Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) Director Chris Saines today announced the appointment of Peter McKay to the role of Curatorial Manager of Australian Art.

‘Peter has successfully developed and delivered a number of QAGOMA exhibitions. Most recently, he curated ‘Patricia Piccinini: Curious Affection’, QAGOMA’s largest and most ambitious solo project by an Australian artist,’ Mr Saines said.

‘Exclusive to Brisbane and occupying the entire ground floor of GOMA, Peter worked closely with Piccinini and her studio to bring together the exhibition of 70 sculptures, photographs, videos, drawings and a number of specially created large-scale installations for Queensland.'

Other exhibitions curated at QAGOMA by Mr McKay have included ‘Noel McKenna: Landscape – Mapped’ (2017-2018), ‘Travellers’ (2017), ‘Get What You Want: Music Cinema’ (2016), ‘Madonna Staunton: Out of a clear blue sky’ (2014-2015), and ‘Voice and Reason’ (2013), a Collection exhibition that presented apparent intersections of indigenous and non-indigenous voices while also accounting for vastly different cultural perspectives and reasoning.

Mr Saines said Peter has also worked with a team of curators on the 7th and 8th Asia Pacific Triennials of Contemporary Art, and played an integral role in conceptualising the reimagining of the Australian Galleries Collection at QAG in 2017.

‘Peter also worked closely with Bruce McLean, Curator, Indigenous Australian Art, QAGOMA, and myself as a co-curator on ‘GOMA Q: Contemporary Queensland Art’ (2015), a lively survey of more than 30 emerging, mid-career and senior artists working across the state.

‘We are thrilled to welcome Peter to this senior leadership position, and we look forward to him leading the Australian art curatorial team while continuing to bring his expansive knowledge of the state’s Australian art collection to our audiences,’ Mr Saines said.

A graduate of the South Australian School of Art (University of South Australia), Peter McKay was a curator at the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, prior to joining the Australian art curatorial team at QAGOMA in 2011.