All that arises – an exhibition 18 months in the making, now on at the ANU Drill Hall Gallery in Canberra – is a survey of artist Savanhdary Vongpoothorn's 25-year career to date. It features more than 50 of the artist's works, including three new works from 2019.
The Telegraph described it as an "ambitious and astonishing exhibition" while Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones declared he didn't just like the art but wanted to live in the world it portrays. He also speculated that modernist masters like Picasso were more influenced by Oceanic art than we might have previously realised. The...
On the eve of Sydney Contemporary art fair, five leading artists, collectors and philanthropists share their passion and tips for collecting art. Ben Quilty, artist Ben Quilty, artist Ben Quilty never met the renowned Indigenous artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye, but he is the proud owner of one of her works, thanks to a heartfelt letter he wrote...
Tamara Dean is known for her photographic works that document subjects who areoften engaged in some quiet interaction with the natural environment.These actions recall a rite of passage, or ritual, the essence of whichis private and agreed upon by a small cohort. Dean's cinematic sense oflight bears strains of Australian Gothic without the...
Auckland Art Fair puts the spotlight on this city as a place to see the best in contemporary art from the Pacific Rim. Dionne Christian asks some of the artists what 'place' means to them — in particular the space they work in.
While the cancellation of the biannual Melbourne Art Fair in 2015 appeared to some as a sign of the instability of the Australian commercial art market, for Sydney Contemporary it was good news. The fair opened on Thursday 7 September 2017 with a host of returning local and international galleries from across the Asia-Pacific region and closed...
Traipsing around the dealer galleries of Sydney's Darlinghurst is a pleasant enough pastime among the terraced Victorian houses with their wrought ironwork in their prospect of tropical foliage and rainbow flags. Two shows in particular stayed with me, not least because they counterpointed each other in orbit around a common centre. That centre is...
Chinese-Australian artist Guan Wei's two most recent series of painting—each containing 12 works of acrylic on canvas—can be seen alongside three of his small bronze sculptures at Sydney's Martin Browne Contemporary Art Gallery in his latest exhibition Reflection. All of his paintings are predominantly monochromatic— Reflection...
Your work plays with the absurd, the surreal at times. There are elements of realism but then the subjects can be doing completely bizarre things such as, for instance, the fat man with the oversized pants packed full of dogs. Can you talk to me about this juxtaposition in your paintings? I don’t see things as being black and white. I...
Art Stage Singapore 2016 closed last weekend reporting a 20 percent drop in visitor numbers: only 40,500 visitors attended the country’s premier fair from 20 January to 24 January 2016, down from 51,000 last year. It is “the first time attendance to the fair has shrunk”, reports Straits Times. The decrease reflects unfavourable...
Entering Art Stage Singapore 2016 through Thai artist Ploenchan Vinyaratn’s Netscape (2015)—a passageway of black feathers, colorful appliqué and embroidery resembling giant nestling wings—over 7,000 VIPs attended the vernissage evening of the fair on January 19, where they were greeted with flowing champagne and art. Branded as...
With its official opening last Saturday morning, the latest transmutation of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery is now open for public inspection, alongside its dazzling new neighbour and partner (by virtue of sharing the same director), the Len Lye Centre. New Zealand Aotearoa’s art communities will watch Simon Rees with interest as he...
What place does painting have in contemporary art? Slip Slop Slap sees artists and critics tackle the topic at King Street Gallery on William (11 March). Shows asking the same question include Paintingontopofitself at MOP Projects (4–29 March), Simon Fieldhouse at Australian galleries (3–22 March) and Mitch Cairns at the Commercial...
Since 2007 the Asia New Zealand Foundation has run a programme of residency opportunities in Asia for emerging and mid-career New Zealand artists. An exhibition of works by artists who have benefited from these residencies will be opened at Pataka Art + Museum in early 2015 as part of the Asia New Zealand Foundation’s 20th anniversary...
In the year since our last list there's been a lot of movement. As we've noted before, curators come and go depending on their latest projects, often years in the making. Russell Storer, who made his debut on this last last year at 30, is off the list completely after the curator left QAG-GOMA for Singapore, while others have jumped into...
As 2013 comes to an end, BLOUIN ARTINFO Australia takes a look back at the year that was and has picked 10 of the most memorable Australian artworks to have emerged during 2013. In no particular order, the top 10 most memorable Australian artworks of 2013 are: “Skywhale,” 2013 by Patricia Piccinini Commissioned to celebrate...