Newsletter
Newsletter 339
Monday, May 25th, 2020 Newsletter,There’s a distinct feeling that things are starting to rev up again. Even though the coronavirus is still raging it seems as if everyone’s patience is exhausted. There are more people on the streets, sitting in parks and cafés… about the only place where hardly a soul can be found is on the wretched light […]
Newsletter 338
Monday, May 18th, 2020 Newsletter,It’s an adage that governments should never waste a good crisis but what we’re seeing at present in relation to China goes beyond political opportunism. Having made a mess of his nation’s response to the cornonavirus, Donald Trump has resorted to his usual strategies of seeking a scapegoat for all of his problems and setting […]
Newsletter 337
Monday, May 11th, 2020 Newsletter,This week we learned of the first major casualty of the coronavirus in the Arts sector, as Carriageworks went into administration. It seems they had little choice, as 75% of the venue’s income is event-related and the NSW Government declined to commit to a bail-out. One wonders, ironically enough, if this would have happened if […]
Newsletter 336
Monday, May 4th, 2020 Newsletter,Over the past month I’ve received numerous invitations to view (and review) artworks on-line. The entire gamut includes artist’s websites, solo exhibitions, art fairs and group shows, but none of them feels especially attractive. The fundamental problem is that an image on a screen, no matter how precise or highly resolved, conveys but a poor […]
Newsletter 335
Monday, April 27th, 2020 Newsletter,Last week brought the extraordinary news that the National Gallery of Australia had acquired an animatronic sculpture by Jordan Wolfson for $5 million. One might think this is hardly the time to be spending such a vast sum on a single work of contemporary art, but the choice of artists makes the purchase even more […]
Newsletter 334
Monday, April 20th, 2020 Newsletter,One of the notable casualties of the coronavirus in Sydney has been the NSW Mnister for the Arts, Don Harwin. Although Don is still an animate being his political career has been temporarily frozen, as he has been forced to resign for sneaking off to his weekender in Pearl Beach when everyone was supposed to […]
Newsletter 333
Monday, April 13th, 2020 Newsletter,For some reason this morning I found myself humming that forgotten classic by Peter Lilley and the Leisure Masters – Hanging round the house. You know how it goes: “Hanging round the house is the life for me, I won’t go hitchhiking with Bobby McGee…” and various other things the singer swears he won’t be […]
Newsletter 332
Monday, April 6th, 2020 Newsletter,It feels a bit pointless writing a newsletter when there is virtually no news apart from the coronavirus. It’s becoming absurd to watch or listen to news broadcasts in which the sports section is devoted to stories about what else has been cancelled or is about to be cancelled. Then there are the stories about […]
Newsletter 330
Monday, March 23rd, 2020 Newsletter,Everything has escalated so quickly in these Days of the Virus I’m starting to wonder if anything will be left open within a week or so. My emails are nothing but a long procession of cancellations and postponements. The one that struck me most forcibly was the cancellation of the Sydney Film Festival – not […]
Newsletter 329
Wednesday, March 18th, 2020 Newsletter,I’m afraid that delays are becoming too frequent with this newsletter, but as soon as I got back from France I had to deal firstly with the zombification of jet lag, then it was full-on Sydney Biennale. Next week I won’t have any excuses. By accident rather than design it’s turned out to be a […]