Art Column
Bangkok Art Biennale 2022
Tuesday, November 15th, 2022 Art Column,During the pandemic most of the world’s major art events were put on ice, but this was not the case for the youthful Bangkok Art Biennale. Unwilling to lose momentum after a successful debut in 2018, the organisers hosted a huge international exhibition in 2020 that was seen only by local audiences. This year, the […]
Singapore Biennale 2022
Tuesday, November 8th, 2022 Art Column,A town called Alice, a fish named Wanda, a hurricane known as Ian, and now, a Biennale that answers to the name, Natasha. I originally thought this was a unique example of Singaporean humour, but because only one of the four curators of the seventh Biennale of Singapore is a local, that thesis is not […]
Captivate: Stories from the National Art School and Darlinghurst Gaol
Tuesday, November 1st, 2022 Art Column,History has been the National Art School’s best defence against the depredations of narrow-minded politicians and bureaucrats who have schemed to amalgamate the school with another institution or to sell off the campus as prime real estate. The NAS has clung on grimly as its two main rivals have been swallowed up by the universities, […]
Sculpture by the Sea 2022
Tuesday, October 25th, 2022 Art Column,There may be no better indicator that Sydney has shaken off its COVID-19 anxieties than a new installment of Sculpture by the Sea. This wildly popular event went missing during the pandemic, but is set for a triumphant return, as crowds gather on the foreshores between Bondi and Tamarama to pick up where they left […]
Richard Mosse: Broken Spectre
Tuesday, October 18th, 2022 Art Column,It may seem remarkable that anyone would view their short-term profits as more important than the survival of humankind, but this is the simple reason we’re losing the battle against Global Warming. The complex reason is slightly trickier. In the words of British philosopher, Timothy Morton, the warming of the planet is a “hyperobject” – […]
Cressida Campbell
Tuesday, October 11th, 2022 Art Column,If there were ever an exhibition to silence the doubters and vanquish the sceptics, this is it. Director Nick Mitzevich says there were some at the National Gallery of Australia who couldn’t understand why he wanted to do a Cressida Campbell show. Surely, she’s just a still life artist, a maker of pretty pictures for […]
Portia Geach Memorial Award 2022
Tuesday, October 4th, 2022 Art Column,There was a fizz to last year’s Portia Geach Memorial Award for female portraitists, but this time the show feels slightly flat. A display is only as good as the entries submitted, and many artists seem to have settled on smaller, less ambitious works. Should size matter? Look at art long enough and you’ll find […]
Light
Saturday, October 1st, 2022 Art Column,After He created heaven and earth, the next item on God’s list was light. “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Just like flicking a switch. All artists love to play God, and light is their most fundamental concern. Not only is it hard to make art in the dark, light […]
Vivienne Binns: On and through the surface
Thursday, September 22nd, 2022 Art Column,For one reason or another, it’s taken me a long time to get around to Vivienne Binns: On and Through the Surface, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, but it’s an exhibition that reveals a lot about the way a reputation is built. Nowadays Binns (b.1940) is virtually a national living treasure, but she has […]
Sydney Contemporary 2022
Tuesday, September 13th, 2022 Art Column,It’s been three long years since the last Sydney Contemporary, and the market is more of a puzzle than ever. During the pandemic, when predictions of doom and gloom abounded, many local art dealers enjoyed surprisingly good seasons. It’s widely believed this was because wealthy collectors who had got into the habit of purchasing work […]