THE SACRED AND THE PROFANE BY NALINI MALANI, INDIA, 1998. SYNTHETIC POLYMER PAINT ON MYLAR, STEEL, NYLON CORD, ELECTRIC MOTORS AND LIGHTS, 3 X 5 X 11 M. STATE ART COLLECTION, ART GALLERY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA, © 1998 NALINI MALANI – TAASA Review December 2011

While the Art Gallery of Western Australia does not have a specialist collection of art from Asia, it collects works by Asian artists in the context of international contemporary art.

The AGWA endeavours to collect artists in depth, and currently represents Nalini Malani with nine works.

Her The sacred and the profane 1998 is a key work in a group of modern and contemporary figurative works by artists such as Stanley Spencer, Lucian Freud, William Kentridge and Candice Breitz. For over two decades, Bombay-based Malani has seen her work exhibited with accelerating frequency throughout the world, including at a number of Venice Biennales and, in Australia, at Asia-Pacific Triennials in 2002 and 2008...