Art, ecstasy, Baroque and beyond at UQ Art Museum

Almost four centuries after its creation, Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1647-52) has inspired a new exhibition opening at UQ Art Museum on 16 September. Bringing together historical depictions of ecstasy with more recent artworks focused on the transcendence of normal consciousness, Ecstasy: Baroque and Beyond explores how Baroque style - typically associated with high drama, extravagance, frenzy, and excess - continues to inform contemporary art. The exhibition is a partnership between UQ Art Museum and the UQ Node of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (CHE) . Exhibition curator and CHE researcher Dr Andrea Bubenik said the enduring fascination with Bernini's sculpture was due not only to its technical brilliance and beauty, but also to its eroticism, which surprises those who are accustomed to more sober depictions of saints. "Saint Teresa, a sixteenth-century Spanish nun, who wrote extensively about her mystical and transcendent experiences, certainly makes for a fascinating subject," Dr Bubenik said. "A number of artists featured in the exhibition, including American artist Audrey Flack and Australians Anastasia Booth and Nigel Milsom, have interpreted Bernini's sculpture, and it's compelling to see how their adaptions invest Teresa with fresh contemporary appeal. "Among the work by 17 artists, we're also very fortunate to include in the exhibition the bronze sculpture Arched Figure by Louise Bourgeois, one of the most important artists of the twentieth century.