Innehållsförteckning för January/February 2023 från Art Guide Australia

ANDY BUTLER is an artist, writer and curator based in Naarm/Melbourne. His arts criticism has appeared in The Saturday Paper, The Monthly, and Frieze. TIMMAH BALL is a writer of Ballardong Noongar heritage who is influenced by studying and working in the field of urban planning. Her writing has appeared in a range of anthologies and literary journals. STEVE DOW is a Melbourne-born, Sydney-based arts writer, whose profiles, essays, previews and reviews range across the visual arts, theatre, film and television for The Saturday Paper, Guardian Australia, The Monthly, the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Sunday Life, Limelight and VAULT. BRIONY DOWNES is an arts writer based in Hobart. She has worked in the arts industry for over 20 years as a writer, actor, gallery assistant, art theory tutor and…

Work from Home Zoe Freney Newmarch Gallery 24 February—25 March “Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework…” wrote French feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. “The clean becomes soiled, the soiled is made clean, over and over, day after day.” Adelaide-based artist Zoe Freney mentions this quote when talking about Work from Home at Newmarch Gallery. Freney explains how the show’s title is a play on domestic and professional work occurring in the home, and how this labour became either encouraged or mandated during pandemic restrictions. While Freney understands that working from home benefited some, she ultimately focuses on how it impacted women. “There are lots of studies that the Covid-19 working from home regulations meant a return to earlier models of gender roles in the home.”…

Ochre Painters of the Kimberley Japingka Aboriginal Art 24 February—22 March Ochre is a natural formation of clay deposits and sediments collected from the earth, varying across white, yellow, orange, red and pink pigments. For tens of thousands of years, ochre has been significant for the cultural and artistic practices of the Warmun community in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. As David Wroth, curator at Japingka Aboriginal Art, explains, “Although people often think of traditional Aboriginal art as having this connection to the ochre colours from the earth, there’s only a few groups of artists and communities who continue to use ochre pigments in their artwork.” Ochre Painters of the Kimberley focuses on smaller works from formative and senior artists of the Warmun community including Jack Britten, Shirley…

Unpopular Powerhouse Museum Until 3 June “I didn’t want this to just be some retrospective memorabilia show,” says Stephen Pavlovich about Unpopular, an exhibition that delves into the veteran music entrepreneur and promoter’s vast archives. Unpopular is certainly not that. Granted, this assemblage of over 200 objects, from photographs to posters to fanzines to personal letters—and pretty much everything in between—is a homage to the global 1990s bands that might loosely be defined as ‘alt-rock’. Think major names like Nirvana, Pavement, Fugazi and Sonic Youth, but also the likes of Rancid, Jawbreaker and The Amps. Yet Pavlovich, in partnership with Powerhouse chief executive Lisa Havilah, has ensured there is a contemporary edge to the show beyond displaying artefacts. In addition to Pavlovich’s 90s ephemera are separate collaborations with two contemporary…

Eddie Mabo used to hide a shotgun above the manhole in the ceiling of his family’s home. It was the late 1970s and there had been ASIO surveillance of the house, threatening phone calls, and other safety concerns. Protecting his family was uppermost in the mind of Mabo (1936-92), the Torres Strait Islands man who later became the famed land rights activist central to the High Court’s landmark 1992 decision to overturn the legal doctrine of “terra nullius”. His daughter Gail, one of seven children, well remembers the gun and what it symbolised, but she processes the experiences of her childhood years through the prism of creativity. A Townsville-based artist experienced with many modes of making—she started out in dance, but now has installation, sculpture, printmaking, painting and other skills…

Representation in art—from who is depicted, to who exhibits, to who holds positions of power—is central to this moment. Arrernte and Kalkadoon artist Thea Anamara Perkins captures this through her beguiling, thoughtful landscapes and portraits. For all her work’s gentleness and quiet movement, it looks at how First Nations people are portrayed in contemporary Australia—and grappling with both beauty and politics weaves throughout this issue. Our profile on Dylan Mooney looks at representations of love between queer Indigenous people, Gail Mabo is capturing the tides of memory and history, and Jasmine Togo-Brisby generously talks through the history behind her works; her great-great-grandparents were part of the Pacific slave trade in Australia. These artists work between identity, history and place, the intersections of which are incredibly distilled in a three-way conversation…

