How to deter art vandals? Punish them properly
It’s time to weight fines on gallery vandals with the significance of their targets.
Visual Arts
Portrait prize landed as owl gives wings to ‘Archibald reject’
One art competition’s reject turned into another’s treasure for veteran painter Noel McKenna – with a slight rework to claim the top gong.
‘Journey of a lifetime’ over for artist’s $14m masterpiece
Built like a spaceship, an ancient symbol of a self-consuming snake lands on the lawns of the National Gallery, and to Lindy Lee, the career-defining masterpiece is simply ‘magical’.
Behind the ‘Iron Curtain’ of art’s greatest illustrator
As the NSW Art Gallery prepares to unveil the largest collection of Alphonse Mucha’s work seen in Australia, we delve into the illustrations that created a blueprint for modern poster art, hidden in the wake of Nazi Occupation and Communist rule.
Is art the key to a circular economy?
Artist Nicholas Mangan’s new exhibition A World Undone at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia explores a time before consciousness and life itself.
‘Absolutely incredible’: record local showing of Egyptian treasures
More than 500 artefacts from the British Museum will go on show at the National Gallery of Victoria on Friday aimed at a ‘new generation’ and the curator is still making discoveries.
After losing her voice, Jenny Morris found her heart
Her chart-topping music career was cruelly cut short but a decade after she stopped performing this pop star has carved out a new creative life – one that changes lives.
Deserving winner in a field of mostly undeserving rivals
Archibald Prize-winning artist Laura Jones has understood that you have to see through and, as it were, behind original images, not just reproduce them.
Archibald ‘incredible thrill’ follows missed phone call
Sydney artist Laura Jones admits a ‘glitch’ delayed the news that she’d won the nation’s most celebrated award with her ‘bold but tender’ painting of Tim Winton.
Lost and found in Pompeii
Recently discovered frescoes depicting scenes from Greek mythology highlight the skills of regional masters commissioned to paint them.
Indigenous artists to stage grand takeover of Federation Square
Dynamic cultural figure Tony Albert will take centre stage with a work resembling a comical alien invasion … until you look closer.
Artist’s London update on Indigenous life
Indigenous multidisciplinary artist Naomi Hobson hopes her photographs offer those on the other side of the world a fresh and homegrown perspective of Aboriginal Australians’ life on country when they are displayed at London’s prestigious Victoria and Albert Museum.
Unearthed: the discoveries that turned ancient Egypt on its head
As Melbourne prepares to unveil the biggest exhibition of Egyptian antiquities seen in Australia, we dig into the priceless treasures contained the British Museum’s storage rooms. What did we find?
‘No more depth than a passport mugshot’
This year, arguably, there are fewer creditable pictures than ever, and even some pictures by decent painters fall frustratingly short of what they are capable of achieving | SEE OUR FINALISTS GALLERY
Baker Boy portrait takes Packing Room prize
The Art Gallery of NSW’s chief packers have had their say in the 33rd iteration of the Archibald’s favourite side prize, the curtain-raiser to the nation’s most popular portrait award.
Caravaggio that nearly went for a song on show
A recently rediscovered work by the Italian master Caravaggio is to go on show in the Prado museum after being bought for $59m.
Sex predator or artistic, romantic wanderer?
The complicated legacy of Paul Gauguin — sailor, stockbroker, painter — continues to be debated. Is it anything more than seedy colonial opportunism?
‘Poor Kate’: Catherine portrait divides royal fans
A painting by Hannah Uzor is a ‘portrait of strength and dignity’ … but critics aren’t convinced on its likeness.
Curious case of The Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize
The winning work at the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize features a torn-apart 100-year-old dictionary of Indigenous words. How this is supposed to represent ‘linguistic resilience’ is a mystery to me.
What the work of art can teach business
Artists are involved in ‘arduous, dishevelled, iterative work – as messy as building a business case’.
Gallerist brought graffiti in from street
Patti Astor was the doyenne of the avant-garde scene and co-founder of the Fun Gallery in New York’s East Village where she championed street art.
What the King thinks of my portrait – and why it’s so red
The painter trusted by King Charles has overcome tragedy and pays no heed to online mockery. But his daughter loved the satanist conspiracy theories.
An offering of intimate solace
The Adelaide Biennial’s Inner Sanctum supports contemporary and Australian art, and the power of painting that transforms the experiential world into visual meaning.
Nod to Arab arts festival boss ignites fury
Donors are threatening to withdraw from the Biennale of Sydney, after pro-Palestinian art curator and Emirati royal, Hoor Al Qasimi, was confirmed as artistic director of the 2026 event.
Artistic partnership built on abstraction
Grace Crowley and Ralph Balson defied the local art world to follow their common vision.
Evoking war three ways, and at once
Melbourne-trained Ukraine artist Stanislava Pinchuk stages a triple screen history hopping meditation.
The Met Gala shows the Kardashians are done
The Kardashians cannot keep up with a new generation of taste makers who are, by comparison, making them seem as shallow as Kim’s breathing in her Galliano corset.
Intellectual ambition shaped course of art
Frank Stella was a leading figure in postwar art who served as an elegant bridge between abstract expressionism and cool minimalism.
A brief requiem to the Chinese-Australian restaurant
When the time comes, and the last of their kind are shut down and sold off, who will remember the old Chinese-Australian restaurant?
What were they thinking?
This year’s Biennale of Sydney is caught up in subversive but misguided views on colonialism.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/visual-arts/page/6