New location on campus for Jan King’s ‘Monastery’

“One of the captivating things about Jan King’s sculptures is that they present themselves to us as drawings – drawings in three dimensions. Her largest sculptures, in particular, seem to be executed with effortless ease and accuracy – they are just about as beautiful as drawing in our time can decently aspire to be. Yet the impression we receive of physical verve, spontaneity, suppleness and susceptibility to nuance is due to an illusion she contrives.” – Terence Maloon

In 2018 sculptor Jan King generously donated her dynamically lyrical Monastery to the ANU Art Collection as part of the Australian Cultural Gifts Program. Visitors to the Drill Hall Gallery have enjoyed Monastery for some years, and it can now be seen in the new Research School of Social Sciences building, along with other landmark works from the ANU Art Collection.

Monastery featured in the 2011 Drill Hall exhibition ‘Abstraction’, curated by Terence Maloon and Paul Selwood, alongside works by Michael Buzacott, Virginia Coverntry, Paul Hopmeier, Roy Jackson, Allan Mitelman, John Peart, James Rogers, Paul Selwood and Aida Tomescu.

If you would like to see more works by King you can now view them via an new online catalogue of her work through Defiance Gallery.

Image credit: On location in the ANU RSSS building. Jan King (b. Cunnamulla QLD, 1945) Monastery, 2006. hot zinc sprayed and painted steel, 198 x 110 x 70 cm. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by the artist, 2018. ANU Art Collection.