Culture
Art & design
Opinion
Archibald Prize
Archibald 2021 just like Goldilocks: most works not too bad and not too good
Inclined to focus on the former rather than the latter, critic John McDonald delves into the judges choices and explains how he warmed up to the bogong moth jumper.
- by John McDonald
Latest
New Tate exhibition isn’t rewriting our history – but it aims to fill the gaps
In a cavernous room above the banks of the Thames in London, two very different artworks face each other on opposite walls. The result is confronting, and that’s the intention.
- by Bevan Shields
Would you pay $23,000 for an ‘invisible’ piece of art?
An Italian artist has caused a stir after selling a sculpture that doesn’t physically exist for thousands. Australian artists are also working with air.
- by Caroline Zielinski
The Archibald of Archibalds: The best portrait in 100 years
Art critic John McDonald picks his favourite winner since 1921 - one that is quite at odds with all the others.
- by John McDonald
Opinion
Archibald Prize
Salon des Refusés 2021: Disappointing, familiar and a few obvious duds
By now I ought to know better, but I’m always hopeful that some undreamt-of masterpiece might turn up in the Salon.
- by John McDonald
Opinion
Review
Game on: artist loose in the State Library concocting wild fantasies
In the exhibition Fake Truths, artist-in-residence Hadyn Wilson has magicked up bogus letters, relationships and even a philosophy session with Rupert Bear.
- by John McDonald
Hilma af Klint: how a “crazy, remote woman” upstaged male art heroes
Kandinsky and Pollock have been acclaimed as the pioneers of abstract art. Overlooking the Swedish artist who was inspired by seances with female friends.
- by Neha Kale
Archibald Prize winner makes for a nice story, but was also clearly the best in show
That Peter Wegner’s portrait of artist Guy Warren would win was a virtual inevitability providing a fairytale ending to the 100th year of the prize.
- by John McDonald
Barbed wire and bare bums: how Australian art came of age
A new book charts our history at the Venice Biennale, from cringe-worthy conservatism to mature self-confidence.
- by Andrew Stephens
Archibald Prize 2021 as it happened: Peter Wegner crowned winner; Georgia Spain, Nyapanyapa Yunupingu take out Sulman, Wynne prizes
It’s the centenary celebrations for this art prize that stops the nation. Keep up to date with our live blog to find critics’ picks, the stories behind the works and the eventual winner.
- by Helen Pitt, Linda Morris and Amelia McGuire
Peter Wegner wins Archibald Prize 2021 with portrait of artist Guy Warren
The Melbourne artist’s portrait of the 100-year-old is a fitting winner in the 100th year of Australia’s most famous art prize.
- by Linda Morris