Sydney Morning Herald Column
Sydney Contemporary 2024
Thursday, September 5th, 2024 Sydney Morning Herald Column,Sydney Contemporary has quickly found its niche in a city in which the most probing critical analysis of a work of art is usually: “How much did you pay for that?” Variations on a theme include: “Why would anybody pay that much?” and “They must’ve seen him coming.” In Melbourne, art aficianados are more likely […]
Lesley Dumbrell: Thrum
Saturday, August 31st, 2024 Sydney Morning Herald Column,Patrick Heron, one of Britain’s most prominent abstract artists, told me he lost his job as art critic at The New Statesman for writing too much about “space”. It may have bored the readers rigid, but for Heron, space was a colossally exciting topic. It probably takes an artist to understand the thrill of seeing […]
Hiroshi Sugimoto: Time Machine
Friday, August 23rd, 2024 Sydney Morning Herald Column,In a career of 50 years, Hiroshi Sugimoto (b. 1948) has worked to quietly and purposefully refute the idea that photography is a “second-class citizen” in the world of art. Although known as a photographic artist, Sugimoto is a polymath, with interests in science, history, philosophy, theatre, architecture and landscape design. He has been a […]
Darwin 2024
Friday, August 16th, 2024 Sydney Morning Herald Column,Darwin at the beginning of August is one of the essential experiences on the Australian art calendar. The main attraction is the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA), often called “the Telstras”, after the major sponsor, but there are enough exhibitions and activities to keep visitors busy for a week. Along with […]
Hadley’s Art Prize 2024
Saturday, August 10th, 2024 Sydney Morning Herald Column,This year Hadley’s Orient Hotel in Hobart is celebrating its 190th anniversary. An icon of Tasmania’s colonial era, this veteran will never be competing with the more glamorous, expensive establishments that are springing up around town, but it has history on its side. Stay at Hadley’s and you’ll find a plate with a picture of […]
Discovering Ancient Egypt
Saturday, August 3rd, 2024 Sydney Morning Herald Column,Australia has never seen a better year for “discovering ancient Egypt” – the title of the show at the National Museum of Australia. We’ve had the wildly successful Ramses and the Gold of the Pharaohs at the Australian Museum; Pharaoh, currently on display at the National Gallery of Victoria; and this large survey from the […]
Six Ways of Looking at Newhaven
Friday, July 26th, 2024 Sydney Morning Herald Column,Seven years ago, I spent a few days in Newhaven, a property on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert, owned and administered by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC). Last week I returned, in company with a group of artists who had seven days to make sketches and observations in preparation for an exhibition in […]
Wilder Times: Arthur Boyd and the mid-1980s Landscape
Saturday, July 20th, 2024 Sydney Morning Herald Column,In July 1983, Arthur Boyd received the kind of commission that artists dream about and dread: to create two large paintings and a suite of smaller works for the new Arts Centre Melbourne. It was a rare privilege to have one’s pictures on permanent display in the halls and foyers of a major public building, […]
Alphonse Mucha: Spirit of Art Nouveau
Saturday, July 13th, 2024 Sydney Morning Herald Column,It’s sheer coincidence the Art Gallery of NSW is hosting Alphonse Mucha: Sprit of Art Nouveau while the National Gallery of Australia is showing Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao. Mucha and Gauguin were friends in Paris during that period we call the Belle Époque, but it would be difficult to imagine two more different […]
Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao
Friday, July 5th, 2024 Sydney Morning Herald Column,Paul Gauguin was both master and monster. This was the view of the French writer, Victor Segalen, who arrived in the Marquesas to make an inventory of the late artist’s belongings. In the excellent catalogue for Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao, at the National Gallery of Australia, two essayists remind us of Segalen’s verdict, […]