The Adelaide Botanic Garden is being transformed like never before with the colourful, large-scale glass sculptures of Dale Chihuly. John Neylon looks at why Chihuly is considered one of the most important artists of the 21st century and what visitors can expect from his first major outdoor exhibition in Australia.
Visual Art
A group of young artists have turned the idea of ‘something you can hold’ into a display of works ranging from evocative paintings and photographs, to installations intertwining traditional craft methods with contemporary art.
Visual Art
Yasemin Sabuncu offers a striking exploration of contemporary digital culture through the lens of self-portraiture photography with a collection of ‘selfie’ images all taken on a smartphone.
PHOTO GALLERY: David Dahlenburg’s images capturing the ‘grotesque beauty’ of tailing dams in SA have won the portfolio prize in the 2024 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Competition, while Scott Portelli was named overall winner for a drone image showing two humpback whales bubble-net feeding.
Sally Heinrich’s bold lino prints feature the images and stories of groundbreaking South Australians – from Don Dunstan and Julia Gillard, to Mary MacKillop and Paul Kelly. Now they’ve been brought together in a new art book titled Local Icons.
The answer can be found in a SALA show where a large group of artists have given their imaginations and creativity free rein to create works spanning painting, sculpture, sound, textiles, jewellery and more.
An exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra featuring the work of French artist Paul Gauguin is drawing crowds and asking some serious questions.
SALA’s Slide Night provides artists with the platform to share a snapshot of their artistic practices, bodies of work, advice… and just about anything else.
Visual Art
The last-ever exhibition in Paul Greenaway’s GAGPROJECTS features work by Deborah Paauwe – also one of the first artists to exhibit in the gallery. John Neylon takes a look at the SALA show and the gallery’s impact on the contemporary arts landscape.
Visual Art
Isolation is at the heart of expressionist painter Tom Phillips’ latest body of work, yet there is a warmth to his bold paintings that welcomes in the viewer and evokes our empathy for the human struggle.
South Australia’s underwater world can be viewed in a different light through a new series of photos by Narelle Autio that were captured beneath jetties along the coastline and present the ocean as a place of transformation and allure.
A record 700-plus exhibitions will be presented across Adelaide and regional South Australia during the 2024 SALA Festival. We’ve selected eight shows to whet your appetite for the month-long smorgasbord of visual art.
SALA’s 2024 feature artist Julia Robinson reaps what she sews with an immersive exhibition drawing on a lifelong fascination with folk horror imagery and textile creation.
If the Aboriginal flag had been designed today, would it be a dot painting? Artist and curator Dameeli Coates examines the relationship between history, cultural knowledges, authenticity and performative actions in Aboriginal art.
Visual Art
After singing for crowds outside AGSA, Henry VIII is now taking up a more regal position inside the gallery. Tansy Curtin sheds light on the portrait and an incident involving the king that may have changed the course of English history .
Visual Art
Ellie Buttrose, curator of First Nations artist Archie Moore’s Golden Lion-winning installation at the 2024 Venice Biennale, has been named as the curator of the 2026 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art.
Deeply personal, Brent Harris’s Surrender and Catch at the Art Gallery of South Australia is a moving retrospective of the artist’s 40-year career with works that often explore difficult ideas yet also incorporate humour and the absurd.
Taking inspiration from a popular Filipino dessert, Alyssa Powell-Ascura’s Halo-halo multi-sensory exhibition at The Mill explores the layered traditions and memories that connect diasporic communities.
Long-term collectors Diana and Philippe Jaquillard are passionate about offering meaningful support for artists. Here, Diana shares what inspires her love for the arts, and how collecting works can transform the careers of aspiring creatives.
A new exhibition in Adelaide tackles the notion of ageism in the arts, exploring what it means to be judged on your age – whether young or old.
A striking portrait recently unveiled at the Art Gallery of SA shines light on both a distinguished 19th-century female painter and the lavish fashions of the time.
Visual Art
Adelaide artist and 2024 Porter Street Commission recipient Lee Salomone’s first major exhibition in more than a decade is a culmination of 30 years of art-making and collecting found objects.
InReview
A new exhibition of prints and posters documents a radical and largely-overlooked movement from 1970s Adelaide which centred around progressive ideas that remain remarkably relevant today.
Using fragile dress patterns of the 1940s and ’50s and her skills in charcoal, linocut and watercolour, Margaret Ambridge explores the embedded power in women’s lives.
Archie Moore has become the first Australian to win the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale with his powerful work mixing politics and history with the poetry of internalised anxieties around belonging.
A thought-provoking exhibition of work by 75 finalists chosen for this year’s Waterhouse Natural Science Art prize highlights the wonders of the natural world, as well as the myriad human-made challenges it faces.
What do a 17th-century painting of a Belgian cathedral and an Australian contemporary sound work about queer love have in common? More than you’d think.
Whimsical creations by ceramicist Bruce Nuske displayed in an exhibition space designed by the late Khai Liew are being shown alongside a meditative presentation by visual artist Dana Awartani in this captivating showcase at Samstag Museum of Art.
A damaged Khai Liew chair, a torn souvenir scarf from the 1956 Olympics, and a broken vase and perfume bottles owned by Paula Nagel are among a wonderful collection of repaired or transformed items on show in a new exhibition at JamFactory.
Be a ‘Palmer Pilgrim’ and explore this enticing sculpture showcase where 19 artists have co-opted the dramatic hilly landscape to play along with their imaginative ideas – including visions of an alternative future.
Peace may seem elusive in some of the works in the 2024 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, writes John Neylon. Nonetheless, there is plenty to capture the interest and stir the emotions of a broad audience.
Former Adelaide High School student Fatiha Rashid’s vibrant mixed-media painting paying homage to her home country of Bangladesh is among dozens of artworks currently on display in the SACE 2024 Art Show at Light Square Gallery.
Visual Art
PHOTO GALLERY: From an oil painting capturing the landscape-altering impact of floodwaters to glass baubles inspired by the rare ‘ice age gum’, the 2024 Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize shortlist encompasses a diverse collection of works celebrating the intersection of art and science.
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Discover the enduring impact of the Helpmann Academy’s Graduate Exhibition, as the organisation celebrates 30 years helping SA visual artists pursue successful careers.
There are 650,000 Stobie poles in South Australia, and over the past few years groups of local emerging artists have been making their mark on this local icon. Now, applications are open for the 2024 iteration of the project.
Twenty-four leading contemporary artists present their take on the concept of Inner Sanctum through works ranging from paintings and poetry to video installations and music in curator José Da Silva’s 2024 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art.
Multi-disciplinary artist Matcho Makata communicates the essential conflicts of diaspora life in this layered and affecting exhibition. ★★★★
From fascinating hybrid sculptures that blur the boundaries between natural and man-made forms, to a series of hanging prints of photos depicting life in the former Yugoslavia, the 2024 Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition offers plenty to explore.
Adelaide Fringe
Adelaide Fringe’s former director Greg Clarke is back in his home town for the 2024 festival season – this time as a visual artist showing his paintings in an exhibition on the Fleurieu Peninsula with long-time friend Louise Vadasz.
InReview
SA arts & culture news in brief: Take a deep dive into the Art Gallery of SA’s collection with a new book sharing the stories of 500 key works, meet Australian Dance Theatre’s newly appointed artistic associate, and discover the eclectic line-up of works-in-progress showing during this year’s inSPACE program.
Lovely to look at – but not made to sit in – Marc Newson’s Cloisonné Blue Chair is part of a body of work the designer created using a centuries-old Chinese enamelling technique. It is on show in the Art Gallery of SA’s Metamorphosis display.
In search of recalibration and reconnection to nature, ex-cricketer turned artist and arts worker Oakey found herself on an amazing adventure that also ended up providing the subject matter for her upcoming exhibition: Deep Rest.
It was goodbye Light ADL and hello ILA (Immersive, Light & Art) as the West End venue unveiled its new branding and identity this week – alongside the premiere of locally made immersive digital-art film Anomalous.
Installations commenting on single-use plastics and the dilemma of love and loss sit alongside impressive paintings, playful sculptures and an immersive bird-inspired presentation in Adelaide Central School of Art’s 2023 Graduate Exhibition.
Sonya Rankine has woven traditional techniques and a passion for truth telling and creativity into a multi-faceted contemporary arts practice and business. Her latest pieces are lighting up the historic phone booths at Adelaide Railway Station.
Visual Art
Kyoto-based artist Takaya Kōho animated the wild and often destructive forces of nature with his depiction of the Japanese gods of thunder and wind in a pair of late 19th-century six-panel screens on display in the Art Gallery of SA.
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Industry icons Margo and Sam Hill-Smith have championed the careers of many South Australian artists. Here, Margo explains what inspires her passion for the arts, and why mentoring and gallery support are so important for emerging creatives.
As Adelaide’s Hugo Michell Gallery has grown so, too, have the artists it represents. Now it is presenting an eclectic and fun collection of work taking visitors on a journey over the past 15 years.
The Art Gallery of South Australia has unveiled a major new acquisition and launched its exhibition line-up for 2024 – including a Radical Textiles display featuring items ranging from William Morris tapestries to Kylie Minogue’s gold hotpants.
PHOTO GALLERY: Photographic artist Alex Frayne is well known for his images capturing Adelaide noir and the myriad moods of South Australian landscapes, but his latest adventure has seen him embracing the ‘crazy energy’ of Los Angeles.
A fresh and comprehensive new narrative reveals how the Adelaide art scene post-World War II was an incubator of progressive ideas and talent, despite often being dismissed or disparaged in the wider mainstream history of Australian art.
Visual Art
Bold ceramic forms, whimsical wall-mounted gremlins and large, confident paintings sit side by side in an exhibition of work by SA artists Zaachariaha Fielding and Alfred Lowe, reviewed here by Troy-Anthony Baylis and showing as part of Tarnanthi.
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Finding a studio space can be a daunting task for emerging creatives fresh out of art school, but – as emerging artist Teresa Busuttil has discovered – the experience and stability a studio offers can be a career game-changer.
Artist Chris Yee, whose digital animation Perspective Pathways was chosen to illustrate the cover of the 2023 OzAsia Festival program, says he is motivated to tell stories around Australian-Asian identity through his colourful and dynamic creations.
Acclaimed performance artist Stelarc and local visual artist Bridget Currie are among the experienced mentors helping SA emerging creatives to flourish in their chosen field through Helpmann Academy’s Elevate Mentorship Program.
Colonialism, pop culture and family legacy are all part of the story shared through the first major survey exhibition of work by Vincent Namatjira, an artist who enjoys placing powerful people outside their comfort zone.
Tarnanthi artistic director Nici Cumpston highlights some of the diverse contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art on show at the Art Gallery of SA during the 2023 festival – from delightful animations and unique sculptural works, to paintings inspired by a love of rock music.
A traumatic incident that saw him badly burned as a child set Shane Cook on a lifelong journey to learn more about his Indigenous heritage. His story is writ large through both the tattoos that cover his body and in his unique artwork.
