Interview with Damian Smith, Exploring The Geoff Raby Collection of Contemporary Chinese Art

Uncommon Sense – Triple R FM

Dr Geoff Raby AO was Australia’s Ambassador to China between 2007 and 2011, and has donated 174 contemporary Chinese art works to La Trobe University. Raby arrived in Beijing in the 1980s where he first encountered the emerging contemporary art scene and soon became an avid collector. Dr Damian Smith, art historian, curator, and art critic, speaks about a new book he edited, The Geoff Raby Collection of Contemporary Chinese Art (La Trobe University Press). Damian talks about the artists, art works, and artistic themes featured in the collection including eroticism and sexuality, surrealism, politics, and more. The collection shows the diversity of contemporary art practice in China and how it reveals cultural insights into 21st century China. Broadcast on 28 February 2023.