Louise Bourgeois: Late Works

Curator: Jason Smith
Heide Museum of Modern Art
21 November 2012 – 11 March 2013

Published June 2013

The limits of cricicism

Anthropologist John Carty casts his eyes over the last ten years of writing on Desert art, mostly in newspapers, and finds many cliches and inconsistencies. He asks:
"Where are the fine-grained localised art histories, the rich biographies of our most interesting and important individual artists? Where are their voices?" And replies: "They are still waiting in the Desert."

Published June 2013

The dearth of criticism

Some artists are often heard to complain about the lack of honest criticism of Aboriginal art. But in such a limited sphere, criticising an Aboriginal artist in formal or aesthetic terms, or at a deeper level, is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. Too often, critics play the man and not the ball. Can we handle the truth?

Published June 2013

Fernando do Campo: Onomatopoeia

Academy Gallery, Launceston, TAS
1 February – 8 March 2013

Published June 2013

Mouths and Meaning Bronwyn Platten, Sarah Coggrave and others

Australian Experimental Art Foundation Adelaide
1 February – 2 March 2013

Published June 2013

Artrave

Published June 2013

Carving into Country: The work of Badger Bates

Published June 2013

Ich Bin Ein Aratjara: 20 years later

Aboriginal super-curator Djon Mundine, who travelled to Europe in 1994 as touring curator with the significant exhibition Aratjara: art of the first Australians, looks back at the genesis and reception of that exhibition. He asks where is the political impetus evident in Aratjara today and where is the Aboriginal input into the development of national survey exhibitions.

Published June 2013

Jean Baptiste Apuatimi (1940-2013)

Curator of Asian Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia James Bennett writes with affection about the life and work of highly respected Tiwi artist Jean Baptiste Apuatimi. He describes the way she would not repeat a formula in her art but constantly push aesthetic boundaries in exploring new themes.

Published June 2013

Pamela Anne Johnston Dahl-Helm (1947-2013)

Pam was a proud Bundjalung woman. An artist, mother, grandmother, sister and friend to many, a long-term resident of Sydney’s Woolloomooloo, she was a true leftie, advocating for social justice, equality and the rights of minority groups.

Published June 2013

Onside

Curator: Toni Bailey
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
9 February – 24 March 2013

Published June 2013

String theory: Karen Mills

Michelle Culpitt examines the work practice of Northern Territory artist Karen Mills whose paintings are inspired by the string bags made by the women weavers of Arnhem Land. Culpitt writes: "The articulation of her painterly vision is only possible at the nexus of her experience and influences as an Aboriginal woman in contemporary Australia, a place of both deep connection and belonging to country, and also disjuncture and dislocation from a nation in denial of its own history."

Published June 2013