Leading Contemporary Artists Yona Lee and Dawn Ng Awarded Two Major Commissions

Under the Melbourne Art Foundation 2025 commission program, two ambitious new works from leading international artists represented by Australian galleries, will be presented at Melbourne Art Fair, 20 – 23 February 2025.

In partnership with Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) celebrated Singaporean multi-disciplinary artist Dawn Ng, represented by Sullivan+Strumpf(Gadigal Country/Sydney, Naarm/Melbourne), will exhibit a new moving image work exploring the tenor and trajectory of time via a hypnotic cascade of falling colour. Ng’s presentation at the 2025 Melbourne Art Fair is supported by The Ritz-Carlton Melbourne.

Additionally, in partnership with the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre, Auckland-based artist Yona Lee, represented by Fine Arts, Sydney (Gadigal Country/Sydney), will develop a large scale installation, calling into question what it means to make sculpture comprised of found objects in the networked digital age. Lee’s commission at the 2025 Melbourne Art Fair is supported by Artwork Transport. It is the first time a Melbourne Art Foundation Commission will be in partnership with an international institution.

The two major new works will be gifted to the permanent collections of the respective partnering institutions.

Reuben Keehan, Curator, Contemporary Asian Art, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery Modern Art (QAGOMA) commented: “Dawn Ng’s mesmerising video The Earth is an hourglass 2024 is the central component of her striking installation in the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial. It is also a significant work for Ng, marking the first time that she has experimented with a deep black ground, adding cosmic and metaphorical scope to her evocations of the elasticity of time. With Melbourne Art Foundation’s generous support and collaboration, it will join QAGOMA’s deep and wide-ranging collection of work from across Asia and the Pacific as an enduring document of strength and diversity of art from the region, and of this edition of the Triennial.”

Dr. Zara Stanhope, Director of Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre, shared her enthusiasm for the collaboration: “This is a significant event as the first collaboratively supported artist commission between an institution in Aotearoa and one of the most important art fairs in the region, and an opportunity for South Korean, Aotearoa-based artist Yona Lee to reveal new developments in her creative practice. Internationally known for her large-scale installations blending public and domestic spaces, this commission provides the chance for Lee to take creative risks and engage audiences in new ways.”

Subsequent to the Melbourne installation, Lee’s work will enter the Govett-Brewster Collection and be exhibited as part of Direct Bodily Empathy – Sensing Sound, a major group exhibition as part of the celebrations for the 10th anniversary of the Len Lye Centre.

Melbourne Art Fair returns 20 – 23 February 2025, bringing together 60 of the region’s leading galleries and Indigenous Art Centres, spanning 10,000sqm at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

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