J U LY/AU G U S T 2 0 2 6 $12
C OV E R S T ORY Vishnu: Myth and manifestation across time
PLUS How Chinese contemporary art found Australian audiences PLUS The Long View: Labour Pains
V IC
NSW
QLD
AC T
TA S
SA
WA
NT
INSIDE THIS ISSUE A Note from the Editor
Chloé Wolifson PR EV IEW
Arthur Boyd: Tapestries
Camilla Wagstaff Lyndell Brown and Charles Green: Robinson Crusoe
Jo Higgins
STUDIO
Iain Dean
Rosamund Brennan F E AT U R E
The Land Before Time: Julian Charrière
Briony Downes F E AT U R E
Opening Up: Chinese Contemporary Art
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair
Dee Jefferson
Barnaby Smith
20 QUE STIONS W ITH
Georgia Banks: Popular Versus Culture
Jo Higgins Camp Stove
Anna Carlsson Zoe Grey: Out of the Blue
Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen Pastor Roy Yaltjanki & Cindy Mpetyan Dixon
Camilla Wagstaff Of This Earth
Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
Elisa Crossing
Anna Carlsson F E AT U R E
Unravelling Empire: Elizabeth Day
Paul Sutherland F E AT U R E
Silent Treatment: Ida Sophia
Rayleen Forester F E AT U R E
Party of One: Are you lonely tonight: I’m so lonesome I could cry
Perth Sky Sculpture Park
Oliver Giles
Camilla Wagstaff
THE LONG V IEW
Monet To Matisse: Defying Tradition
Barnaby Smith F E AT U R E
The Vishnu Within: Avatar: Forms of Vishnu
Jasmeet Kaur Sahi
Labour Pains
Sarah Ayoub F E AT U R E
Songs Sung Anew: Jorge Mariño Brito
Louise Martin-Chew
MAPS 1 V I C T O R I A
9 & 10
D A R L I N G H U R S T, R E D F E R N ,
W AT E R L O O & PA D D I N G T O N
2
MELBOURNE CBD 11 & 12
G R E AT E R S Y D N E Y
3
FI T ZR OY & C O LLI N GWO O D
& N E W S O U T H WA L E S
4
G R E AT E R M E L B O U R N E
13 & 14
G R E AT E R B R I S B A N E & Q U E E N S L A N D
5 & 6
NORTHERN & SOUTHERN MELBOURNE
15 & 16
BRISBANE & CANBERRA
7 S Y D N E Y
17 & 1 8
HOBART & ADELAIDE
8
19 & 20
PERTH & FREMANTLE
SYDNEY CIT Y
8 Hele
8 Wall Gallery
Alcaston Gallery
Adelaide Contemporary Experimental
Annandale Galleries
Artbank Melbourne
Art Leven
Artpuff
Araluen Arts Centre, Mparntwe
Artbank Sydney
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Collective WA
Art Gallery of South Australia
Artspace
Artitja Fine Art Gallery
AVA Gallery
Arts Project Australia
Australian Centre on China in the World (CIW)
Australian National Capital Artists (ANCA) Gallery
Berninneit Art Gallery
Art Gallery of Ballarat
Artists Shed
Artspace Mackay
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA)
Bathurst Regional Art Gallery
Ararat Gallery TAMA
ArtSpace at Realm and Maroondah Federation Estate Gallery
Art Space Gallery – The Concourse
Australian War Memorial
Adelaide Town Hall Gallery
Australian National Maritime Museum
Bank Art Museum Moree (BAMM)
Bayley Arts
Bett Gallery
Bayside Gallery Blacktown Arts
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BUS Projects
Caboolture Regional Art Gallery Canberra Glassworks
Cairns Art Gallery
Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG)
Ceramic Break Sculpture Park Civic Art Bureau
Burrinja
Charles Nodrum Gallery
CnG Art Advisory
Cowra Regional Art Gallery
Darren Knight Gallery
David Roche Gallery
Buxton Contemporary
Campbelltown Arts Centre (CAC) Castlemaine Art Museum Chau Chak Wing Museum
Cooroy Butter Factory Arts Centre
Cowra Micro Gallery
Bundanon
CBD Gallery City Gallery
Corner Store Gallery
Craft + Design Canberra
Craft Victoria
Deakin University Art Gallery
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Design Tasmania
Devonport Regional Gallery
D Lan Contemporary
Federation University Post Office Gallery Five Walls Gallery & Projects Frankston Arts Centre
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Gallery 48
Gallery Unbound
Gallery76
Geelong Gallery
Gladstone Regional Art Gallery & Museum Goolugatup Heathcote
Heide Museum of Modern Art HOTA
Jacob Hoerner Galleries
JamFactory
Griffith Regional Art Gallery
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JamFactory at Seppeltsfield
Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery & Berndt Museum Linden New Art
Hazelhurst Arts Centre
Ivanhoe Library & Cultural Hub
Jewish Museum of Australia: Gandel Centre of Judaica
La Trobe Art Institute
Glen Eira City Council Gallery
Goulburn Regional Art Gallery
Incinerator Gallery
Koorie Heritage Trust
Gallerysmith
Gippsland Art Gallery
Hervey Bay Regional Gallery
Islamic Museum of Australia
King Street Gallery on William
Gallery LNL
Hawkesbury Regional Gallery
Hyphen—Wodonga Library Gallery
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Gertrude
Grainger Gallery
Handmark
Helgoland
Flinders University Museum of Art
Gallery 144
Gosford Regional Gallery
Everywhen Art
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D Lan Galleries
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Jump Left
Kingston Arts
Korean Cultural Centre Australia Lauraine Diggins Fine Art
Leighton Contemporary
Lismore Regional Gallery
Madeline Gordon Gallery
Lennox St. Gallery
