A gift packaged set of four corkboard coasters, featuring works from Tony Albert’s Mid-Century Modern series.

"There was something quite metaphoric about the ashtray and the Australian condition attached to Aboriginal people. What does it actually mean to butt out a cigarette on someone's face and someone's culture?".

Albert has been collecting these kinds of items, which he calls 'Aboriginalia', since he was a child. Still growing older, he realised a sinister undertone attached to them, forming the basis of this work.

"I kept returning to the image of an ashtray and the ashtrays themselves; I felt they warranted a work in their own right.”

About the Artist

Over the past 10 years Australian artist Tony Albert has achieved extraordinary visibility and much critical acclaim for his visual art practice, which combines text, video, drawing, painting and three-dimensional objects. Examining the legacy of racial and cultural misrepresentation, particularly of Australia’s Aboriginal people, Albert has developed a universal language that seeks to rewrite historical mistruths and injustice. Albert’s work can be seen in major national and international museums and private collections. 

Specifications

- Set of 4 corkboard coasters
- Packaged in an acetate box
- 10cm x 10cm / 3.9" x 3.9"

Artwork

Mid Century Modern - Return to Innisfail, 2016 pigment print on paper 120cm x 120cm, edition of 3

Mid Century Modern - Aboriginal Art, 2016 pigment print on paper 120cm x 120cm, edition of 3

Mid Century Modern - Snake, Fish, Shield, 2016 pigment print on paper 120cm x 120cm, edition of 3

Mid Century Modern - Aboriginal Corroboree, 2016 pigment print on paper 50cm x 50cm, edition of 2

All works © Tony Albert