Visual Arts

Peter Godwin’s Painting Table with Black Truffles (2011).
Culture
John McDonald

The political reality of an overlooked major artistic talent

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.

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The Hope of the Polka Dots Buried in Infinity Will Eternally Cover the Universe, by Yayoi Kusama (2019).
Culture
John McDonald

Why Yayoi Kusama is the world’s most popular living 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.

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Rauschenberg and Johns.
Culture
John McDonald

Rauschenberg & Johns: Secrets hidden in ‘Significant’ art

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.

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Indigenous artist Alfred Lowe as the winner of the 2024 Shelley Simpson Ceramic Prize.
exclusive
Lifestyle
Latika M Bourke

Indigenous artist creating beauty one sculpture at a time

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

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Cao Fei Haze and fog 04 2013, inkjet print on paper, 70 105 cm Cao Fei. Courtesy the artist, Vitamin Creative Space and Sprth Magers ***This image may only be used in conjunction with editorial coverage of the Cao Fei: My City is Yours' exhibition on display 30 November 2024 13 April 2025, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and strictly in accordance with the terms of access to these images see artgallery.nsw.gov.au/info/access-to-agnsw-media-room-tcs. Without limiting those terms, these images must not be cropped or overwritten; prior approval in writing is required for use as a cover; caption details must accompany reproductions of the images; and archiving is not permitted.*** Media contact: media@ag.nsw.gov.au
Culture
John McDonald

Cao Fei pits humour and humanity against a post-Mao machine

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.

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Brett Graham’s sculpture Cease Tide of Wrong-Doing.
Visual Arts
John McDonald

Asia-Pacific show’s collective resistance to the individual

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’.

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“Stuck squirrel“.
Visual Arts

PICTURED: The winners of the Comedy Wildlife Awards

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.

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Julie Mehretu working on HOWL, EON (I, II)
review
Culture
John McDonald

Mehretu’s abstract work is elite. Her politics, not so much

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.

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Radical Textiles features Julia Robinson’s Beatrice and Sonia Delaunay’s Autumn (Automne) at the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.
review
Visual Arts
John McDonald

Disjointed Adelaide exhibition makes a radical point

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.

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A cryptocurrency mogul has spent millions to buy Maurizio Cattelan's piece of art called Comedian. (AP PHOTO)
Visual Arts
Daniel Trotta

Duct-taped banana sells for millions at art auction

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.

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Cats and Dogs exhibition: Jeff Koons Balloon dog (Red) 1995 porcelain 11.3 A 26.3 cm diameter National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Gift of Eric Harding and Athol Hawke, 2006 © Jeff Koons
Lifestyle
John McDonald

Gallery’s lofty project on cats and dogs a crowd-pleaser

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.

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Lindy Lee, Ouroboros, 2021-24 installation view, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, 2024, commissioned for the National Gallery’s 40th anniversary, 2022, photo by Martin Ollman © Lindy Lee Lindy Lee
review
Visual Arts
John McDonald

Is the National Art Gallery’s $14m purchase worth it?

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?’

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Ravinder Reddy, The Head… A Bangkok icon
review
Culture
John McDonald

Exploring the art of an earth under attack

JOHN McDONALD: From Beethoven being conducted to a hearing-impaired choir to swimming with tigers in high heels - there’s no shortage of artistic ambition in the environmentally-minded Bangkok Art Biennale.

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René Magritte’s 1952 painting, ‘The sirens' song’ (Le chant des sirènes.
review
Culture
John McDonald

Hats off to surrealist whose images permeated 20th century

JOHN McDONALD: Australia’s best-known art critic explores the stunning surrealist world of René Magritte.

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Madoda Fani.
Visual Arts
Will Yeoman

Rich convergence of international culture lands in Australia

The cultures of six Indian Ocean countries — India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, South Africa and Australia — are coming to Australia via an incredible exhibition.

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