Get thee to a gallery: the best art shows around Australia this year
From Frida Kahlo to Andy Warhol, galleries around Australia are providing plenty of excuses to plan getaways that have art at their heart.
From Frida Kahlo to Andy Warhol, galleries around Australia are providing plenty of excuses to plan getaways that have art at their heart.
Margaret Olley was born in Lismore in 1923. To mark the centenary of the late much-loved artist's birth, Tweed Regional Gallery - home to a re-creation of Olley's overstuffed Sydney home studio - will honour her with a show stretching back to her high school years in Brisbane.
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The northern NSW exhibition is just one highlight on Australia's 2023 public-art calendar, which is packed with both international drawcards - think Frida Kahlo, Andy Warhol and Barbara Hepworth - as well as home-grown art stars. The Olley show is one that National Gallery of Australia director, Nick Mitzevich, is looking forward to seeing, along with the biggest development in the nation's cultural scene for some time - the Art Gallery of NSW's Sydney Modern wing.
"The reuse of the historic tanks ... provides an extraordinary, theatrical backdrop to the work of Adrian Villar Rojas," Mitzevich says. "Villar Rojas's site-specific sculptures, combined with the scale, mood and surreal nature of the Tank, will make for an unforgettable experience."
Likewise, Art Gallery of South Australia director, Rhana Devenport, has Sydney Modern on her radar, not only for the Villar Rojas installation but Spirit House, "the exquisite rammed-earth meditative chamber envisioned by Taiwanese-American artist Lee Mingwei".
Steven Alderton, director of Sydney's National Art School, name-checks Maitland Regional Art Gallery (opened by Olley in 2009) and its Kungka Kunpu (Strong Women) exhibition. "These major contemporary works are by a group of amazing women artists from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, working individually and collectively," he says. "The artworks are a great act of generosity, sharing culture and stories."
As for Tweed Regional Gallery director Susi Muddiman, she will be heading to Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art to see a 20-year body of work from Queensland artist Michael Zavros. "I'm what you could only brand as a [Zavros] groupie," she says. "In this exhibition, we will really be able to see the progression of the artist's continued investigation into consumerist culture. Zavros's practice is synonymous with impeccable attention to detail and seriously impressive technical skill. Alongside his wry sense of humour, he's branded as one of Australia's most significant and intriguing artists, so this exhibition will be a must-see for me."
VICTORIA
Turn back time, all the way to ancient Greece, in the NGV International's backyard this summer. Temple of Boom (until October) a one-third reimagining of the Parthenon, is this summer's architecture commission occupying the Grollo Equiset Garden. The concept, from Melbourne architects and colleagues Adam Newman and Kelvin Tsang, uses the footprint left behind by the previous commission (the popular pink pond) and will evolve as a roster of Melbourne artists leave their marks on the glass-reinforced concrete structure over three phases. The first stage of adornment comes courtesy of Drez, Manda Lane and David Lee Pereira.
In Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse (until April 16), the first Australian exhibition to showcase the late British couturier's body of work, see more than 120 of his garments and accessories, along with 80 artworks spanning painting, sculpture, photography and decorative arts on NGV International's ground level. ngv.vic.gov.au
FLINDERS STREET STATION
Peek into usually off-limit spaces above Flinders Street Station thanks to Melbourne-based artist Rone. His exhibition Time is a nostalgic meditation on beauty and decay, complete with regularly reapplied dust and "cobwebs" throughout 12 themed rooms, a haunting classical soundtrack from Melbourne musician/sound designer Nick Batterham and train-inspired lighting effects. Until April 23; rone.art
Former Sydney Morning Herald photographer Tamara Dean's first survey show, Leave Only Footprints, spans more than 20 years of the Shoalhaven artist's practice. Her conceptual images focus on nature and humans' connection to it and each other. As actor David Wenham recently enthused: "Dean possesses the keen eye of a photographer, the physical instinct and impulse of a choreographer, and the narrative storytelling ability of a film director." The show also incorporates scent, installations and moving images. The MGA, in Melbourne's south-east, is a public gallery devoted to photography. Until February 19; mga.org.au
In Australiana: Designing a Nation, showing exclusively at Bendigo Art Gallery in partnership with the NGV, see work from more than 200 artists and designers that (sometimes cheekily) reflects our national icons and style. See Vincent Namatjira's The Royal Tour (Vincent and Elizabeth on Country), Tom Roberts' Shearing the Rams and Rennie Ellis's At the Pub, Qld - an image snapped in 1982 that shows more legs than a furniture showroom. March 18-June 25; bendigoregion.com.au
Offering "a new lens on Australian Impressionism", Beating About the Bush contrasts the gallery's collection of Impressionist landscapes from the likes of Frederick McCubbin and Tom Roberts with the work of contemporary female photographers such as Fiona Foley and Anne Zahalka who frame similar subjects with a modern eye. Until February 19; artgalleryofballarat.com.au
Admire more than 40 works from Barbara Hepworth, the British artist who was the first woman sculptor to achieve international recognition. Drawn from around the world, the pieces include sculptures in stone, wood, bronze and other metals, as well as paintings. The exhibition traces her transition from naturalistic to increasingly abstract and simplified forms. Heide is both an art museum and sculpture park in Melbourne's north-east. Until March 13; heide.com.au
NSW
