Vernon Ah Kee

Vernon  Ah Kee



Academic Qualification

2001 - 2007   Doctorate of Visual Arts – Fine Art
                       Queensland College of Art, Griffith University
1999 - 2000   Bachelor of Visual Arts with Honours – Fine Art
                       Queensland College of Art, Griffith University
1996 - 1998   Bachelor of Visual Arts - Contemporary Indigenous Australian Art 
                       Queensland College of Art, Griffith University



Solo Exhibitions


2011

 Tall Man, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne.

2010

Tall Man Milani Gallery, Brisbane,

Vernon Ah Kee, City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand

waru Queensland College of Art Gallery,  Brisbane

2009 

 waru Kick Arts, Contemporary Arts, Cairns

Blow your house in, Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Canada

becauseitisbitter, Milani Gallery, Brisbane

2008 

belief suspension, Artspace, Sydney

born in this skin, Milani Gallery, Brisbane

2007

cant chant, Institute of Modern Art (IMA), Fortitude Valley, Brisbane

unwritten, Bellas Milani Gallery, Brisbane

conText, Postgraduate Assessment Exhibition, Queensland College of Art, Brisbane

Drawings, Brisbane State High School, Brisbane

2006

not an animal or a plant, Bellas Milani Gallery, Brisbane

2005

you must hit, Bellas Milani Gallery, Wooloongabba, Brisbane

mythunderstanding, The Contemporary Arts Centre of South Australia, Adelaide

2004 

fantasies of the good,. Bellas Milani Gallery, Brisbane

2003

consent, Gallery 1, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane

 anotherthing, Bellas Gallery, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane

2002

non-People, Bellas Gallery, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane

2001

whitefella normal blackfella me, Postgraduate Exhibition, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane

2000

The Which Way, QCA Gallery, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane

1999

If I was White, Metro Arts Building, Brisbane




Selected Group Exhibitions

2011   Barack Commissions, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. 
           The Black See, Kickarts Contemporary Arts, Cairns
           Counting Coup, Museum of Contemporary Native Art, New Mexico, USA. 
           Evolving Identities: Contemporary Indigenous Art, John Curtain Gallery, Perth
           Erased: Contemporary Australian Drawing, Asialink International touring exhibition: Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Gallery (NAFA), Singapore, PSG  
          Art Gallery, Silpakorn University Bangkok, Chiang Mai University Faculty of Fine Art Gallery, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen University Art Gallery, Thailand, 
          Khon Kaen, National Art School Sydney, Australia. Touring from 2009 - 2011
2010  roundabout, Wellington City Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand 
         Basil Sellers Art Prize Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne University
         National Works on Paper Award, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria
         Jus’ Drawn, Linden Contemporary Arts Centre, Melbourne. 2010.
         PUTSCH proppaNOW Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide
2009  Once Removed, 53rd Venice Biennale of Art, Venice Italy
         Terra Nullius: Contemporary Art from Australia ACC Galerie, Weimar, Germany
         I walk the line: new Australian drawing, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
        Avoiding myth & message: Australian artists & the literary world, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

2008   Revolutions: Forms That Turn- 2008 Biennale of Sydney, Sydney
           In the space of elsewhere Stanley Picker Gallery, Kingston University, London
           New Millennium, Lismore Regional Gallery, Lismore 
          On paper, Milani Gallery, Brisbane 
          Optimism, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
           In the space of elsewhere, Stanley Picker Gallery, London
2007   Power & Beauty: Indigenous Art Now Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
           Regionalisms, University of Queensland Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane 
           National Indigenous Art Triennial: Culture Warriors, National Gallery of Art, Canberra
           The Amersham Trophy, Ambleside Street Studio, West End, Brisbane 
           Sunshine State, Smart State, Cambelltown Arts Centre, Cambelltown, Sydney
           Friendly Fire, ProppaNOW Group, George Petelin Gallery, Gold Coast 
           Thresholds of Tolerance, School of Art Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra
           Raised By Wolves, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
2006   Your, Mine & Ours: The ABC Of Everything, Cambelltown Arts Centre, Sydney
          There Goes The Neighbourhood, Ambleside Street Studio, Brisbane
          Colonial To Contemporary, Dell Gallery, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane
          The Sixth Drawing Biennale, The Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University. Canberra
          MCA Collection: New Acquisitions 2006, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney 
          Radical Regionalism: The Empire of Shadows, Museum London, London, Ontario. 
          Queensland Live, Touring Exhibition, Gladstone, Logan, Bundaberg, Cairns, Ipswich, Cleveland, Mackay, Toowoomba, Queensland Art Gallery,  
          Brisbane. Touring from February 2007 – October 2008.
          Dancelines, George Adams Gallery, The Arts Centre, Melbourne
2005   ARC Art, Design & Craft Biennial, Brisbane City Hall, Brisbane 
          Thick and Fast, The Powerhouse, Brisbane
         Art Urbain du Pacific, Diff’ Art Pacific, The Castle of St-Auvent, Saint Auvent, France
         The Grey Voice, Tin Sheds Gallery, University of Sydney, Sydney
         Untitled, The Lane Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
         Face Value: Video portraiture from the Pacific, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney; Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane. 

