Art & Design

What's happening in the arts in Canberra

RON CERABONA Congratulations to Canberra glass artist Klaus Moje who was awarded the Pilchuck Glass School's Libensky-Brychtova Award.

Another trick on the wall

Kylie Northover South African artist Robin Rhode creates his works in public spaces, but he's no street artist.

Canberrans aim a harpoon at Skywhale

Damien Murphy The capital's centenary party piece has revived the public art debate.

Anger over NYC peeping artist's pictures

Jake Pearson, New York In one photo, a woman is on all fours, presumably picking something up, her posterior pressed against a glass window. Another photo shows a couple in bathrobes, their feet touching beneath a table.

Skywhale's 'probing emotionalism' makes it a successful artwork

Sasha Grishin REVIEW: Whenever you bring art into the public sphere you inevitably stir the possum of popular indignation.

Comments

Craft

An abstract notion that's hard to grasp

Penny Webb Does abstract art ''suggest, evoke, illuminate and articulate whole new realms of experience and understanding that are inaccessible for figurative, mimetic art''?

Portrait of the artist as a very young man

ANDREW TAYLOR Archibald Prize winners are usually full of praise for their subjects, but Max Fontaine would hardly be telling the truth if he had only kind things to say about his three-year-old sister, Lila.

Pollock work sells for record $US58.4m

New York A Jackson Pollock drip painting made at the height of the American artist's creative powers has sold at Christie's in New York for a record $US58.4 million ($A59.24 million).

Asher Keddie portrait wins Archibald People's Choice Award

John Saxby The people have spoken and the Archibald Prize judges got it wrong. Again.

Chunky Move founder among Australia Council fellowship winners

Dewi Cooke Chunky Move founder Gideon Obarzanek and prominent indigenous artist Richard Bell are among 11 established and emerging artists to receive prestigious Australia Council fellowships.

How much? Newman painting fetches $44m

A large 1953 painting by abstract expressionist artist Barnett Newman has fetched $US43.8 million ($A44 million) at a New York City auction, setting an auction record for his work.

At almost $1m, Whiteley bath painting hot property

Debbie Cuthbertson A Brett Whiteley painting that has been held in a private US collection for more than 40 years has fetched just under $1 million - more than $600,000 above the reserve - at auction.

Art as extreme sport for next Biennale

ANDREW TAYLOR Juliana Engberg reveals a taste of the festival line-up.

$8m Basquiat

Secrecy of art world is 'custom made for embezzling'

An $8 million Jean-Michel Basquiat painting that was discovered at a New York warehouse is just one example of the billions hidden in art to defraud governments around the globe, say US authorities.

A desire for danger to meet curator's challenge

Michael FitzGerald Competing for the Anne Landa Award is a risky business for seven artists.

Pictures shine a light on teenagers for whom pregnancy is barely a matter of choice

Birth rates differ greatly between city and country, writes Julie Power.

Artist's life comes up roses after circus bed of nails

Tessa Van Der Riet At his day job, Roy Maloy (McPherson) lies on beds of nails, breathes fire and walks on stilts. Not surprisingly, with the occupational hazards of the circus, he'll have to retire earlier than most. ''You can't do it forever,'' Roy, 36, admits. ''I've broken ribs each year for the last three years doing my show.''

Special report

Bleak picture emerges as galleries battle to hang in

Andrea Petrie and Benjamin Preiss Up to 30 per cent of art galleries in Melbourne have closed down during the past two years.

Blockbusted

Have huge touring shows turned our public galleries and museums into mere venues for hire? Gina McColl investigates.

Contentious Banksy mural for sale again

A Banksy mural withdrawn from a controversial auction at the 11th hour has been put up for auction again, to the dismay of London campaigners.

DIY to die for

Katrina Lobley A visit to the Crafty Minx's home is an exercise in domestic envy.

Master in full bloom

John McDonald An exploration into the garden that inspired Claude Monet's most famous works.

The echoing shot

John McDonald With his reworking of well-known images, a modern photographic master destroys the idea of the camera as a mere window on the world.

Making music

RON CERABONA What's happening in the arts scene in Canberra this week.

Gogh’s true colours finally unmasked

Details on how paint fades over time have cast new light on van Gogh's work, Nina Siegal writes.

At play in Monet's garden

Philippa Hawker Claude Monet's great-grandson, Philippe Piguet, appreciated his connections with Giverny early.

Etched in shades of Brown

Dan Rule Like Mike is a series of exhibitions exploring the impact of the iconoclastic Mike Brown.

Hiscock clear on building museum audience but keeps vision in dark

ANDREW TAYLOR Two decades of leadership positions in the arts sector have taught Rose Hiscock to keep her cards close to her chest.

Museum prostituted for populism: Schofield

Andrew Taylor The Powerhouse Museum has been prostituted in pursuit of misguided populism, says one of Australia's leading arts figures.