Logan Art Gallery
Maitland Regional Art Gallery
Manly Art Gallery & Museum Martin Browne Contemporary Metro Arts
Manningham Art Gallery
McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery
Midland Junction Arts Centre
Monash University Museum of Art | MUMA Mosman Art Gallery
Manning Regional Art Gallery
Murray Bridge Regional Gallery Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh) Museum of Old and New Art (Mona)
Mildura Arts Centre
Moore Contemporary
Mossenson Galleries
Melbourne Holocaust Museum Mitchell Fine Art
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
Mudgee Arts Precinct
Mundaring Arts Centre
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Museum of Brisbane
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
National Art SchoolNAS Gallery
National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery of Victoria— National Gallery of Victoria— NGV International National Gallery of Victoria—The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia NCCA – Northern Centre for Contemporary Art New England Regional Art Museum NorthSite Contemporary Arts Orange Regional Gallery Pamela Irving Studio + Gallery Penrith Regional Gallery PIERMARQ*
OFFMARKET Gallery Outback Arts Gallery
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Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art
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Ngununggula
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National Portrait Gallery
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Potter Museum of Art
Queensland Museum Kurilpa
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RACV City Club
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RACV Healesville Country Club & Resort
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Rockhampton Museum of Art
Samstag Museum of Art
Scieppan Gallery
SOL Gallery
Shepparton Art Museum
Sunshine Coast Gallery of Art (SCGOA) Tarquinio Davison Gallery
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Tamworth Regional Gallery
Tiliqua Tiliqua
Town Hall Gallery
Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre Watt Space Gallery
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Sawtooth ARI
Shivers Gallery
Straitjacket
Studio A
Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
The Ken Done Gallery Tin Sheds Gallery
The Lock-Up
Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre
Vivien Anderson Gallery
West End Art Space
Wangaratta Art Gallery
West Space
Wollongong Art Gallery
Yarrila Arts and Museum
Zig Zag Gallery
UNSW Galleries
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Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre
White Rabbit Contemporary Chinese Art Collection
The Torch
Tolarno Galleries
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VAS Gallery – Victorian Artists Society
Rosny Farm
Sullivan+Strumpf Naarm/Melbourne
The Hive Gallery
Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts
S.H. Ervin Gallery
Stockroom Kyneton
TarraWarra Museum of Art
The Art Gallery of Western Australia
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery
South East Centre for Contemporary Art
SteelReid Studio
Sullivan+Strumpf Gadigal/Sydney
RMIT Design Hub Gallery
Sauerbier House Culture Exchange
South Australian Museum
State Library of Queensland
Redland Art Gallery, The Mezz
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RMIT Gallery
RACV Inverloch Resort
Whitehorse Art Gallery Wyndham Art Gallery
Invited artists: Adrian Charles Smith Amanda Bennetts Bella Deary Charlie Donaldson Danish Quapoor Dean Ansell John A. Robinson
Karen Stephens Kirralee Robinson Miguel Aquilizan Miranda Hine Norton Fredericks Sally Molloy Sam Harrison Winner announced 29 August Savannah Jarvis QR
Redcliffe Art Gallery 15 August – 7 November 1 Irene Street Tuesday – Saturday 10 – 4
moretonbay.qld.gov.au
An annual acquisitive prize developed to enhance the City of Moreton Bay Art Collection and exhibition program. Winner announced 29 August.
Identity at play
with Bruce Asbestos
. Now Open artgallery.wa.gov.au
Cranky Pants is supported by Healthway promoting social emotional wellbeing and the arts. Arts connects us to ourselves, each other, and our communities.
Gideon Appah, Polly Borland, Seth Brown, Lucy Liu, Natasha Matila-Smith, Kayla Mattes, Callum McGrath, Nick Mullaly, Melissa Nguyen, Patrick Pound, Kelly Yu.
ART AND EMOTION SERIES (ON LONELINESS) 3 JULY – 30 AUGUST 2026
ARE YOU LONELY TONIGHT? I’M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY. AT ACCA, AUSTRALIAN CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
Free Exhibition . Now Showing Sharyn Egan Memorial 2018-2020. Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 50 x 106 cm. The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia. Purchased through The Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation: COVID-19 Arts Stimulus Package, 2020. ©️ Sharyn Egan, 2020. Photo: Bo Wong.
