Fairy tales are a difficult theme to tackle. After all, there are so many cultural influences on the folkloric oeuvre. Is the frog a prince or a princess? That depends on the country where you encounter the fairy tale. Is there an evil witch? Maybe she eats children or confuses travellers; or maybe she is… Read More »
How to nourish yourself with art during the holiday season? When many galleries take a break from their busy curatorial schedules and go into a refurbishment mode, it can be a little frustrating to get your regular art fix. For example, a couple of years ago on a trip to Versailles, I had the purpose… Read More »
The current technology available to museums and art galleries allows artists, curators and exhibition designers to push artistic boundaries further and further. Installation is the art craze of the 21st century, and exhibitions around the world are bursting with explorations of colour, light, sound, touch and smell. But it is when these senses work together,… Read More »
I’ve always been an advocate for a complete education – proper understanding of your subject, its history, and appreciation of all of its aspects. From this perspective, all art historians should learn and understand the various mediums of art making. If we are critiquing and researching artworks, we should have an appreciation of the labour… Read More »
Once in a while I take a regular ‘pilgrimage’ around art galleries in Brisbane. It is easy enough to concentrate on a particular art area in Brisbane, such as Fortitude Valley: each art hub in town provides just enough stimuli for intense survey viewing which runs out before the brain reaches its overload capacity. And… Read More »
Mystique, translucent images of Italian landscapes caught my eye walking past a contemporary art gallery in Melbourne’s inner suburbs. Having visited Italy last year, I was intrigued by the impressionistic images of stone houses, old bridges and hill-side architecture that seemed to be hundreds of years old. Upon entering the gallery, I discovered a gem… Read More »
I was really looking forward to this exhibition. Contemporary art practice of five generations of women congregated in one place. Pressed for writing deadlines, I didn’t research the exhibition before my visit. But that shouldn’t be an issue for an opening night visit, right? Wrong. As I entered the room, the attention grabber was a… Read More »
Why is it so hard to get people into art galleries in Brisbane? When we think of art in Australia, the first cities that come to mind are really Melbourne (known as the art capital) and Sydney (it’s big, has everything, and plenty of it). Brisbane? Pfft! When I’m overseas, I often have to explain… Read More »
Watch out – stories are coming to life! Bustling with respectful enthusiasm of traditional Korean folklore, Sujin Nam’s exhibition at Brisbane Modern Art Gallery filled the walls with dragons, phoenixes, farmers, bathing women, birds, and mountains. An entire village community comes to life at the different stages of one man’s life journey. If you are… Read More »
…At least such was my recent experience at the exhibition of “The Greats” at the Art Gallery of NSW. The exhibition presented around 70 works from the museums of Scotland, including drawings and paintings by the great art masters between 15th and 20th centuries. Da Vinci, Botticelli, Titian, Rafael, Rembrandt, Monet, Cezanne, Creuze, Watteau, Sargent!… Read More »