marie Bashir and Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney Clover Moore.
Edmund Capon will bring a great depth of art knowledge to the event, as director of the AGNSW from November 1978 until his retirement on December 23, 2011.
Mr Capon expanded the building and collection and developed the gallery into a world-class centre for Australian and Asian art.
“With a visual psyche that has been so conditioned by the landscape and not by the human figure, the art of sculpture has tended to be in the shadow of the art of painting in Australia,” Mr Capon said.
“Happily that is no longer true, and it is events like Sculpture by the Sea in Sydney and Sculptures in the Garden that have made such a contribution to our appreciation of the art of sculpture, no longer the poor cousin in the story of Australian art, but a lively thriving centrepiece.”
Mr Capon holds a Master of Philosophy Degree in Chinese Art and Archaeology (including language) from London University’s Department of Oriental and African Studies, and in 2003 he opened the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ rebuilt Asian galleries.
Mr Capon is a Visiting Professor in the School of Languages and Linguistics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, UNSW; has written extensively on the arts of China; and has written and presented television documentary series on the art of Australia and China.
He has been honoured by the governments of Britain, France, Italy and Australia for his contribution to art and culture.
He is currently the Chair of the Australian Institute of Architects Foundation, Chair of Gallery 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art in Sydney and Chair of the Barangaroo Delivery Authority Landmark Public Art Jury, Member of the China Studies Centre, University of Sydney and an adjunct professor at the Australia-China Relations Institute at UTS.
An avid Chelsea supporter, he was Chairman of Sydney Football Club 2006-2007.