Review The Festival of Perth presented two major exhibitions of Western Australian Aboriginal art Bush Women at the Fremantle Arts Centre and This is my country at the exciting new exhibition venue 'Artplace' in Claremont.
At the Jam Factory in Adelaide, Rolf Bartz, David Archer and Lorry Wedding-Marchiaro are three of the SA designer makers who have entered into a marketing agreement which may be the way of the future for many more.
Artists are particularly vulnerable to economic downturn for two main reasons...the business cycle and the role of other jobs in a tight employment market.
Located in Melbourne Victoria, the City of Fitzroy was given $1m by the federal government in 1992 for capital works. One project funded was the commissioning of 16 pieces of public art from 11 artists to build on that heart of cafe culture Brunswick St.
The Premier of Victoria may claim that his government has opened Victoria for business, but it is the important role of local government and the Federal Government in developing arts training and facilities that is really making the running. Artists are no longer in their garrets but in front of pcs in their offices.
Written with Lee Salomone exploring the utilisation of prominent billboards on the tram track in Adelaide for the term of one year at no cost for them to be used as public art spaces.
Written with Shiralee Saul and Susan Fereday. How does an art object differ from a manufactured 'designer' commodity? Is the traditional status of the work of art undermined by repetition, reproduction and affordability? Are the qualities of fetish, uniqueness and authorial presence removed from or reinstated in the art multiple.
Bark painters of Arnhem Land are experimenting with a new medium - canvas- and in so doing both increasing their output and responding to market forces.
Museums and larger arts spaces are increasingly looking at ways to improve access to their exhibitions for a wider range of people. Contemporary art spaces face a more difficult battle than museums in trying to become more relevant to their diverse communities.