The visual arts sector awoke to the news this week of the passing of James Mollison AO (1931 – 2020).
It goes without saying that Mollison was a giant of the Australian visual arts sector, and raised the level of public debate around contemporary art practice like no other before.
Controversial, brilliant and visionary, Mollison’s most celebrated legacy was the acquisition of then $1.3 million Blue Poles painting by American abstractionist, Jackson Pollack in 1974 for the National Gallery of Australia (NGA).