Visual Art
Tea is more than mere social lubricant for Jingwei Bu, a multi-disciplinary artist whose work is influenced by Buddhist Chan philosophy and who was recently invited to stay at the Byron Bay studio of celebrated painter and sculptor Lindy Lee.
Visual Art
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.
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.
The relationship between image and text has long fascinated printmaker Olga Sankey, who has embraced the new opportunities created by digital technology.
Visual Art
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.
Visual Art
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.
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.
Discover the enduring impact of the Helpmann Academy’s Graduate Exhibition, as the organisation celebrates 30 years helping SA visual artists pursue successful careers.
The work of 20 mid-career South Australian artists is on display in a fascinating exhibition at Adelaide Railway Station that, in its second iteration, is positioning itself as an important part of the Adelaide Festival program.
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.
Adelaide Festival
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.
Adelaide Fringe
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’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.
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.
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.
Visual Art
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.
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.
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.
Renowned Indigenous artist Emily Kam Kngwarray left us more than 25 years ago, yet her star power as an artist and cultural woman continues to grow
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.
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.
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.
Visual Art
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.
Festivals
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.
Decorative? Nostalgic? Blatantly commercial? All of the above, says former Adelaide artist David Bromley who shrugs off his critics in an Adelaide Film Festival documentary exploring his life and art.
The annual mindshare Exhibition opens our eyes to the experiences of mental health challenges.
The Art Gallery of South Australia’s new acquisition – Brodie Neill’s @Chair – celebrates of one of the most iconic symbols of our time, but the work’s creation was a long quest for the artist.
SA arts and culture news in brief: An epic anthology on progressive art in Adelaide is set to be launched, State Theatre’s adaptation of a local author’s bestselling novel sells out, line-ups for Good Music Month and Feast Festival are released, and bookings open for the Adelaide Festival Centre’s school holiday program.
Visual Art
The 2023 biennial Community Housing Art Awards show diversity, depth and talent among tenants in South Australian community and social housing.
Visual Art
In his latest solo exhibition, Finite Bounty, Dan Withey continues his preoccupation with human existence as he tries to make sense of the world.
More than 1500 First Nations artists from across Australia will feature in this year’s Tarnanthi Festival, which includes a major exhibition of work by the multi-award-winning Vincent Namatjira and will see the annual Tarnanthi Art Fair return as an in-person event at Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
The first major exhibition of Peter Waples-Crowe’s work in South Australia is an explosion of colour and form that centres the artist’s Indigenous queer identity and culture.
SA arts & culture news in brief: Art Gallery extends its opening hours for the final days of box-office hit Frida & Diego, a new fellowship program aims to nurture local authors, entries open for 2024 Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, and award-winning visual artworks now on show in two exhibitions.
Significant new insights into the life and work of 18th-century watercolourist Sarah Stone can be gleaned through a recently discovered album of 40 botanical studies now on display in the Art Gallery of South Australia’s Elder Wing.
Visual Art
Artist and poets will lead an exploration of places of refuge and sanctuary in the 18th Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art next year, with work spilling onto the city streets and leaving a legacy of public art.
Design
PHOTO GALLERY: In the 50 years since it began life in an old factory in St Peters, JamFactory has helped forge hundreds of creative careers and put Adelaide at the heart of Australia’s contemporary craft and design scene. Now, as it reflects on the past and looks to the future, it has one pressing need: more space.
Mushrooms sprout up everywhere in the studio of metalsmith and jeweller Michelle Kelly, whose constantly evolving arts practice reflects her fascination with fungi.
Adelaide’s break with the past and embrace of the new is revealed in a Carrick Hill exhibition which celebrates risk-taking, innovation and play leading up to and during the heyday of mid-century modernism.
Honesty and trust is crucial to the relationship between mother-and-daughter artists Anna Gore and Mary-Jean Richardson, whose 2023 SALA exhibition is testimony to the power of creative collaboration and the enduring art of painting.
Celebrated photographer Trent Parke’s new retrospective exhibition is like a time capsule, offering a unique and fascinating look at everyday life through his lens.
Festivals
When his social media accounts were hacked in 2022, light painting photographer Denis Smith reassessed his online life. The creative results feature in his SALA show Duality, which also offers visitors a chance to try the technique themselves.
Visual Art
Eleanor Alice hasn’t always had the luxury of a warm and dry designated studio of her own, but for an artist with a lifelong obsession with making, it’s being in the moment with the materials that matters most.
Four South Australian artists have experimented with illusion, fire and other elements of nature, culture, science and technology in a cross-disciplinary project that responds to the uncertainty of the world in which we live.
The tranquillity of Clare Belfrage’s Kensington studio and the delicate beauty of the myriad glass works on display belies the high-stakes drama of the practice that has sustained the distinguished artist for the past 30 years.
Transporting visitors into the world of Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera with a vibrant display of more than 150 works, the Art Gallery of SA’s new exhibition illuminates why Kahlo is an artist of such enduring allure.
SA arts and culture news in brief: A life-changing scholarship opportunity, surprising images capture the art of science, Adelaide Fringe warehouse auction, art prize winner maps Unley, celebrations at The Mill, and an introduction to paper sculpture.
