He’s Australian by birth, and of Scottish and Australian Aboriginal descent – but he has created many of his major works in far-flung locales including Lithuania, England, India, China and New York.
These works themselves also defy easy categorisation, encompassing neon installations, sculpture, photography displays, video installations, experimental prints and text pieces.
“Brook Andrew: Eye To Eye”, an exhibition running until Sunday at the Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre (BACC), offers an engaging introduction to one of Australia’s most exciting, and eclectic, contemporary artists.
“Eye To Eye” represents the first major survey of Andrew’s 15-year career. The selection of works by curators at Monash University in Melbourne, which originally staged the show, reflects the driving themes present in Andrew’s art.
First among these influences is Andrew’s Aboriginal heritage. His mother hails from the Wiradjuri tribe of native Australians. For much of Australia’s past, white settlers oppressed these and other supposedly “primitive” Aboriginals, relegating them to the fringes of society.