2004   skin, Long Gallery, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart
           Cultural Copy: Visual Conversations on Indigenous Art and Cultural Appropriation, The Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA,  Los Angeles. 
           blak insights: Contemporary Indigenous Art from the Queensland Art Gallery Collection, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
           ART TV 2004: Australian Culture Now, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne
           Spirit & Vision: Aboriginal Art, Sammlung Essl – Kunsthaus, Klosternburg, Austria
2003   Places That Name Us, RAKA Award: Contemporary Indigenous Visual Arts #3, The Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne
          1 Square Mile, Brisbane Boundaries, Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane City Gallery, Brisbane
           Abstractions, The Drill Hall, Australian National University (ANU), Canberra
          This Is Not America, Dusseldorf, Germany, June 27 – July 23, 2003, QCA Gallery, Brisbane
          Story Place: Indigenous Art of Cape York and the Rainforest, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
          4 X 4, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
          heimatkunst.com, 5 White Cubes, Forum Kunst Art Residency, Rottweil, Germany
          Feedback: Art, Social Consciousness, and Resistance, Museum of Art, Monash University, Melbourne
2002   Transit Narratives, Touring Exhibition 2002 – 2003, Centro per la Arti Visive LE VENEZIE, Treviso, Italy; Auronzo di Cadore, Salone espositivo- 
           Municipio; QCA Gallery, Brisbane; Victorian College of the Arts, Tasmanian School of Art.

Selected Citations/References

Broker, David: “4x4”, IMA Newsletter, May – August 2003, institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, p4.

Bullen, Clotilde: “Vernon Ah Kee”, Raised By Wolves, The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 2006, pp29-30.

Chapman, Chris: “This is Not America: Here There” Chris Chapman, This Is Not America, June 27 – August 23 2003, Griffith University, Queensland 
College of Art, Brisbane.

Clayburn, Anna: “text and tablets follow the script”, Review, Weekend Australian¬, May 2 – 3 2003, p21.

Croft, Brenda: “No Need Looking”, Photofile, no.66, September 2002, pp24-29.

Day, Charlotte: Feedback: Art, Social Consciousness and Resistance, Monash University Art Museum, Melbourne March – May 2003.

Destination Art, episode 1, DVD, BBC, 2006.

Devenport, Rhana: “Face Value / Voicing The Silent Witness”, Face Value: Video Portraiture From The Pacific, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, College of Fine 
Arts, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2005, p5.

Downes, Briony: “Cutting Skin”, australian Art Review, issue6, November 2004 – February 2005, p96.

Eather, Michael: “…always from the beginning.1: Aboriginal Art Today and Tomorrow”, Spirit & Vision: Aboriginal Art, Sammlung Essl – Kunsthaus, 
Klosternburg, Austria, 2004, pp42-48.

Eccles, Jeremy: “Xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Art Award 2006”, Art Monthly Australia, ANU School of Art, Canberra, June 2006, no. 190, pp15-17.

Edmundson, Anna; Neale, Margot: “Learning to be Proppa: Aboriginal Artist’s Collective, ProppaNOW”, Thresholds of Tolerance, Australian National 
University, Canberra, 2007, pp29-38.

Eglitis, Anna: Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Art: Now Day, Early Days: Art Works and Legends, Central Queensland University Press, 
Rockampton, QLD, 1999.

Gorringe, Jenny; Foley, Fiona: skin, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart. July 8 – August 8 2004.

Handran, Chris: “4 x 4”, Artlink, rich and strange, vol. 23 no. 3, September 2004, South Australia, pp83-84.

Helmrich, Michelle: “this is not america”, eyeline: Contemporary Visual Arts, no. 54, winter 2004, p48.  

