This year’s Archibald Prize winner is a painting with great affection for its subject. Louise Hearman’s Barry was a surprise choice – but it deserves to find an ultimate home in the National Portrait Gallery.
Faith Kearns, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
A scientist dips her toe into a new form of group-based performance art: devising new words to describe new feelings and phenomena of a rapidly changing world.
Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori began painting in her 80s, and over ten years created an extraordinary body of work. Her paintings are more like music and dance – depicting the stories of the Kaiadilt people for the first time.
Finding the art in science and investigating the science of art used to be common practise. At the turn of the 19th century the boundaries between academic disciplines hardened, but now new fields like neuroaesthetics are breaking down barriers.
Edgar Degas’ relationship with Impressionism was to be a stormy one, but his encounter with Edouard Manet in 1862 was a turning-point in his career. Degas went on to paint a portrait of Manet and his wife - later slashed in mysterious circumstances.
Bruce Beresford can’t draw, but he has wept in an art gallery. A lifelong delight in a wide range of art – from paintings to opera – has influenced his craft from a young age.
Can you repatriate a painting? Descendants of Aboriginal painter William Barak ran a crowdsourcing campaign to try to buy back the previously unknown artwork Ceremony.
Climate change is such a big problem it’s almost impossible for us to really understand. We need artists to mobilise on a huge scale to render the problem comprehensible.
A new field of research aims to deepen, and even quantify, our understanding of artistic style. We use mathematical techniques to help discover novel insights, even in well-studied paintings.
Indian artists such as Bhupen Khakhar may be gaining international acclaim, but more is needed to help build and maintain a strong infrastructure for artists at home.
The conviction of two men in relation to the sale of forged Brett Whiteley paintings indicates that Australia needs to get its act together when it comes to authenticating artworks.
It is hard for us to visualise the trends and processes of climate change, which are largely hidden. But posters - with their richly subversive history - are the perfect medium for prompting contemplation and action.
Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne