Maree Clarke is a key figure in the reclamation of southeast Australian Aboriginal art. Her three-decade career has centred on the revival and sharing of culture.Plus, Jemima Wyman's collages using images from global protests.And visit the studio of acclaimed painter Craig Ruddy.
Artists in Afghanistan are facing a frightening future. Australian Hazara artists Khadim Ali and Elyas Alavi speak to Daniel about what’s happening in their homeland.There’s a lot of buzz about 'Murrnginy', a new exhibition by Yolngu artists from Yirrkala, who have swapped stringybark for scrap metal. The works take a stunning contemporary direction on an ancient practice.
Meet the Turner Prize-nominated UK art collective Cooking Sections, making art about the food we eat, ecology and geopolitics.Plus, how Kathy Temin came to use fake fur for her large-scale monuments to memory. And a new book delves into the elusive Ian Fairweather's love of Chinese art and language.
Anne Wallace paints film-like scenes of intimacy and psychological tension that speak to iso life and the female gaze. Plus, the ancient tomb art in Southern Italy that told an unexpected story of burial in the Classical world.And a new generation of artists from Western Arnhem Land in a new exhibition of exquisite art created on stone country.
A new biography of the post-Impressionist artist Hilda Rix Nicholas looks at the unusual life and sometimes overlooked career of a great Australian painter.Artist and designer W.H. Chong on the secret behind the perfect book cover. And this year’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards (NATSIAAs).
Two artists reflect on what has happened to Beirut since the devastating port explosion one year ago.And an antiquities sleuth and an art academic on the National Gallery of Australia's decision to return looted artworks to India.
Performance art tests the limits of the body and the gallery space. Fiona Kelly McGregor's latest book relives its bracing ascendancy in Sydney's queer and underground scene, and the well-known and lesser-known artists who lived and breathed it.Plus, performance artists Justin Shoulder and Stelarc. And, how do art galleries preserve performance art?
What if the use of white in classical sculpture was just a construct? For the ancient Greeks and Romans, sculptures were brightly-coloured affairs, clad in vivid red gowns with red lips, and pink or olive skin. Now scholars and artists want us to see that, too.
The mother-and-son collaboration of artists Dale and Kate Harding works across generations, artforms —and worlds. Textile artist Kate makes quilts, while Dale’s work is most commonly seen in the rarefied world of contemporary art. So why did they join forces for an exhibition?Plus, the photojournalist who turned his lens from the war in Afghanistan to the climate crisis at home.And a bespoke shoemaker mixing art and fashion.
The Art Show’s new presenter Daniel Browning finds Indigenous artists who enact healing and cultural rejuvenation through their artwork – from senior Pitjantjatjara elder and Betty Muffler, whose practice as a traditional healer – or ngangkari – extends to her monochromatic canvases mapping the topography and spiritual odysseys of her ancestor to the work of mainland Torres Strait Islander artists working in still lives and comic superheroes.
Czech brothers Dušan and Voitre Marek escaped communist political repression for Australia, but their Surrealist art was met with incomprehension in 1950s Australia. Now decades of their vibrant artistic output is on show, raising the question -- why aren't they better known? Plus, sculpture meets imitation food and the found photos that document China's embrace of capitalism.
The rediscovery of Hilma af Klint's abstract paintings has taken the art world by storm, but what meaning can we find in her powerful, mysterious work? The curator of the largest exhibition to reach Australia talks us through her symbols and spiritual quest. Plus, hear from an artist whose feminist-inspired underwear became a hit with the likes of Madonna. Then it's time to ponder… what do artists actually want to portray in a portrait?
How does Francisco Goya help us make sense of the chaos of our contemporary world, and its depths of suffering? Then, discover art history through TikTok… and a contemporary sculpture powered by wind, water… and wine.
Australia's Archibald portrait prize has been running for 100 years and remains wildly popular with punters, with its spats and controversies often more memorable than its artworks. What lies behind its appeal, and with a history of portraying and awarding a narrow range of distinguished Australians — what does it really say about us? Plus, meet the contemporary jeweller whose necklaces and rings tell stories of industry, social history and even architecture.
Patricia Piccinini returns to press our ethical buttons with new hyper-real silicon sculptures, staged in a hidden ballroom above Melbourne's busiest train station. Pus, what's the state of drawing in Australia? The simple act of putting pencil to paper used to be central to almost all art practices and art schools, but is it still? Two leading drawing artists make the case.
For years now, Peter Drew's been challenging notions of Australian identity in his 'Aussie' poster series — join him as he pastes up his next series around Melbourne's laneways. Then hear about how Walt Disney Studios preserves its vast film stills archive, which holds the earliest sketches of beloved characters including Bambi, Dumbo and Pinocchio. Afterward, introduce yourself to Yul Scarf, a multi-disciplinary artist and recent art school graduate who's been 'hatched' by the Perth Institute o...
