In 1770 while Lieutenant Cook was charting the East coast of Australia, on the other side of the world Marie Antoinette was marrying the future Louis XVI of France, this moment coincidentally marking the end of the Rococo and the beginning of the Colonial styles.
RocoColonial is a major artist-initiated project by Gary Carsley and presented by Hazelhurst Arts Centre in partnership with Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.
The new exhibition brings together 15 contemporary Australian artists working across painting, sculpture, design and fashion who explore themes at the intersection of the terms Rococo and Colonial.
The exhibition includes new works from artists Deborah Kelly, Jenny Watson, Louise Zhang, Jennifer Leahy, Belem Lett and Techa Noble.
RocoColonial allows formal associations and historical coincidences to pass backwards and forwards.
There are three key coincidental dates from this period - 1770, 1793 and 1815 - in which important historical events occurred in both France and Australia.
Cartographically, Cook's map of Australia in 1770 with the asymmetry of its Eastern and Western halves, the sweeping curves and counter curves of the Great Australian Bight resembles an elaborate and decorative rococo cartouche.
The proximity of Hazelhurst to the site of Cook's landing and the first meeting of Aboriginal and European people on the east coast of Australia is the reason why it was chosen for the first showing of the exhibition.
The excesses of the Rococo that were epitomised by the royal couple came to end with the French Revolution of 1789. In early 1793, while the first free settlers were setting foot on land at Port Botany, King Louis XVI was being executed by guillotine.
In 1815, when in the Northern Spring Louis's conservative brothers were being restored to power in France and seeking to reverse the reforms made by the French revolution and Napoleon, concurrently in the southern autumn Macquarie was proclaiming Wiradjuri land the future town of Bathurst.
- RocoColonial is on at Hazelhurst Arts Centre from May 4 to June 30.