OSLO DAVIS: In mid-2020, when I was faced with the prospect of little or no paid work coming in, I had to do something. My Postcard Project, a mercifully Covid-free, direct-mail, original art project, in many ways saved me. I drew more than 300 postcards—some pretty, some wacky— and sent them out to friends and strangers who ordered them online, potluck style: you got what you were given. It helped pay the rent and kept my hands moving. But more than that, it activated my funny brain muscle.
Absurdity and nonsense both have that unique power to disarm and tickle a viewer, if only for a microsecond. During recent dour times this tickle became a panacea—well, it was for me at least, but also hopefully for all the good folk who took a punt not knowing what the hell they would get in their letterbox. Here’s a few of them.
French-born/Belgium-based Laure Prouvost animates her first major Australian survey with her hallmark absurdism. ‘Oui Move In You’ is showing now at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art.
Kamilaroi/Bigambul artist Archie Moore has won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the Venice Biennale for his monumental work, kith and kin. It marks the first time Australia has won the award in the event’s 130-year history.
Endlessly inventive, the work of Hong Kong-born, Melbourne-based artist Scotty So spans photography, painting, video work, and drag performance. With a dual exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, So talks about pageantry, begonias and queens.
25-year-old Serwah Attafuah is known for her hyper-luminescent dreamscapes and cybernetic archetypes. In her Sydney studio she discusses the scavenger methods, ancestral rituals, and socio-ecological concerns that scaffold her practice—and why The Matrix helps her understand the world.
This year’s Biennale of Sydney centres the “profound changes of the 21st century” from migration to diaspora to climate change—and how communities show perpetual resilience. From delicate kites to images of nuclear war, here’s our round up of what you can’t miss.
A collaboration between Perth Festival, DADAA gallery and studio, and four Japanese arts and disability organisations has resulted in A rising in the east—an exhibition that asks what artists with disabilities can achieve when offered the resources.
