Cups of tea, painting in the countryside, the wool price is good, things are good “back home” in England, Robert Menzies’ Academy of Australian Art is building exaggeration, true, but the late 1930s to early 1940s provided the perfect environment for new ideas and different values.

Enter “Angry Penguins”: named after the Adelaide magazine published by a young Max Harris, the artists whose core group of Arthur Boyd, Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker and Joy Hester were occasional complemented in idea and image by members of the Contemporary Art Society.

The time was ripe for change and the fuel came from Europe and America - surrealism and modern poetry. It was going well until the Ern Malley hoax.

Ironically, many of the same artists formed the “Antipodeans”, a group of artists reacting to the “threat”? of abstract images from America and Europe.

This show is a celebration of works within the Benalla Art Gallery’s own collection and of a time when every painting had a story to tell.

Take a privileged glimpse, both very human and very intimate, into what helped one man survive World War 11.

Arch Simpson was part of the 78th Fighter Squadron. During his years of service, his maiden aunt sent him pin-up images of beautiful women.

This is a wonderful story, laced with an irrepressible spirit for life and a celebration of beauty that even the darkest of circumstances could not suppress.

Arch was a long-time volunteer and champion of the Benalla Art Gallery. The gallery in which this work is presented is named in his honour.

The Benalla Art Gallery is fortunate to have access to the greater part of Arch’s pin-ups through his family, complimented by additional material from the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. This complete presentation is the story of one of Benalla’s heroes and firmly locates these pin-ups in their important and original context.

We know it; we sometimes choose to ignore it; we sometimes study it with a curiosity that is detailed, scientific, beautiful and hard to pull away from all at the same time. It is the close proximity and perplexing relationship between simian and human.
Lisa Roet uses sculpture, etchings, drawings, photography and animation; a committed and multidisciplinary approach to her ongoing preoccupation with apes and monkeys. The artist is both researcher and advocate.