Vida Lahey, Pontville, Tasmania, c.1927. Oil on plywood. QUT Art Collection. Purchased 1956. Courtesy: the artist’s estate and QUT Art Museum, Brisbane.

This exhibition brings together works from the QUT Art Collection, acquired since its inception in 1945. An art collection typically comes together organically and idiosyncratically, assembled from disparate sources. It reflects — deliberately or inadvertently — the dominant paradigms of its time, illuminating shifting values, burgeoning ideas and changing trends.

Decades: 80 Years of Collecting is a compilation of well-known and rarely seen works by significant Australian and international artists, including paintings, sculpture, ceramics and works on paper. A small sample of more than 3000 art objects acquired by QUT over nine decades, the exhibition reveals hidden patterns and unexpected connections.