Geelong Gallery says ‘dunno’ with new installation

GEELONG Gallery has unveiled a new public artwork on its rear facade overlooking Johnstone Park.

The text-based installation, titled DUNNO, is the work of renowned contemporary artist Jon Campbell. It reveals itself to passers-by as they move through the park, it’s lettering emerging at different angles depending on the viewer’s path.

“The viewer becomes part of the work as they unravel the word or phrase … in this case around the building’s architecture,” Campbell said.

In the tradition of the Australian vernacular, like the well-used “yeah, nah”, the piece speaks playfully to uncertainty and everyday ambiguity.

The commission precedes Campbell’s coming solo exhibition, yEAH/dUNNO, which will open at Geelong Gallery in March and feature additional street-front displays along Little Malop Street that explore language, suburbia and popular culture, alongside a selection of works inside the gallery.

Known for his use of words and phrases as imagery across paintings, banners, neon, flags and even songs, Campbell’s work captures the character and humour of contemporary Australian speech.

“It’s an ongoing exploration of the visual potential of words through the use of vernacular language and popular culture,” Campbell explained.

“In recent paintings, snippets of conversation, argument and dialogue are transformed using the conventions of formal abstraction and graphic design to both confuse the original function of the words and phrases and elevate them to a pictorial object.”

Geelong Gallery director and chief executive Humphrey Clegg said the new installation offers a fresh way for audiences to engage with art in public space.

“We are delighted that Campbell’s work will challenge our visitors’ experience of the gallery, with a bold intervention on the heritage facade,” he said.

“We are looking forward to visitors embracing the sentiment of the work before their arrival and we love that Jon empowered people to say ‘dunno’.”