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The Big Easel is an installation art piece, created by Canadian artist Cameron Cross, and located in the town of Emerald in Central Queensland, Australia.
Erected in 1999, and unveiled in October of the same year, the installation artwork depicts Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh's (1853-1890) famous Sunflowers (1889) still life painting, which is currently part of the Van Gogh Museum’s collection in Amsterdam. [1]
The reproduction of van Gogh's painting is located on the corner of Dundas Street and the Capricorn Highway, situated in the centre of Emerald’s Discovery Park. Weighing approximately 17,000 kilograms, Cross's steel easel measures 25 metres in height, with the canvas measuring 7 x 10 metres. [2]
The easel's three legs consist of 30 x 30 square centimetres of steel tubing, which are secured to 10 metre piers by 24-1 metre anchor bolts. [3] Cross used twenty-four sheets of plywood, laminated together from four panels, each of which was coated with fibreglass and then sealed with a gel coat. [3] The plywood canvas is painted while flat on the ground, using high performance paint, which is both sprayed and hand-painted onto the surface of the plywood.
The giant easel in Emerald is one part of a series of seven internationally located installations titled the ‘Van Gogh Project.’ This Project sees reproductions of the seven still life paintings van Gogh created while in Arles, France, installed at different global locations. The first Big Easel was installed in Altona, Manitoba, Canada in 1998 and another was placed in Goodland, Kansas, USA in the year 2000. [4] The artist is currently in discussions with other cities and towns around the world for the prospective locations of the other four outdoor installations. [5] The seven sites proposed by Cross are intended to represent a diverse societal cross section, including both rural and urban cities with a wide range of population demographics. [6] The Emerald Easel has become a local landmark in Australia, attributed to the fact that it is the largest painting in the Southern Hemisphere. The installation also acts as a symbol of international fine art, in its role in helping to unite often disparate cultures. In its efforts to help celebrate the Emerald region's reputation as one of Australia's primary sunflower producers, the Big Easel reflects the town's sense of community spirit and pride.
Cross's Project has focussed on selecting seven global sites which have either a connection to sunflower agriculture or an affiliation with the artist Vincent van Gogh. [7] During his time in Arles, between 1888 and 1889, van Gogh created seven different, but similarly themed, still life paintings depicting sunflowers in a vase. The artist originally intended to paint twelve panels of sunflowers to decorate the Yellow House at Arles. [8] Emerald's Big Easel is a copy of the repetition van Gogh made of the fourth version of his Sunflowers (1888), which is currently part of the National Gallery of London's collection. Van Gogh came to think of the sunflower as a type of artistic signature, stating in a letter to his brother, Theo van Gogh, in January 1889, "You know that Jeannin has the peony, Quost has the hollyhock, but I have the sunflower, in a way." [9] The symbolic significance of the sunflower to van Gogh as an artist is reflected in the Van Gogh Project. In Cross's view, van Gogh associated the sunflower with life, symbolising the possibilities of hope and renewal. [10] In this way, the Big Easel emerges as a tribute to both van Gogh's Sunflowers painting, as well as to Emerald's local sunflower agriculture and its annual Central Highlands Easter Sunflower Festival. [11]
Cross's Van Gogh Project is designed to represent the nature of, and motivation for, the modern concept of reproduction and artistic appropriation in contemporary art practice. As an artist, Cross is interested in exploring the notion of traditional symbolism in art, and appropriating it into different social, historical and cultural contexts. In the case of his Van Gogh Project, Cross has taken the idea of the still life on an easel, a motif popularised in the nineteenth century, and enlarged it to an enormous scale, in order to transform this traditional symbol into a contemporary artwork in its own right. [12] In reference to his creative objectives, Cross has stated via his website that, "By placing virtually the same sculpture in seven countries, with distinct cultures, I am curious as to how these sculptures will be interpreted. Will the sculpture be perceived for its reference to the sunflower, Van Gogh or art in general?" [13]
The Van Gogh Project is designed to promote regional, agricultural and tourism development in the sites selected by Cross. His Project has encouraged cross cultural exchanges between cities, with Emerald and Altona forming a sister city alliance through their mutual celebrations of Sunflower Festivals. [14] In a letter of recommendation for the Canadian artist, the mayor of Emerald Shire Council, Peter Maguire, stated that Cross’ Van Gogh Project is "one of the most exciting and inventive tourism project ideas focused on developing tourism and economic development." [15] Maguire has also credited Cross's project with the recent growth in the region's tourism industry, as well as the resultant job opportunities provided by the installation process. In his letter of recommendation, Maguire stated that "The giant easel is more than just a tourist attraction. The visitor is left with the impression that this booming city also has a cultural side. It has helped bond Emerald's arts and cultural groups together and in it they have something in their city to speak of with pride." [16]
The installation process has helped support the local Emerald community, recruiting volunteers experiencing temporary unemployment, as well as art students from the local schools. Cross also employed a local fibreglass contractor to assist in the painting and preparation of the plywood canvas, highlighting the project's ability to encourage a sense of community engagement and development. [17] Community contributions assisted in meeting the costs of construction, but a large portion of the funding for Cross’ Project came from the Emerald Shire Council and funds from the Centenary of Federation. [18]
Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life. His oeuvre includes landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and self-portraits, most of which are characterized by bold colors and dramatic brushwork that contributed to the rise of expressionism in modern art. Van Gogh's work was beginning to gain critical attention before he died at age 37, by what was suspected at the time to be a suicide. During his lifetime, only one of Van Gogh's paintings, The Red Vineyard, was sold.
