As we ease into the summer holidays we offer a round-up of exhibitions on view around Australia. We will keep adding to this list but we hope you enjoy our first five suggestions of shows by Australian artists to see with free time in your own town, or on a road trip!
Goulburn Regional Gallery Bright
Until 21 January 2023 ‘Bright’ features work by Emma Beer, Vivienne Binns, Yvette Coppersmith, Lara Merrett, Gemma Smith, Esther Stewart and Margaret Worth. Each artist works with colour and abstraction with unique approaches, from different forms to material and scale. The gallery says the show holds a sense of optimism, with the group pushing the boundaries of line, movement, and colour. Each body of work is very different and ripe with its own energy taking inspiration from architecture, dance, design, nature and music. In December and January they will host Art Teenies, a public program for kids to explore the show and respond creatively.
Noosa Regional Gallery A Bit More Paint
Until 22 January 2023 is the second iteration of the gallery’s focus on local painters. ‘A Bit More Paint’ presents work from Alex Lange, Alicia Sharples, BJ Murphy, Casey Hewitt, Pippa Makgill and Thom Stuart. Noosa Regional Gallery Director, Michael Brennan says the six artists ‘take painting and push it to places that don’t typically jump to mind when you talk about the medium… (they) steer painting into different spaces, times and dimensions, asking us to reassess our assumptions about what painting could and should be.’ Adult workshops on creative techniques will be hosted by artists in the summer – as well as a series of programs for Babies.
MONA – Museum of Old and New Art, Oceans of Air
Until 24 July MONA will showcase Tomás Saraceno’s exhibition Oceans of Air. Director David Walsh enthuses ‘He is the creator of work so complex that he leads a huge multidisciplinary studio to manifest his vision, drawing energy and inspiration from science, nature, architecture, local communities, design, engineering, environmentalism, anthropology, music, history, technology.’ Next weekend MONA will celebrate the opening of the show with music and art experiences, click here to learn more.
Bathurst Regional Art Gallery Virtue Without Stain
Until 15 January 2023 artist Liam Benson considers issues of masculinity in his exhibition ‘Virtue Without Stain’. He will share works, performances, and participatory workshops. The title of the show is inspired by a family motto, from his Grandmother’s side, Benson explains ‘The clan crest features a set of scales, which is my star sign (Libra). As a Libran, I feel bound to the characteristic of always weighing up both sides of opposing perspectives. I never completely settle on an opinion. For me, the concept of Virtue Without Stain is impossible because my idea of virtuous is to acknowledge that I’m capable of both good and bad. My amended clan motto would be ‘Virtue is a Stain’.’ There will be tours taking place as well as Sunday Sketch Sessions with the artist, check them out here.
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Las Hormigas/The Ants & A Puzzlement
Until 8 January PICA platforms two exciting exhibitions Las Hormigas by Pilar Mata Dupont and A Puzzlement by Nathan Beard. Dupont will draw upon photography, video and performance to consider intergenerational storytelling and the fragmentation of memory, touted as her most ambitious and personal work to date Dupont will ‘distil and reconcile varying interpretations of her family’s histories and memories of 20th-century Argentina.’ Beard also unpacks and explores his Australian-Thai identity and family, this time with artefacts and archival objects, installation, film and photography. You can learn more about his eye-catching and complex practice in the video below.