Looking for a fun activity to do in the city this week that will open your mind and expose you to aesthetically pleasing art work which also holds a valid message? Look no further. The vivacious and provocative work of leading Australian artist, designer and gay activist, David McDiarmid, is being displayed in a retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria from the 9th May to the 31st August. As stated by the man himself “I never saw art as being a safe thing. I know that exists but that’s not something that involves me”, and this statement shows through his work that encompasses and connects the histories of art, craft, fashion, music, sexy, day liberation and identity politics.

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The exhibition titled, David McDiarmid: When This You See Remember Me, presents more than 200 of his works and is a spectacle not to be missed. With Tony Ellwood, Director of the NGV stating, “The NGV is pleased to be staging this retrospective of an artist whose work had enormous impact on both the gay liberation movement and the international dialogue around AIDS, and whose clear messages of liberation, equality and emancipation continue to resonate today. David McDiarmid: When This You See Remember Me explores the social history, as well as political and art historical context, that informed McDiarmid’s work, which inspires through its courage, poetry, exuberance and cultural impact.” David McDiarmid: When This You See Remember Me is the first time the artist’s full range of work has been displayed and is a selection of well thought out art that is critically related to changes that were occurring throughout the time of sexual identity and politics in Australia.

Public programs including talks, screenings, performances and panels will accompany McDiarmid’s exhibition, giving you a more detailed insight into the highly personal, and at time confessional, work that highlights the redefinition and deconstruction of identities – “from camp to gay to queer”, drawing on the experiences of a life intensely lived in Melbourne, Sydney and New York. David McDiarmid: When This You See Remember Me will be on display at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia from 9 May to 31 August 2014. Open 10am–5pm, closed Mondays. Free entry.

For more information please visit ngv.vic.gov.au

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