In Equilibrium Barbara Hepworth Heide Museum of Modern Art Until 13 March Considered one of the most important artists of the 20th century, British artist Barbara Hepworth is also one of the few women artists to achieve international recognition during their lifetime. Focused on figurative and naturalistic forms made from stone, wood, metal and bronze, Hepworth’s sculptural work is deeply influenced by nature, with the gentle curvatures of her polished forms often resembling nautilus shells and smooth river rocks. In Equilibrium features such forms and is the first major survey exhibition of Hepworth’s work in Australia; its title alludes to Hepworth’s ability to meld empty space with solid form, texture and colour to create a unified whole. Heide Museum of Modern Art artistic director, Lesley Harding, points out Hepworth “made…

Mandy Martin: A Persistent Vision Geelong Gallery Until 5 February Mandy Martin was an uncompromising and deeply committed artist. Born in 1952, and passing away in 2021, her work spans vast territory. The new retrospective A Persistent Vision makes this clear, covering Martin’s 45-year practice and emphasising her long-term involvement in fighting for the wellbeing of the Australian environment. Geelong Gallery CEO and director Jason Smith says Martin, who first rose to prominence in the mid-1970s, was an artist with something serious to say. In 2020-21, before her death, Martin worked with Smith to select 67 works for A Persistent Vision—pieces which were also donated to the gallery’s existing holdings of her work. Smith describes her as an exploratory artist whose reputation for politically charged and socially progressive subject matter…

Data Relations Australian Centre for Contemporary Art Until 19 March For better or worse, data is intrinsic to modern life. In recent months with various data breach scandals, Australians have been reminded of its omnipresence—and in Data Relations, artists explore how data manifests both personally and societally. “I’m very interested in the way artists work with technology as a medium, and think about it as a facet of our culture and everyday life,” says guest curator Miriam Kelly. “The show distills this in the way that artists think about data as something that might become the format of their work, and a structure and a way of relating to each other.” Spanning video, sound and performance, the show also features site-specific installations and augmentations. Artists including Zach Blas, Lauren Lee…

Dylan Mooney’s work unapologetically centres queer desire. In bold colours, the Yuwi, Torres Strait and South Sea Islander artist depicts the love between queer Indigenous people, bringing out the joy and solidarity that is the cornerstone of his community. “The works are about lived experiences and the love we have for one another, showing our thriving resilience and survival, growing through all these obstacles and hurdles,” he says. Born and raised in Mackay and now based in Brisbane, Mooney became interested in art as a teenager. His skills developed through taking art lessons, where he learned how to use charcoals and draw portraits, the latter of which is now his focus. Studying Indigenous art at university brought him further into his current practice. “That really helped me, just finding out…

Describe your practice in seven words? Unapologetically Australian South Sea Islander all day. Your first art love? Adrian Piper. Why do you think you were drawn to art making? I’ve loved creating ever since I can remember. Growing up we didn’t have much, so me and my three big sisters were always using our imaginations to keep ourselves occupied. One of my favourite things as a child was to rearrange the furniture in our house. I was intrigued by the way I could manipulate and transform spaces just by shifting things around. It drove my mother crazy; she’d often come home from work late at night and trip over my new layout in the dark. That process of playing with space is part of my practice today. So, I think…

ACMI acmi.net.au Fed Square, Melbourne, VIC 3000 [Map 2] 03 8663 2200 Open daily 10am–5pm. See our website for latest information. ACMI is your museum of screen culture. Navigate the universe of film, TV, videogames and art with us. Located in the heart of Melbourne’s Fed Square, ACMI celebrates the wonder and power of the world’s most democratic artform – fostering the next generation of makers, players and watchers. ACMI’s vibrant calendar of exhibitions, screenings, commissions, festivals, and industry and education programs explore the stories, technologies and artists that create our shared screen culture. 16 December 2022—19 February How I See It: Blak Art and Film Essie Coffey, Destiny Deacon, Amrita Hepi, Jazz Money, Steven Rhall, Joel Sherwood Spring, Jarra Karalinar Steel, Peter Waples-Crowe Spanning moving image, installation, documentary, photography and…

