Everything in The air lock on display in the exhibition ‘Air’ at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) Brisbane, has some relation to the idea of air, it’s like a giant puzzle, inviting us to consider how the invisible subject ‘air’ can be held in a myriad of ways. Patrick Pound is an avid collector, he gathers artworks from both his own collection and, for this work, QAGOMA’s holdings.

Watch: Patrick Pound discusses ‘The air lock’

Pound collects and categorises. Mostly, he buys old photographs and objects online that he arranges in chains or constellations of common meaning. Holiday snapshots, bronze sculptures, toys and famous paintings: ‘They’re all treated equally’, he states, ‘which is not to say that the objects have equal value’. For the game he proposes to work, the assorted objects must be given a ‘sabbatical’ from their usual task.

‘I’ve always liked the idea of capturing something you can’t see, or trying to come to terms with it, come to grips with it’, says Pound. A subject such as air must be grasped through the involvement of other, more concrete images and objects.

Edited extract from the accompanying exhibition publication Air available at the QAGOMA Store and online.

Watch: Take a peek at the exhibition ‘Air’

Expansive and inspiring, ‘Air’ at GOMA — presented across the entire ground floor — showcases more than 30 significant Australian and international artists, reflecting the vitality of our shared atmosphere.

‘Air’ / Gallery of Modern Art, Gallery 1.1 (The Fairfax Gallery), Gallery 1.2 & Gallery 1.3 (Eric and Marion Taylor Gallery) / 26 November 2022 to 23 April 2023