Jeffrey Smart’s paintings are distinctive. Sparsely populated, some of his near-empty metropolitan scenes have a melancholic, almost cataclysmic, air—like prescient glimpses of cities in lockdown—while others seem infused with an irreverent and sophisticated sense of play.
Considering most of us will be spending summer in Australia, we’ve curated our top pick of regional exhibitions to see across the country this holiday season. From Bendigo to Cowaramup to Mackay, they’re well worth making the trip for.
From his alter ego Blak Metal to exhibiting the figure of a saddened black air dancer, Steven Rhall is embarking on a new artwork: renaming Wi-Fi networks to ABORIGINAL LAND, which will be showing as part of ACCA’s vast summer exhibition Who’s Afraid of Public Space?
Trained as a milliner, Chanel rebelliously shunned the restrictive corsets and frills of the Belle Époque and Edwardian fashion in favour of garments focused on comfort, function and style. Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto at the National Gallery of Victoria marks the first time a major retrospective of the designer’s work has been seen in Australia.
With textiles as her medium, Hannah Gartside engages with the histories and textures of material—and is creating new work for MCA’s Primavera, centred on five powerful women.
After experiencing months of life in lockdown, the famous still life paintings of Henri Matisse—now showing in Sydney—take on an atmosphere that’s equally charged, cataclysmic, and very still.
Compelled by Greek mythology, Heather B. Swann is reinterpreting the story of Leda and the Swan—and the story’s violence—through female strength, power and mystery. Obsessed with myths, museums and haberdashery, Swann is entwining these for a new show at TarraWarra Museum of Art.
Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is reopening with a new $50m building, and a new identity. With eight exhibitions lined up, alongside unveiling its ceramic workshop, outdoor amphitheatre and tourist centre, its aiming to be a community hub as much as a gallery.
From climate change to war to gender, this year’s Head On Photo Festival is dedicated to some of the most pressing environmental and political issues of the moment. And this time, the ten-day Sydney event is taking place outdoors for all to see.
At a time when it feels more important than ever to support local artists, the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is relaunching by celebrating the state’s art, visual language and storytelling with The View From Here.
Illustrator Oslo Davis questions if you should always listen to that little voice inside your head.
Going from a young Batman to mentoring children in cape-making workshops, Dennis Golding’s art is about Indigenous empowerment, and is now showing at Carriageworks, Cement Fondu and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.