Who exactly was Iso Rae, the Melbourne-born impressionist painter who honed her craft in northern France? Plus, a different take on a distinctly Australian 'ready-made' — the gumnut — with Colombian-Australian artist Maria Fernanda Cardoso.
Australian-South Sudanese artist Atong Atem brilliantly flips the Ethnographic gaze to create gorgeous studio portraits with a powerful statement. Plus, how does the medium of video art exist in the era of binge watching? And Namila chats to incoming guest host Daniel Browning, a familiar voice to RN listeners — but did you know he trained as an artist?
How do you turn the stark geographical facts of war and conflict into art? And how do you do it authentically and sensitively, from the far-off shores of Australia? Stanislava Pinchuk started making street art in Melbourne, then moved into tattooing before the Russo-Ukrainian conflict pushed her art in a very different direction. At 32, she has a survey exhibition called Terra Data — mapping the borders and human movement of war and displacement....
The partial destruction of the 1,500-year-old stone sculptural arrangement in Victoria’s western district added to the devastating tally of damaged First Nations art and cultural sites. Museums Victoria curator Kimberley Moulton joins Dark Emu author Bruce Pascoe. Plus, take a tour of FLOAT, an innovative community artists' studio floating on Lake Tyers. And we talk to an artist and a curator about two new exhibitions that look at food and eating through Art.
Yuki Kihara's reaction to being chosen to represent Aotearoa/New Zealand in the 2021 Venice Biennale was to scream at the top of her lungs. But with it came a huge sense of responsibility: "If I f**k this up, then people like me won't get a chance anymore." An interdiscplinary artist of Japanese and Sāmoan descent, Kihara has hit a lot of firsts in her international career — a show at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the first Pacifika and Asian artist to represent Aotearoa at the Bien...
Khadim Ali began his art career painting propaganda murals in Iran before training in Persian miniatures and eventually finding his way to Australia. Now the acclaimed Hazara artist is launching his largest solo show at the Institute of Modern Art. Using apparently innocent phrases and bright enamel paint, Jon Campbell’s joyful paintings unpack the pathos and humour of Australian vernacular and suburban life. Plus, why did the Australia Council commission a report on Graphic storytelling? Co-aut...
Photographer William Yang has been turning the camera on himself and his community with equal candour for four decades. Now he dusts off the film for the largest survey of his work yet. Plus, when you think of Australia’s best art and culture destinations, do you think ‘go bush’? With many of Australia’s most sought-after artists living remote, it might be time to re-think where our cultural capitals lie. Parrtjima Festival director Rhoda Roberts joins author Monica Tan (Stranger Country)....
Brisbane-based artist Vernon Ah Kee has been making art that asks hard questions for nearly two decades, critiquing systems and racial inequality in contemporary Australia. Plus an interview with Liz Ann Macgregor, director of Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art. The director has since announced she will be leaving the job after 22 years.
Yhonnie Scarce creates hand-blown glass installations that express the trauma of atomic testing at Maralinga in the 1950s and 60s, and the impact of colonisation. Enter the studio of painter and musician Mick Turner, one third of the band Dirty Three. Plus, what about zines? Two zinesters make the case for the longevity of the DIY art mag.
Namila meets the abstract artist Robert Owen at a new retrospective.Plus, enter the studio of a bespoke shoemaker mixing art and high fashion.And an artist and journalist explain the phenomenon of NFTs.
Is there a fear of the older female nude? Flesh After Fifty is an exhibition about women’s bodies over the age of 50. Plus, Gabby O’Connor is tackling how to communicate the risk of climate change through public art, with the help of scientists. And enter the studio of sculptor Isadora Vaughan and the fantastical Plastic Bag Store of puppeteer Robin Frohardt.
Kay Rufai's Smile-ing Boys Project flips negative stereotypes and perceptions associated with young black boys to create healing and social change. Plus, head into the bush with immersive landscape painter Mary Tonkin.And what’s in a tattoo? An art exhibition about Ink in LGBTI history and culture.
Photographer Hoda Afshar turns 110 camera lenses on well-known Australian whistle-blowers for her work 'Agonistes'. And walk in the footsteps of modernist Clarice Beckett, the subject of a new retrospective.
Artist Lucy Culliton paints almost exclusively her own homelife on the farm. She takes us through her inspiration and philosophy, including the importance of rescue animals in her life – all eight dogs, four horses, parrots, goats and 47 sheep. Plus, meet the sculptor using discarded plastic lids to create large-scale 'constellations'. And what makes for 'disobedience' in Art, and how does gender matter?
