7-24 AUG
2024

Every August, SALON Art Projects presents the SALON des Refusés, an exhibition of works submitted but not accepted into the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA).

Its quality demonstrates the superb standard of art being created by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists nationwide, and it also provides valuable insight into where the movement has come from, and where it is heading.

Join us at our new venue, 6002, 7 Anchorage Court at the Darwin Waterfront Precinct (in front of Pink Chopstix restaurant on Warf 2).

The name Salon des Refusés generally describes a group of works rejected by the jury of official awards but the term is most famously used to refer to the Salon des Refusés of 1863.

HISTORY

As early as the 1830s, Paris art galleries had mounted small-scale, private exhibitions of works rejected by the Salon jurors. The glamorous event of 1863 was actually sponsored by the French government. In that year, artists protested the Salon jury’s rejection of more than 3,000 works, far more than usual. “Wishing to let the public judge the legitimacy of these complaints,” said an official notice, Emperor Napoléon III decreed that the rejected artists could exhibit their works in an annex to the regular Salon.

In 2013, Matt Ward and Paul Johnstone curated and presented the first SALON des Refusés for the prestigious and long running National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA).

This inaugural exhibition was held in the old Commonwealth Bank building in Darwin, and opened to a packed crowd. Following on from the success and support for this joint collaboration between Outstation Gallery and Paul Johnstone Gallery, the SALON des Refusés became a regular event.

For 2014 and 2015 the exhibition was held at Stokes Hill Wharf in the centre of Darwin, overlooking the sea. Between 2016 and 2020 it was hosted by the Charles Darwin University Art Gallery and in 2021 the exhibition was presented in an online format. In 2022 and 2023 the exhibition moved to Gallery 5 in The Gardens, and in 2024 it will be popping up at a new venue at the Darwin Waterfront - 6002, 7 Anchorage Court (in front of Pink Chopstix resturant on warf 2)

SALON des Refusés is now a key event in SALON Art Projects annual exhibition calendar, held during the Darwin Festival Season.