Salon exhibition beds down at CDU Art Gallery

Charles Darwin University Art Gallery is set to host the iconic companion event to the prestigious National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) until 2020.

The Salon des Refusés exhibition, which features art works rejected from inclusion in NATSIAA, has grown in prominence since its inception in 2013, and is now firmly established as a must see event on the Darwin visual arts calendar.

CDU Art Gallery Acting Curator at the Kellie Joswig said the three-year partnership between the gallery and Territory art entrepreneurs Matt Ward and Paul Johnstone to host the exhibition was built on the importance of showcasing incredible Indigenous art to the community.

“Five years ago Paul Johnstone Gallery and Outstation – art from art centres instigated the Salon des Refusés, which now allows audiences to access works they were not able to view previously and to judge for themselves,” Ms Joswig said.

“Held at the CDU Art Gallery since 2016, the further three-year agreement will ensure a home for Salon until 2020.”

The original Salon des Refusés was an art exhibition that took place in Paris in 1863, showing works that had been rejected by the official Paris Salon.

Salon des Refusés will be presented by Outstation – art for art centres and the Paul Johnstone Gallery at CDU Art Gallery in August 2018.