Adelaide Contemporary Experimental ace.gallery Lion Arts Centre, North Terrace (West End) Kaurna Yarta, Adelaide, SA 5000 [Map 18] 08 8211 7505 Tue to Sat 11am–4pm. See our website for latest information. 4 February—18 March A river that flows both ways Imhathai Suwatthanasilp (Thailand), Aluaiy Kaumakan (Paiwan Nation), Yuko Mohri (Japan) and Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi (Tonga). Art Gallery of South Australia agsa.sa.gov.au Kaurna Country North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000 [Map 18] 08 8207 7000 Daily 10am–5pm. Free entry. See our website for latest information. 5 November 2022—22 January Nalini Malani: Gamepieces Don’t miss the first major Australian survey exhibition by pioneering contemporary Indian artist Nalini Malani. Spanning five decades, Gamepieces showcases Malani’s radically inventive practice in film, video, photography, large-scale multimedia installation, painting, and animation. 26 November 2022—16 April Bewilderness: Recent…

MAP 1 VICTORIA MAP 2 MELBOURNE CBD MAP 3 FITZROY/COLLINGWOOD MAP 4 GREATER MELBOURNE MAP 5 & 6 NORTHERN MELBOURNE AND SOUTHERN MELBOURNE MAP 7 SYDNEY MAP 8 SYDNEY CITY MAP 9 DARLINGHURST/REDFERN/WATERLOO MAP 10 PADDINGTON MAP 11 & 12 GREATER SYDNEY AND NEW SOUTH WALES MAP 13 & 14 GREATER BRISBANE & QUEENSLAND MAP 15 BRISBANE MAP 16 CANBERRA MAP 17 & 18 HOBART & ADELAIDE MAP 19 & 20 PERTH & FREMANTLE “Through my work I’m looking at that disparity between preserving the public legacy of slave owners and the invisibility of the Pacific slave trade.”—JASMINE TOGO-BRISBY, ARTIST, P. 93 “We need to care for each other in a work environment that remains ripe with contradictions.”—TIMMAH BALL, WRITER, P. 91 “… How do you find a sense of…

Caboolture Swelter Caboolture Regional Art Gallery Until 4 March Kenny Pittock’s arresting sculptures of melting icecreams are especially evocative of Australia’s extreme hot weather. With ‘punny’ titles like It’s way too sunny, boy, the realist but slightly off-kilter works might make us think of the instant, but temporary, relief an ice-cold treat can offer. Pittock is not alone: curator Hannah Williamson, who sought out existing works for Swelter, as well as commissioning fresh pieces, says her aim is to canvas experiences of summer from a physiological point of view. She continues, “It is also about climate change, and about the experience in this region—the way Queenslanders seek respite, and work with their existence in this environment.” Swelter is part of an overarching summer theme in South East Queensland’s Moreton Bay…

Shuo Shu White Rabbit Gallery 22 December 2022—May The art of storytelling has been integral to Chinese culture and history for thousands of years. From engraved oracle bones to calligraphy on tortoise shells, stories have been passed down through generations in myriad ways. In today’s digital age, it can seem like a dying tradition—but some artists are finding their own ways to keep this timeless practice alive. Shuo Shu brings together 29 contemporary artists to explore hidden language and propaganda; storytelling and ancient myths; calligraphy and language. Curator David Williams selected the works from the existing collection at White Rabbit, with some of them making their public debut. “The tradition of Shuo Shu—storytelling—directed the curation, with artists dealing with mythical, classical and political language,” he says. “It’s always fascinating to…

Too Little, Too Much Niloufar Lovegrove Artspace Mackay Until 5 February The works of printmaker Niloufar Lovegrove in Too Little, Too Much represent a deft fusion of cultures that not only allows profound new perspectives on environmental crises, but also acts as an exploration of the artist’s personal identity. Too Little, Too Much is a meditation on water through linocuts. The works were created over the last three years, during a time when eastern Australia experienced multiple disasters: drought, bushfire and catastrophic flooding. While these environmental catastrophes weighed on Lovegrove, her centering of water themes is delivered via an almost otherworldly, figurative visual language informed by her background. “You’ll see the use of ancient mythology and historic motifs from my Persian heritage to retell our current news, in order to…

A Colourful Life Robyn Bischoff Bunbury Regional Art Gallery Until 26 February West Australian artist Robyn Bischoff moves between mediums with ease—from drawing and painting to ceramics and sculpture. Creating work that possesses lyrical applications of colour, throughout her decades-long career, Bischoff has become known for her vibrantly impressionistic landscapes and abstract explorations of hue and texture. “What we will be exhibiting really shows the progression of an artist who has always created from necessity,” says Bunbury Regional Art Gallery director, Michael Bianco. “She hasn’t gone to art school or locked herself into a style. She has used painting, drawing, ceramics and even performance to explore different ideas relating to her engagement with the world.” Living and working in the coastal town of Bunbury in South West WA, Bischoff’s oeuvre…