At the Art Gallery of NSW's audacious $344 million Sydney Modern wing, don't miss the Indigenous gallery - the display includes Yhonnie Scarce's cloud-like formation of 2000-plus glass yams dangling from the ceiling. The terrace channels a Japanese art island vibe with Yayoi Kusama's polka-dotted floral sculpture juxtaposed against Pritzker Prize-winning Sanaa's light-filled gallery (recalling the firm's Naoshima ferry terminal). Below ground is Tank - a gallery fashioned from wartime oil tanks - that's almost as mesmerising as Houston's Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern. Open daily; artgallery.nsw.gov.au
A highlight of South Korean artist Do Ho Suh's first solo show in the Southern Hemisphere is his Rubbing/Loving Project: Seoul Home - an extraordinary reconstruction of his childhood home through a series of paper rubbings. Until February 26; mca.com.au
The Subtle Knife is another time- and mind-bending journey along train tracks, passing through composite worlds, from contemporary artist Daniel Crooks. See his riveting video work run for 8:23 minutes on the Murray Art Museum Albury's exterior screen. Until March 19; mamalbury.com.au
Drawn from the Art Gallery of South Australia's collection, Kungka Kunpu showcases major works by women artists from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands. Stand in front of these works and feel the dynamism of both ancient Anangu culture and modern desert life. March 4-May 21; mrag.org.au
While seeing Margaret Olley: Far From a Still Life, a wide-ranging survey of the Australian artist's work, visitors can channel Olley's enduring capacity for friendship by writing a postcard featuring an Olley artwork to a friend. March 22-October 8; gallery.tweed.nsw.gov.au
ACT
Remind yourself of the overlooked beauty of everyday moments at this Cressida Campbell survey. The Sydney-based artist has spent more than 40 years capturing everything from hydrangeas stooping from a vase to an art-filled bedroom at night in delicate single-edition prints and woodblocks. Until February 19; nga.gov.au
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Break out the flamboyant floral headbands. The Adelaide gallery has scored an Australian exclusive with Frida & Diego: Love & Revolution - an exhibition of more than 150 works from the beloved 20th-century artist couple, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and their Mexican Modernism contemporaries. The show includes paintings, works on paper, photographs and period clothing. June 24-September 17; agsa.sa.gov.au
QUEENSLAND
At Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art, see Michael Zavros's The Favourite (June 24-October 2) - a survey show exploring his thematic interests in everything from luxury cars to his children, Narcissus and European palaces.
Following on from its epic Water exhibition three summers ago, GOMA is exploring another element with Air (until April 23). See a floating work from Tomas Saraceno and Ron Mueck's gargantuan human sculpture, In bed. qagoma.qld.gov.au
Keep your sunglasses on to view the neon-bright colours of Pop Masters - the first international blockbuster at the Gold Coast's HOTA Gallery. Drawn from New York's Mugrabi Collection, the "world exclusive" show includes works from pop-art superstars Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as artists inspired by the movement such as Katherine Bernhardt, Damien Hirst and Julian Schnabel. February 18-June 4; hota.com.au
TASMANIA
MONA owner David Walsh's nanny alerted him to the genius of Argentinian Tomas Saraceno, the artist who spun a climbable web into the atrium of Dusseldorf's K21 gallery. This show features minuscule to vast works, using materials ranging from meteoroid-generated radio frequencies and Tasmanian flora to radiation balloons, air samples from across Australia and particle pollution from Mumbai's skies. Until July 24; mona.net.au
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
See some of Asia's most thrilling contemporary artists - working across film, photography, painting and sculpture - in I Have Not Loved (Enough or Worked). The exhibition is part of the inaugural program for the gallery's curatorial initiative, the Simon Lee Foundation Institute of Contemporary Asian Art. Until April 23; slficaa.artgallery.wa.gov.au
The writer was a guest of NGV and RONE.
WHILE YOU'RE AWAY
Pop these five intriguing overseas museums onto your travel radar.
Norway has combined four museums into a single institution housed within an extraordinary new Oslo landmark. The National Museum, the largest museum in the Nordics, is crowned by the Light Hall - a feature that glows at night thanks to translucent walls made of wafer-thin marble sandwiched between glass panes. nasjonalmuseet.no
This homage to Broadway, which opened late last year, looks at its history and pioneers, as well as productions that provided socially progressive moments. There's also an exhibit dedicated to the creatives who help bring Broadway plays and musicals to life. themuseumofbroadway.com
Officially the Waseda International House of Literature, this library at Tokyo's Waseda University was the idea of its famous author graduate. After Murakami approached the uni, architect Kengo Kuma reimagined an existing building, wrapping it in curves to reflect Murakami's kind nature. The archive not only includes first editions, translated works and reviews, but thousands of Murakami's own vinyl records. See a replica of his current study and order a Murakami custom-blend coffee. waseda.jp
Rimini, on Italy's Adriatic coast, is the birthplace of Federico Fellini. The port city is celebrating its famous son with a museum that's the largest ever dedicated to a film director, sprawling over a 15th-century fortress, an 18th-century palazzo and an outdoor piazza. fellinimuseum.it
The $US1 billion ($1.66 billion) GEM, a mega-structure located within sight of the Pyramids at Giza, is years behind schedule but Egyptian authorities hope it will finally open this year, revealing extraordinary treasures such as 5000 artefacts from King Tutankhamun's tomb. egymonuments.gov.eg
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