Sharing the National Collection: Hockney for HOTA and Mueck for Maitland

More regional audiences will have the chance to appreciate artistic masterpieces – as part of the Albanese Labor Government’s Sharing the National Collection initiative.

This will see the $69 million masterpiece A Bigger Grand Canyon 1998 by influential British painter David Hockey travel to HOTA (Home of the Arts) on the Gold Coast.

HOTA will also receive Mount Analogue 1985 by foremost Australian contemporary artist Imants Tillers.

Both pieces are impressive in scale – made up of multiple canvases, measuring more than 2 metres tall and several metres wide.

They will be displayed for two years from June 2024.

Also, from March 2024, Maitland Gallery in New South Wales will host Australian sculptor Ron Mueck’s monumental piece Pregnant Woman 2002 – a sensational hyper-real sculpture, sure to be a drawcard for people across the state.

An initiative of Revive – Australia’s new National Cultural Policy – Sharing the National Collection continues to generate excitement, with expressions of interests received from institutions in all states and territories.

Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, said it was great to see the scheme embraced by cultural institutions across the country.

“Australia’s national collection belongs to all Australians.

“This initiative gets these works out of the storeroom and up onto the walls of galleries around the country for people to enjoy – as they should be.

“I can’t wait to see these pieces in their new homes.”

Director of the National Gallery of Australia, Nick Mitzevich, welcomed the opportunity to showcase the Gallery’s collection across the country.

“The two large-scale painting from the national collection travelling to the Gold Coast will find new context and electrify the collection at Home of the Arts.

“Meanwhile, in the Hunter Valley, residents and visitors will be able to marvel at the hyper-real sculpture that is visiting the Maitland Regional Art Gallery.”

The works can be viewed via the National Gallery’s website.

Regional and suburban galleries can register their expressions of interest via this link.