Gold Coast’s HOTA Gallery puts creative talent on show
There’s a welcoming vibe at the Lego-like new art gallery in Surfers Paradise.
A woman wrapped in a leopard-print robe stands on an elevated platform, contemplating the twinkling lights of Surfers Paradise reflected in the floor-to-ceiling glass of the new HOTA Gallery. Balancing easel, paper, charcoal and wine glass, I’m up here on level five with two dozen other participants for the first life-drawing class to be held in these flash $60.5m digs.
Gold Coast artist and organiser Rebecca Cunningham explains that the model will adopt a series of successively longer poses as the session progresses. She urges us to “be loose”, and not worry about capturing every detail. “Those one-minute poses are really just about getting out of your head and getting out of your day,” she says.
As the model sheds her robe and edges into her first pose, the group begins to sketch in unison. “Time,” says Cunningham. The model shifts position, again and again, until we take a break, another drink and perhaps a champagne lobster roll from The Exhibitionist Bar opposite, which is positively humming on a school night, serving from its 12-page menu of art-inspired cocktails.
Community engagement like this is the cornerstone of HOTA (pronounced “hotter” and short for Home of the Arts) Gallery, which snatched the mantle of Australia’s largest regional gallery from its Ballarat counterpart the second it threw open its doors.
“It’s a very democratic space,” says Mik Auckland, the ebullient director of programming and presenter services, when I return the next day. “We try and keep it as open as possible.”
HOTA chief executive Criena Gehrke went so far as to tell a group gathered for a sneak peek ahead of the gallery’s glittering May 8 launch that boardshorts and sandy feet would always be welcome, adding to its appeal as a tourist destination.
The kaleidoscopic vertical gallery, which has been variously described as “an enormous lolly”, “Lego-like”, and “a demented Rubik’s cube”, is impossible to miss as you approach from Bundall Rd.
Wherever you sit on the gaudy-or-gorgeous divide, the HOTA Gallery is the jewel in the crown of a cultural precinct that encompasses sprawling parklands, the fine dining Palette Restaurant, a lawn bar, an amphitheatre, theatres, cinemas and outdoor artworks. It’s also part of a bigger vision.
Last year, a bridge connecting HOTA with Chevron Island was unveiled, as part of the Gold Coast City Council’s masterplan to strengthen the precinct’s cultural chops, seemingly by osmosis, thus positioning the glitter strip as being about more than sun, surf, sand and nightlife.
HOTA Gallery’s opening exhibition, Solid Gold, featured the work of 19 visual artists with strong ties to the Gold Coast, whittled down from more than 330 submissions following an open call. It’s been followed by Lyrical Landscapes: The Art of William Robinson, which will bring together the Brisbane-based artist’s 14-piece Creation series for the first time. It runs until October 3.
Robinson occupies a special place here, with his expansive work The Rainforest not only taking pride of place in the gallery but serving as inspiration for the building’s design.
“The premise is that you’re moving through (the gallery) the same way you move through a rainforest,” says curator Bradley Vincent, who grew up on the coast. “It’s pockets of light and shadow and new glimpses around every corner.”
Alongside the main space exhibitions, HOTA Gallery will also show works from the $32m city collection, which started in 1968. No more than 3 per cent of the total collection is displayed at any one time. Level two is dedicated to Gold Coast artists or those who made works while passing through.
I experience a jolt of recognition when I spot Gold Coast Suburbia, by the late Elizabeth Tanke, my primary school art teacher. (Like Vincent, I also grew up here.)
Visually sated, I head south to meet a friend for drinks at The Scottish Prince at Palm Beach. With its cosy booths, wood panelling, tartan banquettes and maritime memorabilia, it’s a world away from the area’s usual outdoor bars and beer gardens. But it’s winter, and there are more than 150 whiskies on the shelves, making it a warming spot for a wee dram.
Just across the road is dinner venue Las Palmas, with Latin American share plates and a breezy-by-day, intimate-by-night atmosphere. We opt for the chef’s tasting menu, which sets in motion a carousel of flavour-packed punches, from tuna ceviche to broccoli with salsa criolla.
My accommodation, Nirvana by the Sea, is the day’s final destination. It was built in 2009 by the late Con Nikiforides, who was also behind Broadbeach’s The Oracle and Niecon Plaza.
I wake in a light-drenched, two-bedroom apartment built for decadent barefoot living. I could take a dip in the private plunge pool or savour a spa bath but instead I walk to Kirra Beach, just across the road.
There are fewer beachfront shacks than there used to be, and lots more sand thanks to a dredging project, but still the same boundless sense of possibility.
In daylight, as at night, the Surfers Paradise skyline draws the eye, its high-rise towers shimmering on the horizon as though they’re floating on waves.
More to the story
Jailhouse Rock blasts from a beachfront marquee and passers-by do double-takes as Elvis and Priscilla Presley casually stroll out of The Strand shopping centre at Coolangatta.
Elvis, it turns out, is Jeff Hancox from Kingaroy, and he’s competing in the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest as part of the 10th annual Cooly Rocks On, billed as Australia’s largest rock ’n’ roll and nostalgia festival.
How competitive is it? “Very, if you take it seriously,” he says, donning a pair of shades and striding off down the street.
The festival features dance workshops, vintage markets, pin-up pageants, flouncy skirts, and an indefatigable schedule of live performances. But it’s the Elvis impersonators who steal the show – men in suits with varying degrees of fringing, sequins and studs, who belt it out under neon lights.
Eardrums still ringing, I head for a drink at beachfront tapas bar Bo’teku, which crafts the prettiest cocktails and is playing Elvis on rotation – this long weekend only, I’m assured.
Organisers of Cooly Rocks On say tens of thousands of tourists and locals flock to the event to experience the music, memories and moments of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Classic cars fill the streets and underground parking lots of booked-out hotels.
Cooly Rocks On had its origins in Wintersun, which was founded in 1978 to give the “twin towns” of Coolangatta and Tweed Heads a boost during the traditional tourist off-season. In 1988, it adopted the nostalgia theme, and in 2010 became Cooly Rocks On. Next year’s festival runs from June 8-12.
In the know
Nirvana by the Sea has two-bedroom with pool apartments from $255 a night. The four-bedroom penthouse with pool is $1299 a night.
HOTA Gallery is open seven days a week.
Denise Cullen was a guest of Destination Gold Coast and HOTA Gallery.