This Month
Polka-dotted pumpkin could be NGV’s most expensive piece of art
The Smorgon family operates Australia’s biggest glasshouse, so their financing of the five-metre sculpture by 95-year-old Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, worth over $10 million, makes sense.
- Michael Bailey
October
Diary alert: Shows to catch in November
My Brilliant Career becomes a musical, a guest guitarist turns the ACO into house-music hedonists, and a pioneer of abstract art looks back.
- Michael Bailey
Sacked orchestra chief may have to pay pianist $18k
Jayson Gillham is going after the Melbourne Symphony’s former managing director, and current COO, as part of his discrimination suit against the orchestra.
- Michael Bailey
August
Michael Ullmer steps off stormy MSO
Former MSO chairman Michael Ullmer resigned from the orchestra’s International Advisory Board last week.
- Myriam Robin
Christie’s-backed art fintech puts finishing touches on recap
It also opened a $US50 million debt book opportunity alongside the equity round and told backers it would be open to a sale or join venture discussions.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
April
Forget sex, drugs and rock’n’roll: kale and kombucha take over touring
Frontier Touring has a new-look team, but it’s not the only thing in the music biz that has changed.
- Samantha Hutchinson
March
Local Vinnies a treasure trove for early pieces by renowned sculptor
From Detroit to local markets, two Melbourne artists spent 25 years assembling an unrivalled collection of mid-century design pieces by Clement Meadmore.
- Paul Best
Why the biggest celebrities in the world trust this photographer
New York-based artist Ryan McGinley has road-tripped with Brad Pitt, hung out with Kate Moss and got Troye Sivan to strip. Now he’s in Melbourne to explain what drives him.
- Stephen Todd
February
![The artist in his studio. He “needs to touch [flowers] every day, to keep the relationship alive”.](https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_1%2C$multiply_1%2C$ratio_1.777778%2C$width_1059%2C$x_273%2C$y_149/t_crop_custom/c_scale%2Cw_280%2Cq_52%2Cf_auto/d759218639ce71262ab471a7d727500446f70552)
The man who listens to flowers (to world acclaim)
Artist and florist Makoto Azuma arranges, explodes and entombs blooms in resin in a never-ending quest to help them express their beauty.
- John McDonald
- Opinion
- Obituaries
‘The last cheque that I write bounces’: vale Harold Mitchell
The advertising pioneer, who died last week aged 81, struggled with personal challenges, including alcoholism, weight and marriage failure.
- Aaron Patrick
January
Collectors and wannabes take note: Melbourne Art Fair is where it’s at
A total reboot of the 35-year-old fair is on track to attracting the big money away from its behemoth NSW counterpart, Sydney Contemporary
- Dan F. Stapleton
December 2023
‘May our gladioli bloom in celebration’: Barry Humphries farewelled
King Charles, Rupert Murdoch, Elton John and Andrew Lloyd Webber led tributes at a state memorial at Sydney’s Opera House for the man who ‘invented a language’ for Australia and took it to the world.
- Samantha Hutchinson
To be a winning artist, a little humour helps
It’s a philosophy that has worked for the most successful artist duo in the world. Now, the National Gallery of Victoria has acquired four of their installations.
- John McDonald
Oh, what a knight. Art boss feted by the French
Director of the National Gallery of Victoria Tony Ellwood has been awarded the medal of Chevalier des Arts et Lettres (Knight of Arts and Letters).
- Patrick Durkin
What robot dogs, Yoko Ono and a $1m potato reveal about humanity
The theme of artificial intelligence and its impact on art and society runs deeply through the NGV’s Triennial exhibition opening this weekend.
- Patrick Durkin
November 2023
- Christmas Gift Guide Edition 2023
- Life & Leisure
Just the ticket: the key events in Australia this summer
From the Hallelujah Chorus to Harry Connick Jr, there’s music, ballet, opera and more to kick up a song and dance about this month and into the new year.
- Michael Bailey
Architect Nic Brunsdon wants us to look at air with his NGV exhibit
Like fish in water, humans rarely stop to think about the basic substance that keeps them alive. Perth-based Brunsdon wants to challenge that.
- Michael Bleby
The Liquid Night: New York City through the eyes of Bill Henson
He took the photographs on the gritty streets around Time Square decades ago but never did anything with them – until he found them recently and had an epiphany.
- Stephen Todd
October 2023
- Exclusive
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Leibler cuts ties with arts collective over anti-Israeli banners
Organised by Indigenous group This Mob Arts Collective, one sign on display at a banner-making workshop on October 23 labelled Israelis ‘dumb white dogs’.
- Ronald Mizen
June 2023
India Mahdavi makes NGV Pierre Bonnard exhibit feel like home
The contemporary designer behind the set for a French impressionist exhibition has put in her own furniture to give it a human scale.
- Michael Bleby