RIVERS +ROCKS, a major touring exhibition of rarely seen works by Arthur Boyd and Brett Whiteley will open at the Brett Whiteley Studio on Saturday 20 October. Curator Gavin Wilson has selected over 50 paintings, drawings and prints by Arthur Boyd and Brett Whiteley from State, National and private collections.

For most people, Arthur Boyd is synonymous with the Shoalhaven River where his works range in mood from subdued awe amidst the natural splendors, to outrage at instances of environmental indifference. While Brett Whiteley stayed and worked with Arthur Boyd on the Shoalhaven, it was riverine landscapes of the New South Wales central west that captivated the artist through his career. A place of particular interest was the giant rock strewn countryside around the Fish River that for Whiteley possessed the dramatic atmosphere of Zen garden. His experience of the place would give rise to works of great beauty and invention.

Organized by the Bundanon Trust, Rivers + Rocks is a unique opportunity for audiences to encounter the riverine environment as a source of poetic speculation, sensuous reverie and observed fact revealed though the fine works of these grate Australian artists.

The Brett Whiteley Studio is the first venue of a year long tour of Rivers + Rocks. The tour will continue at regional venues in Orange, Armidale, Noosa, Townsville, Emu Plains, Mornington Peninsula and at Ballarat, concluding in December 2002.

The exhibition tour was made possible by the Federal Governments national touring exhibitions funding program. Visions of Australia with additional support from the Department of Communications, Technology, Information of the Arts.

Wilson, points out, 'Rivers + Rocks brings together for the first time, two of the country's best known and most accomplished artists, exploring a theme relevant to both metropolitan and regional Australia. A touring show with over 50 works of this quality and scope is cause for celebration'.

Visions of Australia aims to provide Australians, wherever they live with better access to the nation's cultural heritage; historic; scientific and visual arts material, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait culture.

TOUR ITINERARY FOR RIVERS + ROCKS EXHIBITION