Sydney thinks of itself as the centre of the country, the only part that matters, but in the lucrative art market, Sydney is subsidiary to the old moneyed city of the south -- Melbourne.
Western Sydney can be seen as another city with another culture. This is not quite accurate, but it is the fasted growing region where the bulk of the younger population of the city live. And it has art.
The most incisive commentary on the visual arts in Sydney usually occurs in private conversations that are not repeated in print for fear of the NSW defamation laws. But there is a great deal published on the visual arts....
Joan Kerr rewrites Australian art history to gain a better understanding of the present. Her ambitious projects question who wrote what, how and about whom. Discussion of 'Heritage: The National Women's Art Book'. Photograph of Joan Kerr in the article.
In the air, on the ground ( and water too). Sydney is undergoing an unprecedented interest in public art. Artists, curators, academics, contemporary art spaces, museums. commercial galleries, architects, urban designers, town planners, local government, arts councils and ministries - all are involved in varying degrees in making, discussing, supporting or promoting public art. Major fold out of William Yang's photographs.
Nowhere is the art of Sydney's youth more obvious than in the public sphere. Discussion with Linda Forrester a researcher of the creative culture of graffiti, street machining and skate boarding.