Art Column
Singapore Art Fair 2023
Tuesday, February 7th, 2023 Art Column,Visitors to the new Singapore Art Fair were greeted by a large Robert Indiana sculpture spelling out the word ‘LOVE’. It was an invitation to locals and visitors to share a love of contemporary art that has struggled to take root in this prosperous island state. This time around, there was no room for hesitation. […]
Air
Tuesday, January 31st, 2023 Art Column,Some people say not to worry about the air Some people never had experience with… air Talking Heads Science tells us the average human being takes in 360 litres of air per hour. That sounds like a lot, but we do it without even noticing. It’s only when we have trouble breathing or […]
Spowers & Syme
Tuesday, January 24th, 2023 Art Column,Spowers & Syme may sound like a firm of accountants, but we’re dealing with an entirely different order of creativity. Ethel Spowers (1890-1947), and Eveline Syme (1888-1961), were groundbreaking Australian artists at a time when women found it difficult to make any impression on an art scene dominated by self-confident and self-serving males. A touring […]
Aotearoa Art
Tuesday, January 17th, 2023 Art Column,A handful of big international art fairs are obligatory annual destinations for the world’s major collectors. Only among the second-tier fairs is there real competition, as cities compete to attract wealthy art tourists looking for something a bit different. All these fairs dream of getting the world’s über-galleries to participate, but the real interest lies […]
2022 and Beyond
Monday, January 2nd, 2023 Art Column,There’s been plenty to think about in 2022, including war in the Ukraine, a looming global recession and floods along the north coast, but if one had to nominate Australia’s most momentous event of the year it would have to be the change of government. Whether this was equally momentous for the visual arts remains […]
Alexander McQueen: Mind Mythos Muse
Monday, December 26th, 2022 Art Column,“I don’t see fashion as curing cancer or AIDS – or anything else for that matter,” said Alexander McQueen. “At the end of the day they are just clothes.” This statement, like so many others uttered by this prodigiously talented designer, testifies to the contradictions that defined his career and character. For McQueen (1969-2010), fashion […]
Sydney Modern Revisited
Tuesday, December 13th, 2022 Art Column,“Campus” is word of the week. It seems to be a particular favourite of Art Gallery of NSW Director, Michael Brand, who kept using the term during the Sydney Modern launch. “My vision,” he writes in the book associated with the new gallery, “has been for the Sydney Modern Project to transform the Art Gallery […]
Sydney Modern Opens at Last
Tuesday, December 6th, 2022 Art Column,According to Premier, Dominic Perrottet, Sydney’s newest cultural attraction is set to be not only the greatest gallery in Australia, but the greatest in the world. Forget about the Louvre, the Met or the Prado, here’s Sydney Modern! This informed and thoughtful opinion was largely echoed by the other speakers at the media preview, with […]
Do Ho Suh
Tuesday, November 29th, 2022 Art Column,Never at any time in history have more people been displaced, uprooted, obliged to learn a new language and a new set of values. It’s not only those refugees from war and persecution, but millions who have taken themselves to another part of the world to find a different, hopefully better, life. South Korean artist, […]
Who Are You
Saturday, November 19th, 2022 Art Column,No country in the world is more passionate about portraiture than Australia. We have more portrait prizes, more prize money, and an ongoing case of amour fou for the Archibald Prize, which is viewed as a national institution, when it would be a very minor affair in most other places. In the past, Australians saw themselves […]