QUEENSLAND.- An exhibition of 50 Asia-Pacific art works from the Queensland Art Gallery collection will tour to eight regional Queensland venues, Arts Minister Rod Welford announced today.

Mr Welford said Frame by Frame: Asia-Pacific Artists on Tour, touring 25 July 2008 to 7 March 2010, said it was the first time the works have toured the state.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for some landmark works by leading contemporary Asia-Pacific artists to be seen by regional audiences,” Mr Welford said.

“The artists featured in the exhibition include Ai Weiwei (China), Rashid Rana (Pakistan), Tsuyoshi Ozawa (Japan), Qin Ga (China), Stephen Page (Australia), and Sima Urale (Samoa/New Zealand).

“Many of these works have been acquired through the Gallery’s Asia-Pacific Triennial (APT) of Contemporary Art and this diverse exhibition gives audiences beyond Brisbane insight into the richness and dynamism of art from across the Asia-Pacific region.”

Queensland Art Gallery Director Tony Ellwood said photography and the moving image were an integral component of the APT and each of the artists featured in Frame by Frame used these art forms to explore issues of history, resemblance and difference, transparency and illusion, as well as national and individual identity.

“Each artist has used the camera as a tool in creating an experimental art form, intersecting with other mediums, histories and narratives,” Mr Ellwood said.

“The exhibition includes Sima Urale’s O Tamaiti 1996, a film providing an insight into Samoan family life and Stephen Page’s commissioned performance Kin 2006, the story of an Indigenous Australian family, community and history.”

Frame by Frame opens at Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery July 25 to September 14, before travelling to Artspace Mackay (October 24–November 30); Hervey Bay Regional Art Gallery (December 11–January 24, 2009); Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville (February 20– April 19;Gold Coast City Art Gallery (May 16–June 28);Bundaberg Arts Centre (July 15–August 23);Cairns Regional Gallery (September 4–November 8, 2009); Caloundra Regional Art Gallery (November 25–January 17, 2010).