Visual Arts

The renowned Australian photographer’s early death gave her self-destructive behaviour a lurid glamour. But in just one decade she did more than enough to ensure her immortality in Australian art.

There’s something wild and uninhibited about Santiago’s work, which is broadly autobiographical but draws on the beliefs and history of the Philippines and the iconography of European Old Masters. 

The staggering quality on display at the Islamic Arts Biennale is a superb introduction to Islamic history

Peter Godwin’s admirers can never understand why his work isn’t currently hanging on the walls of all the public art museums. But the reason is simple - he’s a straight, white, male artist.

The NGV’s amazing exhibition shows Yayoi Kusama not simply as a maker of commercially tuned product and spectacle, but as an artist whose nine decades of creativity seem to transcend mere humanity.

There are more risks than benefits in consigning pieces by Claude Monet, Mark Rothko, Agnes Martin, Barnett Newman and Andy Warhol to the bush for years on end.

Alfred Lowe did not set out to become a world recognised sculptor — despite being surrounded by art during his childhood in Alice Springs

After growing up in a China that modernised at a furious rate, Cao Fei uses her innovative art to scrutinise globalised techno-utopias and the consumer revolution with wit and warmth.

JOHN McDONALD: Despite its eye-catching works, The Asia Pacific Triennial’s curatorial drift towards community-based work echoes a global tendency to downplay the role of the individual creative ‘genius’.

From a squirrel stuck in a tree to a tussle between penguins. See the winners of the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards from around the world.

JOHN MCDONALD: Julie Mehretu’s abstract art is elite and energetic material from one of the art world’s rightfully rising stars. Her political viewpoints, not so much.

JOHN MCDONALD: Radical Textiles examines the way textiles have been used to convey political messages. Unfortunately, it often leans heavily on the identity of the artist to supply this ‘political’ dimension.

A banana duct-taped to a wall has sold for millions at auction, with its cryptocurrency-entrepreneur buyer saying it's more than just an artwork.

JOHN McDONALD: A national gallery’s new exhibition finds the art museum making an unusually realistic assessment of what the public wants. For better or worse, that’s cats and dogs.

Australia’s leading art critic John McDonald runs his eye over the most expensive work ever purchased by the National Gallery and asks: ‘Is it worth it?’