Image: Geelong Art Gallery
Geelong Gallery will present ‘Eric Thake—Do You See What I See?’ from 14 November 2026 to 8 March 2027, bringing together more than 100 works by the Australian artist in what the institution describes as the first opportunity in decades to view Thake’s art in depth.
The exhibition is being assembled from Geelong Gallery’s collection, Thake family collections and other private and public holdings. Loans will include works from the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Australian War Memorial, Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Air Force Heritage Collection at RAAF Base Point Cook. Geelong Gallery’s exhibition listing states that 35 works will come from its own holdings.
Developed in collaboration with guest curators Kirsty Grant and Alisa Bunbury, the survey will examine Thake’s printmaking, drawing, photography and painting. The gallery says the presentation will emphasise his use of attentive observations of everyday life to evoke visual wit and humour, while also considering the continuing legacies of his visual iconography in Australian art dialogues.
The exhibition has particular ties to Geelong Gallery and the surrounding region. Thake’s first solo exhibition, ‘Pubs and Bars’, was held at the gallery in 1976. In 1986, the Friends of the Gallery and Gallery Grasshoppers provided funds for the acquisition of an extensive suite of his Christmas cards. The gallery also identifies ‘Brasilia at Corio’, a major painting completed during Thake’s final decade in Geelong, as a recent addition acquired in recognition of the Geelong Art Gallery Foundation’s 40th anniversary in 2024.
The fundraising campaign supporting the exhibition drew contributions from 143 donors, who collectively provided $61,200 for its presentation this summer. The appeal’s outcome was announced by Geelong Gallery in a member communication, which said the exhibition would introduce Thake’s work to a new generation and allow audiences to “see the world through the artist’s eyes.”
Born in 1904 and dying in 1982, Thake is represented in the exhibition through works spanning several media and periods of his practice. One work identified by the gallery is ‘Nuns on the Geelong Road...oil sheiks to Bahrein?’ from 1969, a linocut held in the Geelong Gallery collection. The exhibition will be on view at Geelong Gallery, 55 Little Malop Street, Geelong, from Saturday 14 November 2026 through Monday 8 March 2027.
