WESTERN Plains Cultural Centre (WPCC) curator Kent Buchanan's "astute handling" of animal activist outrage at an exhibition of portraits of female hunters has not gone unnoticed.
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Mr Buchanan has leaped four places up The Art Life's Power Trip, a list of the 50 most powerful people in Australian art.
He cracked the inaugural list in 2013, claiming the 48th spot, receiving widespread applause and further lifting the profile of WPCC.
In 2014 the curator is ranked 44th and one of only three arts professionals working in regional Australia on the list.
"Kent Buchanan's continuing gig as the curator of the Western Plains Cultural Centre is a prime example of how to do contemporary art in a regional gallery, mixing crowd-pleasers like the travelling Archibald, matched with touring shows like True Self, a survey of the work of David Rosetzky, alongside home grown projects such as Take Your Best Shot, an exhibition by artist-in-residence Emma Thomson of portraits of female hunters from the area," The Art Life reports
"Buchanan moves up the Power Trip list for his astute handling of the controversy that erupted around the exhibition when animal rights activists protested the show, and the artist received death threats. Nice work."
Mr Buchanan, who serves as secretary of the committee of Regional and Public Galleries NSW, yesterday said the list was an "acknowledgment of the work people do in the sector" across a range of galleries and communities.
"It's really great to move up but I think, as I did last year, it's really a group effort," he said.
"In many respects it's kudos to the centre and the really amazing team we have there."
The number of regional representatives on the list jumped from two in 2013 to three in 2014 with the inclusion for the first time of a former curator of WPCC.
Currently director of Tamworth Regional Gallery, Sandra McMahon has slotted into Mr Buchanan's former position on the list.
In particular, the Tamworth Textile Triennial (TTT) secured her spot.
"Promising a strong selection of artists working across a variety of forms, the TTT will be immensely popular with punters as it tours the country," reports The Art Life, a long-standing critical blog that launched an ABC1 television series.