Emerald is a rural town and locality in the Central Highlands Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, the locality of Emerald had a population of 14,906 people.
Sunflowers is the title of two series of still life paintings by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. The first series, executed in Paris in 1887, depicts the flowers lying on the ground, while the second set, made a year later in Arles, shows a bouquet of sunflowers in a vase. In the artist's mind, both sets were linked by the name of his friend Paul Gauguin, who acquired two of the Paris versions. About eight months later, Van Gogh hoped to welcome and impress Gauguin again with Sunflowers, now part of the painted Décoration for the Yellow House that he prepared for the guestroom of his home in Arles, where Gauguin was supposed to stay.
Café Terrace at Night is an 1888 oil painting by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. It is also known as The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum, and, when first exhibited in 1891, was entitled Coffeehouse, in the evening.
Altona is a town in southern Manitoba, Canada, about 100 km south-west of Winnipeg and 158 km north of Grand Forks, North Dakota. The population at the 2021 Census was 4,390 residents. Old Altona was founded in 1880 by Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonites from the Russian Empire. It is surrounded by the Municipality of Rhineland. Much of the surrounding area is devoted to farming and agriculture-based business.
The Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame is a museum located in Longreach, Queensland, Australia, which pays tribute to pioneers of the Australian outback. The centre is also dedicated to Australian stockmen who have shown bravery and courage.
The Queensland Cultural Centre is a heritage-listed cultural center on Grey Street, South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is part of the South Bank precinct on the Brisbane River and was built from 1976.
The Big Pineapple is a heritage-listed tourist attraction at Nambour Connection Road, Woombye, Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Peddle Thorp and Harvey, Paul Luff, and Gary Smallcombe and Associates. It is also known as Sunshine Plantation. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 6 March 2009.
Dicky Beach is both a beach and coastal suburb of Caloundra in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Dicky Beach had a population of 1,895 people.
Vincent & Theo is a 1990 biographical drama film about the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) and his brother Theo (1857–1891), an art dealer. While Vincent van Gogh's artworks are now famous, he was essentially unrecognized in his lifetime, and survived on his brother's charity. The film was directed by Robert Altman, and starred Tim Roth and Paul Rhys in the title roles.
The Langlois Bridge at Arles is the subject of four oil paintings, one watercolor and four drawings by Vincent van Gogh. The works, made in 1888 when van Gogh lived in Arles, in southern France, represent a melding of formal and creative aspects. Van Gogh used a perspective frame that he built and used in The Hague to create precise lines and angles when portraying perspective.
The Auberge Ravoux is a French historic landmark located in the heart of the village of Auvers-sur-Oise. It is known as the House of Van Gogh because the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh spent the last 70 days of his life as a lodger at the auberge. During his stay at Auvers, Van Gogh created more than 80 paintings and 64 sketches before shooting himself in the chest on 27 July 1890 and dying two days later on 29 July 1890. The auberge (inn) has been restored as a museum and tourist attraction. The room where Van Gogh lived and died has been restored and can be viewed by the public.
Beach at Scheveningen in Stormy Weather, also known as View of the Sea at Scheveningen, is an early oil painting by Vincent van Gogh, painted at Scheveningen near The Hague in August 1882. It is held in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
The death of Vincent van Gogh, the Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, occurred in the early morning of 29 July 1890 in his room at the Auberge Ravoux in the village of Auvers-sur-Oise in northern France after possibly shooting himself two days earlier.
The Letters of Vincent van Gogh is a collection of 903 surviving letters written (820) or received (83) by Vincent van Gogh. More than 650 of these were from Vincent to his brother Theo. The collection also includes letters van Gogh wrote to his sister Wil and other relatives, as well as between artists such as Paul Gauguin, Anthon van Rappard, and Émile Bernard.
Margaret Curran (1887–1962) was an Australian poet, editor, and journalist.
Lindsay M. Edward (1919–2007) was an Australian abstract artist, mosaicist and teacher. He was born in Victoria on 26 August 1919.
Vincent van Gogh is an 1886 oil on canvas portrait painting by Australian artist John Russell. It depicts Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, who befriended Russell after meeting him at Fernand Cormon's atelier in Paris, which they both attended. Painted in a realist and academic manner, the portrait shows hints of the impressionist techniques that Russell and Van Gogh began experimenting with in the latter half of the 1880s.
The Australian Telecommunications Employees' Association (ATEA) was an Australian trade union representing technical and trades employees in the telecommunications industry from 1912 to 1992. Its members were primarily employed by the Postmaster-General's Department, the Australian Broadcasting Control Board and the Department of Posts and Telecommunications.
The Anzac Square mosaic mural is a glass mosaic mural beneath the Shrine of Remembrance, Anzac Square, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed and executed by Brisbane artist and dentist, Don Ross (1917-2015), in 1959, and is the centrepiece of the World War II Memorial Galleries.