Salon des Refusés 2019

Charles Darwin University Art Gallery’s companion exhibition to the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA) will open to the public on Thursday, 8 August. 

Now in its fourth year at CDU and kicking off the Darwin Festival, the Salon des Refusés exhibition features art works that were entered but not selected for, NATSIAA.

CDU Art Gallery Acting Curator, Kellie Joswig said the Salon concept provides a showcase for art that was not chosen for the final NATSIAA exhibition.

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

“The concept allows artists to still be part of an exciting exhibition, even if they weren’t chosen for the Awards. It also gives audiences the opportunity to see incredible Indigenous art that otherwise would not be displayed,” Ms Joswig said.

“This year the Salon des Refusés is a carefully curated exhibition featuring 52 works that show the amazing diversity and quality of Aboriginal art being created in Australia today, including wonderful canvas paintings by award-winning artists such as Carbiene McDonald Tjangala who has just won the Hadley’s Art Prize, Australia’s richest prize for landscape art. Other works include colourful and quirky soft sculptures, painted hollow logs, and a statement piece crafted from 2km of fencing wire that is sure to make an impression on visitors!

The exhibition presenters are known to be a little bit unconventional in their selection and approach, which has made the Salon des Refusés a hotly anticipated and popular event of the Darwin Festival.” she said.
The exhibition is hosted by CDU Art Gallery and presented by SALON Art Projects.