Helmrich, Michelle; Bell, Richard: 1 square mile: brisbane boundaries, October 2003, Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane City Gallery, City Hall, Brisbane, October 2003.

Helmrich, Michelle: “Sexy & Dangerous”, australian Art Review, issue 6, November 2004 – February 2005, pp86-87.

Hoffie, Pat: “blak insights”, Artlink, Currents 1, vol. 24 no. 3, September 2004, South Australia, pp82-83.

Hoffie, Pat: “Vernon Ah Kee”, Spacial Eclipses: Temporal Anchorings, Postgraduate Exhibition, QCA Gallery, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane. September 8–24 1999.

Holubizky, Ihor: “In the Future”, BackFlash, Buffalo Berry Press Inc. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, June 15 2002, pp5-13.

Martin-Chew, Louise: “Hybrid ideas home-grown”, The Australian, June 1 2006, p40.

Martin-Chew, Louise: “The Artists”, Artlink, critical mass: the new Brisbane, vol. 23 no. 2, June 2003, pp59-60. 

Martin-Chew, Louise: “Story Place”, art & australia, vol. 41 no. 3, March/April/May 2004, pp474.

McIntyre, Sophie: “Vernon Ah Kee”, Place/Displace catalogue, QCA Gallery, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane. November 16 2001 – January 16 2002.

McLean, Bruce: “Vernon Ah Kee”, Queensland Live, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2006, pp14-15.

Melani, Josh: “Vernon Ah Kee – If I was White”, Promise 1999, March – July 1999, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University; Metro Arts Building; 
the Department of Art History, University of Queensland, Brisbane.

Morrell, Timothy: “Vernon Ah Kee”, mythunderstanding catalogue essay, 2005, The Contemporary Arts Centre of South Australia, Parkside, Adelaide.

Morrell, Timothy: “Vernon Ah Kee, consent”, broadsheet: Contemporary Visual Arts + Culture, vol. 32 no. 3, July/August/September 2004, p32.

Morrell, Timothy: “Vernon Ah Kee”, Australian Art Collector, issue 35, January – March  2006, p86.

Morrell, Timothy: “in black & white: text in Indigneous Queensland art”, Artlink, the word as art, vol. 27 no. 1, Jan-March 2007, South Australia, pp33-37.

Moore, Archie: “Black Eye = Black Viewpoint: A Conversation With ProppaNOW”, Machine, vol. 1 no. 4, Brisbane, 2006, pp2-4.

Muhlberger, Emma: “one square mile: brisbane boundaries”, eyeline: Contemporary Visual Arts, no. 54, winter 2004, pp52-53.

Nelson, Robert: “Struggling to do political art well”, The Age, April 2 2003.

Ostling, Susan: ARC Art, Design & Craft Biennial, Brisbane City Hall, Brisbane, 2005, pg2.

Smith, Marita: “Vernon Ah Kee”, Dancelines: Contemporary Indigenous Art Inspired By Bangara Dance Theatre, The Victorian Arts Centre Trust, 
Melbourne, 2006, pp14-17.

Snelling, Michael: consent, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane. June 12 – July 19 2003.

Snelling, Michael: “Vernon Ah Kee”, Spirit & Vision: Aboriginal Art, Sammlung Essl – Kunsthaus, Klosternburg, Austria, 2004, pp123-125.

Storer, Russell: MCA Collection: New Acquisitions 2006, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2006, pp2-4.

Storer, Russell: “MCA Collection: New Acquisitions 2006”, Art Matters: Museum of Contemporary Art Newsletter, Winter 06, Museum of Contemporary 
Art, Sydney, 2006, pp5-7.

Quaill, Avril: “Vernon Ah Kee”, Story Place: Indigenous Art of Cape York and the Rain Forest, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2003, pp.174-75.

Quaill, Avril: “There Goes The Neighbourhood”, Brought to Light II, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2007, pp.349-352.

The Artist’s Voice 2006, DVD, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2006.

Yours, Mine & Ours, DVD, ABC, Sydney, 2007.



Collections

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Art Bank, Sydney 
University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane
University of Technology Sydney
QUT Art Museum, Brisbane
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville 
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria
Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, U.S.A.
David Teplitzky and Peggy Scott Collection, Hong Kong
Kluge-ruhe Collection, University of Virginia, U.S.A


Vernon Ah Kee is represented by Milany Gallery Brisbane