Though galleries have since closed their doors, this reviewer got to see Mavis Ngallametta’s works in all their glory. Their birdseye view of Country provides a perspective we’re missing right now.
Olafur Eliasson, Denmark, b.1967 Riverbed 2014 (detail) Site specific installation.
Pictured: The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, DenmarkCourtesy of the artist; neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los AngelesPhotograph: Iwan Baan.
Water can give and water can take. Without it, however, we are nothing. A new exhibition presents a nuanced and gentle provocation as we grapple with drought and climate change.
British artists (L-R) Oscar Murillo, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Helen Cammock and Tai Shani celebrate after being announced as the joint winners of Turner Prize 2019.
Vickie Flores/EPA
Prototype is a new 12-part series of Australian video art, designed to bring the genre out of the gallery and onto the smartphone.
Kaldor Public Art Project 3: Gilbert & George.
The Singing Sculpture, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 16 – 21 August 1973
Copyright: Gilbert & George
Courtesy Art Gallery of New South Wales
Fifty years after Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the NSW coast at Little Bay, the Art Gallery of NSW celebrates the long term consequences of John Kaldor’s creative philanthropy.
Best known as the subject of her husband Richard’s work, Pat Larter was herself a major artist.
Ben Quilty, Australia, born 1973. Margaret Olley 2011. Oil on linen / 170.0 x 150.0 cm.
Collection of the artist. Courtesy the artist. Photograph: Mim Stirling
Margaret Olley was known not only for her paintings, but her generosity. An exhibition of her work is currently on in Brisbane, alongside a survey of the work of Ben Quilty, her mentee and friend.
One of the artworks made as part of a project where Australians are sending artistic representations of the bird to politicians to protest the Adani mine, which threatens the bird’s habitat.
Robyn Rich
Australian artists are protesting the Adani mine’s potential impact on the black-throated finch. The project is gaining traction online, but in this case, emotive art might not be enough.
Mella Jaarsma, The landscaper 2013, costume: wood, paint, iron and leather, single-channel video: 3:40 minutes, colour, sound.
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Purchased 2018. Photo by Mie Cornoedus
The exhibition Contemporary Worlds: Indonesia has many wonderful works. But it is an exception - despite our close proximity, there are few opportunities for Australians to engage with Indonesian art.
Arthur Loureiro, Study for ‘The spirit of the new Moon’ 1888, oil on canvas.
Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane Purchased 1995. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Grant with the assistance of Philip Bacon through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation. Celebrating the Queensland Art Gallery's Photograph: QAGOMA
50 years after Apollo 11, a new exhibition considers artistic responses to our celestial neighbour. As we retreat from human space exploration, our relationship to the moon has become virtual.
Photographs of tattooed Japanese women in the exhibition Perseverance: Japanese Tattoo Tradition in a Modern World.
Ben Healley
An exhibition at Melbourne’s Immigration Museum explores tattoo traditions from Samoa, Japan and Melbourne, telling stories of culture, tradition and migration.
Mona Confessional 2016 – 19. The art unveiled for this year’s Dark Mofo is a disturbing journey into our future.
Julie Shiels
Mona’s new subterranean extension adds a compelling dimension to the art of Dark Mofo 2019. Upstairs, a series of interactive sculptures contemplates our automated future.
Dallas Dellaforce, Queer Central, Imperial Hotel, Erskineville, 2018. ‘Queerdom’ presents an archive of queer and trans life in Sydney.
Queerdom/James Eades
Queerdom, an exhibition of photography and poetry, presents a history of queer and trans performance in Sydney that challenges recent narratives about queer life in Australia.
A new exhibition pairs China’s famed Terracotta Warriors with contemporary works of inspiring ethereality. The contrasts here are many: life and death, harmony and chaos, energy and control, art and politics.
The perceived authority is important in helping us determine how trustworthy a graphic is.
Diego Gutiérrez via WWF
What makes people more likely to trust a climate change message? If it looks too corporate, it’s more likely to fail.
One of the most powerful images at this year’s Venice Biennale is Christoph Büchel’s.
Barca Nostra, 2018-2019,
Shipwreck 18th of April 2015.
La Biennale di Venezia
Often called the ‘Olympic Games of art’, the Venice Biennale’s national pavilions are an outlier in a globalised world. This year’s strongest works explore global issues like refugees and climate change.
An installation view of Vivian Gallery’s stand at Auckland Art Fair.
Josef Scott
Embarrassed directors of well-established commercial art galleries will quietly confess that often they scarcely get more than a dozen visitors a day. Can art fairs help fill the void?
Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne