Lot 15

Rosley Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney 2018 (label verso)
The Collection of Richard Frolich, Adelaide

Brook Andrew, SMASH IT, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, 8 March - 7 April 2018

"SMASH IT is a reference to the actions of the artist's ability to interweave, reveal, research and disrupt the regular dominant narratives of our lives with both humour and serious questioning. These alternate narratives are fed to us through smashing together multiple discourses sourced from the Internet, television, newspapers to museums, our education systems and Andrew's extensive archive collection. The artist has continuously discovered new ways to present alternative narratives often left in the dark, or unpopular due to complex layering of colonial or other drifting discourses." (excerpt, exhibition text)

The collection of Richard Frolich is shaped by a combination of intellectual and lived engagement with the arts. Formed over nearly five decades, it reflects not only a sustained commitment to artists and institutions, but also a philosophy of collecting grounded in curiosity, research, and long-standing relationships within the art world. Frolich's involvement extends beyond acquisition; his contributions to organisations such as the Biennale of Sydney, the Art Gallery of South Australia, and the Melbourne Art Foundation speak to a broader cultural investment, positioning him as both custodian and advocate.

This depth of engagement is evident in the selection of works offered here. Rather than adhering to a singular aesthetic, the collection is unified by an underlying attentiveness to ideas, works that interrogate perception, history, and the shifting frameworks through which we understand identity.

This sensibility finds a compelling expression in two works by Brook Andrew: "Ancestral Worship" 2010 (lot 16) and "Head (Silver)" 2018 (lot 15). Across his practice, Andrew has consistently challenged historical narratives, drawing on archival material and cultural signifiers to reframe the legacies of colonialism. His work is both rigorous and poetic, inviting reflection while resisting fixed interpretation.

"Ancestral Worship", originally commissioned for exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland is based on images sourced from postcards collected over a fifteen-year period, portraits once circulated as instruments of tourism and exotic display. Now recontextualised within the present, these figures are reanimated as ancestors (1), onto relaxed deck-chairs. Comprising four deck chairs, the work presents a subtle provocation: the viewer is invited to sit alongside these dignified figures from the past, rather than upon them, the choice, ultimately, is ours.

If "Ancestral Worship" operates as a meditation on collective memory, "Head (Silver)" offers a more introspective counterpart. Emerging from Andrew's archival research including his engagement with the Smithsonian Institute, the work reflects his ongoing investigation into the construction of knowledge and representation. Its reflective surface implicates the viewer directly, folding observation into participation. Here, Andrew's strategy of disruption becomes more subtle yet no less potent: histories are not only revealed but internalised, prompting a reconsideration of how narratives are formed, inherited, and perpetuated. (2)

Considered together, these works articulate two complementary modes within Andrew's practice one outward-looking and dialogic, the other inward and reflective. Their presence within the Frolich collection underscore both conceptual depth and experiential engagement.

These ideas extend across the broader offering, where Frolich's eye for thoughtful and resonant practices is further evident. Alongside these works by Brook Andrew, the collection includes works by Lucas Grogan (lot 19), Richard Lewer (lot 32), Euan Macleod (lot 43), Rick Amor (lot 57), Amos Gebhardt (lot 73), Hossein Valamanesh (lot 74), Noel McKenna (lot 95), Noel Skrzypczak (lot 96), Troy Innocent (lot 97), Helen Wright (lot 98), Aldo Iacobelli (lot 99-100), Justine Varga (lot 102), Chantal Faust (lot 103), Vicky Varvaressos (lot 104) and Sophie Kahn (lot 110).

Together, the collection presents not only a series of individual works, but a reflection on what it means to live with art how it shapes perception, preserves histories, and ultimately passes from one custodian to the next.

Wiebke Brix
Head of Art

(1) Ewington, J., 21st Century: Art in the First Decade, exhibition catalogue, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2010 (accessed online 12 April 2026)
(2) Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, SMASH IT exhibition text, Sydney, 2018, (accessed online 12 April 2026)

© Brook Andrew/Copyright Agency, 2026