Thea Anamara Perkins is an Arrernte and Kalkadoon artist who creates evocative portraits and landscape paintings exploring being a First Nations person in contemporary Australia. Often drawing from family photographs, Perkins’s work is celebrated for its cinematic yet poignant depictions of family, acts of First Nations resistance, and its strong connection with Perkins’s local Redfern community. We speak with Perkins in her Carriageworks studio, a site where her grandfather, Uncle Charles (Chicka) Madden, spent over 50 years working on the railroads. Perkins’s mural Stockwoman will grace the walls of Carriageworks for Sydney Festival. “Communicating through love is also an ultra-powerful way of communicating an idea or message.”—THEA ANAMARA PERKINS AUTUMN ROYAL You’ve spoken about how portraiture can be a welcoming way of introducing people to uncomfortable themes and truths, as…

In this web of life, Argentinian-born, Berlin-based artist Tomás Saraceno suggests humans have a lot to learn from animal bioindicators: the notion that we might better understand climate through changes of behaviour in various species. Ants, for example, make their way into our homes when the rain is heavy outside. Dogs are known to have acute hearing and smell beyond human range. Bees see the world partly through a combination of yellow and ultraviolet light known as ‘bee’s purple’, invisible to humans. Insects, arachnids and certain other animals share communal knowledge of survival, suggesting Western society can learn from such knowledge in the natural world. Saraceno, born in San Miguel de Tucumán in 1973, recites a proverb in Italian—and then in English—that he remembers hearing as a child after his…

4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art 4a.com.au 181-187 Hay Street, Haymarket, Warrane/Sydney, NSW 2000 [Map 12] 02 9212 0380 14 January—12 February Rel Pham: Cache Rel Pham: Cache unveils the all seeing eye behind our mundane rituals of logging on and scrolling feeds. Composed of video and installation, Pham brings to light social media and Internet usage in everyday life. The artist corrupts the architecture, sacred sculptures and idols of Cao Dai temples with high-end computer parts, creating a parallel universe of online worship. 20 January—16 February A Pair of Marbled Cone Snails Races to Chinatown for The Special Braised Eggplant Evi O Working with a refined hand and curious eye, Evi O’s colourful abstractions of our natural and urban environment will transform Sydney’s light rail into moving artworks throughout…

Bett Gallery bettgallery.com.au Level 1, 65 Murray Street, Hobart, 7000, TAS 03 6231 6511 Mon to Fri 10am–5.30pm, Sat 10am–4pm. 13 January–4 February Tree Change Caroline Rannersberger 13 January–4 February Kanalaritja tunapri: The New Generation 15 palawa shell necklace stringers Contemporary Art Tasmania contemporaryarttasmania.org 27 Tasma Street, North Hobart TAS 7000 [Map 17] 03 6231 0445 Wed to Sun, noon–5pm. See our website for latest information. 24 February—2 April Last Messages Zieromuko, John Zobele, Yoshi Sodeoka, Winston Smith, Ryder Ripps, Nik Pepsi, NEGATIVEMEDITATION, Erin Linhart, Ray Harris, Lin Chen, Joey Gracia, Paolo Cirio. Presented by Contemporary Art Tasmania in association with Mona Foma. Curated by Scot Cotterell. Colville Gallery colvillegallery.com.au 15 Castray Esplanade, Battery Point, TAS 7004 [Map 17] 03 6224 4088 Daily 10am–5pm. See our website for latest information.…

Art Collective WA artcollectivewa.com.au 2/565 Hay Street, Cathedral Square, Perth, WA 6000 [Map 19] 08 9325 7237 Wed to Fri 11am–4pm, Sat 12noon–4pm, or by appointment. 4 February–4 March Scarp Merrick Belyea New paintings by Merrick Belyea continue his concentration on the outer edges of suburban Perth. Looking upwards towards an edge geographically and geologically unlike the plain below, the scarp becomes metaphor – unobtainable, unscalable, and despite nearby colonised corridors remains largely untouched. Beyond this arcadian, truly ancient landscape we glimpse a threat, where wilful neglect is making an irreversible mark on a paradise garden. 4 February–4 March Presence and Absence Joanna Lamb A series of new prints depict intimate views in and around the home. Although devoid of the people who inhabit the spaces, the works still record…