Suggested Reading
Théo Mercier’s sites unseen
Equal parts monumental and fleeting, the sand sculptures of French artist Théo Mercier chart the histories—beyond our lines of vision—that a landscape reveals and conceals. Mercier’s MIRRORSCAPE is now showing at Mona.
Briony Downes
In the shadows: Gao Ping’s dialogue with the deeper heart
For Chinese painter Gao Ping, the interplay between shadow and light is as much a symbol of our relationship with history as it is a visual technique. The artist’s latest exhibition Between the Shadow and the Soul, curated by Dr Luise Guest, is now showing at Vermilion Art.
Louise Martin-Chew
Proof-sheet of an era: examining the golden age of documentary photography
Examining the documentary photography of the 1950s to 1980s might seem like an exercise in looking back, but as Jane O’Sullivan discovers, Imagining a Real Australia calls loudly to the present. It’s full of arresting works on subjects that still speak to us today, from land rights to war and feminism.
Jane O'Sullivan
Gregory Hodge looks beyond the surface
The quietly evocative new paintings of Gregory Hodge, now showing at Sullivan+Strumpf Sydney, are a lesson in the places where abstraction and figuration intersect.
Sally Gearon
The different strokes of Ethel Carrick
The paintings of Ethel Carrick—whose legacy is being celebrated via a new exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia—offer distinctive and poignant lessons in seeing the world.
Sally Gearon
Home truths
Material concerns such as housing can determine an artist’s wellbeing and sense of possibility—an idea that is often overlooked by romantic ideas of art making that are out of sync with our current reality. How can artists navigate a society in which reliable shelter is elusive? And can art itself help us reimagine what it means to achieve secure footing in an increasingly volatile world? Jo Higgins investigates.