Newsletter
Newsletter 290
Monday, June 10th, 2019 Newsletter,This impossible month just keeps getting busier. This week I’m filing not one but two art columns, because the Sydney Morning Herald has suddenly got excited about the visual arts. I’m assured it’s only a passing phase but the immediate result of this enthusiasm was a request for a review of the National Gallery of Australia’s […]
Newsletter 289
Monday, June 3rd, 2019 Newsletter,Apologies for the lateness of this week’s newsletter. I’ll spare you the fine detail of my week, but it was truly relentless: Melbourne to Yirrkala to Perth to Sydney, culminating in an epic lecture on ‘Women in Australian Cinema’ at the Union, University and Schools Club. Throughout this journey I was writing every day. The […]
Newsletter 288
Monday, May 27th, 2019 Newsletter,In last week’s newsletter I wondered: does Jesus really want Scott Morrison to be Prime Minister? It seems the answer is ‘Yes’. After his grandstanding election victory, Scummo announced he has always believed in miracles, and has just delivered one. It was a pretty clear confirmation that he imagines God is in his corner. Now […]
Newsletter 287
Monday, May 20th, 2019 Newsletter,Politics in Australia isn’t a game of thrones but a game of suburban lounge chairs, with both leaders striving to appear more normal, natural and likeable than the other. The late Bob Hawke was the master of this, and was rewarded with four successive election victories. Hawke’s secret, as he told interviewers, was that he […]
Newsletter 286
Monday, May 13th, 2019 Newsletter,As I write this, the Archibald Prize is yet to be decided, so I won’t venture any thoughts on that annual hoop-la. There’ll be plenty of opportunities in the weeks ahead. In the meantime my travels have taken me from Paris to Le Havre, and now to Milan. On the way I’ve seen another group […]
Newsletter 285
Monday, May 6th, 2019 Newsletter,Labour Day in Paris is a reminder of the socialistic nature of the French. Almost every museum is closed, with the exception of the Jacquemart-André – a monument to faded aristocracy. On the other hand, maybe they’re just like the Aussies: any excuse for a day off. It didn’t sound like a very promising round […]
Newsletter 284
Monday, April 29th, 2019 Newsletter,Last week China, this week London. I’m changing channels in my head from the Terracotta Warriors of the Qin Dynasty, to Claude Monet, as he gazed from a hotel room in Le Havre at the scene that became Impression Sunrise. But although Monet is the presiding deity of this trip, I’m taking the opportunity to […]
Newsletter 283
Thursday, April 25th, 2019 Newsletter,As I write this I’m flying down to Shenzhen from Xi’an. By now I’m getting towards the end of a China tour that began in Xi’an, travelled east to Beijing, returned to Xi’an, is heading into Shenzhen, then flying back to Beijing. This is what happens when you try to combine three separate sets of […]
Newsletter 282
Monday, April 15th, 2019 Art Essays, Newsletter,This week began in Canberra where I went to see The Historical Expression of Chinese Art at the National Museum of Australia. A deadly title (and not in the indigenous sense), but a pretty good show, it’s also the subject of this week’s art column. The title was a reminder of the way China is […]
Newsletter 281
Tuesday, April 9th, 2019 Newsletter,After a few days in Hong Kong for the annual Art Basel events I’m convinced the world is getting both dumber and richer. But how are the two connected? Do you have to be really shallow to make obscene amounts of money, undistracted by any other concerns? Or do you just have to be born […]