Approaching the National Gallery of Victoria for Monet’s Garden, I expected to find the moat festooned in water lilies, and enter through an archway covered in climbing roses. The reality was slightly different: the same old bluestone façade, with red and blue Mazdas parked by the doors. After so many years of sponsorship, I’m conditioned … More
Posted in: Sydney Morning Herald Column
May 11, 2013
Even in this age of digital revolution most people will accept that a painting or a sculpture demands to be seen at first hand. Photographs, however, are a different matter. Not only are the works of every great photographer viewable on-line, they often look better in a large-format book than on the gallery wall. Not … More
Posted in: Sydney Morning Herald Column
May 4, 2013
Paul Cézanne paid Claude Monet one of the most famous backhanded compliments in the history of art when he wrote: “Monet is just an eye, but good God, what an eye!” (“Monet n’est qu’un oeil, mais bon Dieu, quel oeil!”) In his later years that eye failed the great Impressionist at a time when he … More
Posted in: Sydney Morning Herald Column
May 4, 2013
Every exhibition at White Rabbit, the Neilson family’s private museum of contemporary Chinese art, has featured at least one show-stopper. The tour-de-force in the current show, Smash Palace, is Cheng Dapeng’s Wonderful City (2011-12), a 9.6 metre-long 3D print. On a long, light-box table, Cheng has placed a scale model of a city overrun with … More
Posted in: Sydney Morning Herald Column
May 4, 2013
When your website has been up for five months and has received more than 5 million hits, you may justifiably be called a celebrity. In her native land Simi Garewal is known as a movie actress, and as the host of Rendezvous, a provocative television program on which she has interviewed Indian film stars, politicians, … More
Posted in: Blog
April 11, 2013
Nude women in rooms are as big a drawcard for major art events as they are for Kings Cross sleaze parlours. There is, however, a world of difference between the tawdry eroticism of the strip club and the aura of high aesthetic distinction that applies to a project such as 13 Rooms. John Kaldor and … More
Posted in: Blog
March 6, 2013
Mention a “Master Plan” and people start thinking about Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies. Yesterday that role was shared between Steven Lowy, President of Trustees, and Director, Michael Brand, as they unveiled their wicked new vision for the Art Gallery of NSW. Lowy gave us the bad news about the existing gallery – … More
Posted in: Blog
February 22, 2013
Letters to The Adelaide Advertiser: “I am absolutely apalled and disgusted how this sculpture can be classed as ‘art’.” “I, for one, will not be going to see this outrageous monstrosity.” “The picture of a horse hanging, with no head, displayed as art was disgusting. I will never again visit the Art Gallery if they … More
Posted in: Blog
For over twenty years he has been one of Australia’s best-known art critics, writing a weekly column for the Sydney Morning Herald, and contributing to local and international publications. More
