Major Purchases Go On Display At Gallery Of Modern Art

The Art Fund has allocated five UK museums 1million pound each to make acquisitions of international contemporary art. The funding is made under Art Fund International, a new scheme to encourage a radical change in the scale and ambition of international contemporary art. GoMA has so far bought 12 works by four different artists.

Collected: Matthew Buckingham and Peter Hujar showcases eight of the new purchases, and runs at GoMA till 26 April 2009. These are the first works by these artists to enter a public collection in the UK.

A much sought-after installation piece by German artist Lothar Baumgarten, and three video works by Emily Jacir completes this first group of purchases.

All 12 works acquired by GoMA were bought solely with funding from Art Fund International. GoMA established a partnership with Glasgow-based The Common Guild to apply for the Art Fund International Award. The Common Guild is a visual arts charity for contemporary projects, exhibitions and events.

The purchases include seven iconic photographic prints by influential American artist Peter Hujar. Best known for his striking image of New York transsexual AIDS victim Candy Darling on her deathbed, Hujar’s work influenced Robert Mapplethorpe, Diane Arbus and Nan Goldin.

These gritty images – Girl in My Hallway (1976), West Side Parking Lots, NYC (1976), Boy in Plastic Pants (1978), Chair, Canal Street Pier (1983), Hallway, Canal Street Pier (1983), Blanket (1985), David Lighting Up (1985) – expose the dark underbelly of 70s and 80s New York by night.

The eighth new acquisition in the exhibition will be a moving video narrative – Everything I Need, 2007 – by American artist Matthew Buckingham. The artist explores human rights and social justice issues, particularly in relation to sexuality. This work is based on the memoirs of Charlotte Wolff, an exiled German Jewish lesbian returning to post-Nazi Berlin in the 70s.

Other works of art bought with Art Fund International funding include three video works by Emily Jacir.

Jacir was born in Saudi Arabia. She lives and works in Ramallah and New York, and was awarded a Golden Lion award in Venice last year. Her critically acclaimed work highlights the restricted day to day lives of the Palestinian people. Crossing Surda (A Record of going to and from work), 2002; From Texas with Love, 2002; and Ramallah/New York, 2004, will be shown at GoMA next year.

In addition to these, The Art Fund has bought for the gallery an installation piece by German artist Lothar Baumgarten. Unsettled Objects (1968–69) is a seminal early work by this influential German artist looking at how non-western art and artefacts are displayed in a Western museum (Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford).

In this slide projection, Baumgarten uses a combination of text and image which has informed the work of subsequent generations of artists. GoMA will be the only UK institution outside London to hold work by Baumgarten.

David Barrie, Director of The Art Fund, said, ‘These are the first major acquisitions bought as part of our scheme to revitalise the collecting of international contemporary art and it's tremendous that Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art is mounting a special exhibition. With ?1million to spend in total, there is more to come. Watch this space.’

Councillor Archie Graham, the Executive Member for Culture and Sport at Glasgow City Council, said, ‘These are outstanding acquisitions, which reflects our ambition to build on the city’s reputation as the home of the very best in modern art outside London.

‘We are extremely grateful to The Art Fund for their significant contribution, allowing us to purchase these significant works for the people of Glasgow.’ -- www.glasgowmuseums.com