26 Jun – 4 Oct
Ragnar Kjartansson
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Ragnar Kjartansson, Margrét Bjarnadóttir & Bryce Dessner No Tomorrow 2022 © Ragnar Kjartansson, Margrét Bjarnadóttir & Bryce Dessner.Courtesy of the artists, Luhring Augustine, New York and i8Gallery, Reykjavik.
A Note From the Editor July/August 2026
Exhibitions provide a framework for contemplation, whether that be through an individual artist grappling with their chosen medium, or a curator digging into an area of fascination. This issue of our magazine traverses the full scope of such possibilities, from an exhibition bringing together 200 artworks spanning 1500 years and half the globe, to a studio where an artist’s latest body of work is emerging from a place of introspection. This latter state has emerged as a distinct thread snaking through this issue: from Ida Sophia’s performance focusing on acts of silence, distance and forgiveness; to Elizabeth Day’s exhibition in a NSW prison town, emerging from a lifetime of engagement with histories of migration and punishment; to the first show in ACCA’s series Art and Emotion, which takes a multifaceted look at loneliness. We also bring you along as we learn more about the cultural and historical themes being investigated by curators in this moment. As Dee Jefferson explains, three distinct exhibitions taking place across Australasia collectively highlight the impactful foray of contemporary Chinese art into our galleries over recent decades. And while the Art Gallery of New South Wales exhibition Avatar: Forms of Vishnu has a broad geographic and chronological scope, the role of this Hindu deity in preserving balance and restoring peace in times of turmoil serves as a timely framework for contemplation. Desmond Lazaro, whose new painting commission for Avatar commands the cover of this issue, told writer Jasmeet Kaur Sahi that he hopes his work might prompt viewers to reflect on different mythologies and modes of understanding—a reminder of the powerful role of art. Chloé Wolifson Print editor, Art Guide Australia Editor’s Note: The feature essay Burdens of Proof, originally published in the March/April 2026 print edition of Art Guide Australia, was updated online on the 30th of April to include the names of Wendy Bacon and Toni Robertson, and to distinguish between organisations the Sydney Filmmaker’s Co-op and the Tin Sheds.
Editorial Team ED I TOR–AT–LARG E
PRINT E D I TOR
Neha Kale
Chloé Wolifson
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Anna Carlsson
Sally Gearon
Art Guide Australia Wurundjeri Country, 43-47 Simpson Street, Northcote, Victoria 3070 Phone: 03 7044 9750 artguide.com.au Art Guide Australia acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who are Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia. We particularly acknowledge the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation, upon whose land Art Guide Australia largely operates. We recognise the important connection of First Peoples to land, water and community, and pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging.
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Madeline Walling BOOKSTORE MANAG ER
Jackson McLaren CONTR I BUTO RS IS SU E #162
Sarah Ayoub, Rosamund Brennan, Anna Carlsson, Briony Downes, Rayleen Forester, Dee Jefferson, Jasmeet Kaur Sahi, Adam Kenna, Oliver Giles, Jo Higgins, Louise Martin-Chew, Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen, Suparom Ronyut-Henry, Barnaby Smith, Paul Sutherland, Camilla Wagstaff. SUB E D I TO R
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G E NE R AL E N Q UIR IE S
info@artguide.com.au D I ST RI B UT IO N
Art Guide Australia is distributed through galleries, museums, independent bookstores, newsagencies and art supply retailers. Art Guide Bookstore The Art Guide Bookstore is a curated collection of the best contemporary art books. It is located at 43-47 Simpson Street, Northcote, Victoria 3070 and open Wednesday to Saturday, 10am–5pm. lef t Kalam Patua, Matsya 2015–16, from the Dashāvatara (Ten Avatars) series, watercolour and silver pigment on paper, each 41 x 33 cm. Museum of A rt a nd Photogr aph y (M A P), Benga luru © K a lam Patua.
r ight Desmond Lazaro, Samudra Manthana, Churning of the Ocean of Milk, 2026, natural pigments and gold on birch board, 243 x 243 cm. Courtesy of the a rtist. © Desmond La za ro. 52
S H OP O N L IN E bookstore.artguide.com.au
Art Guide Australia is a proudly independent bimonthly publication produced by Print Ideas. ISSN: 091 091 593
Issue 162 Contributors Sa r a h Ayoub is a freelance journalist, author and sessional academic who writes and researches across race, culture, literature and media. She sits on the Board of the Australian Society of Authors.
Oli v er Giles is an arts writer based in Naarm/ Melbourne. His work has been published by The Guardian, CNN, Forbes and the South China Morning Post, among many others.
Rosamund Br enna n is a Fremantle, Western Australia-based freelance journalist and photographer focusing on culture, travel and society. Her work has appeared in publications including The Guardian, The Australian, Al Jazeera, The Sunday Telegraph, Qantas Magazine and Delicious, among others.
Jo Higgins is an arts writer, museum worker and researcher living on unceded Bidjigal and Gadigal Country in Sydney. She has written for publications including Artlink, ABC Arts, the Sydney Morning Herald and Art Collector.
A nna Ca r lsson is a writer born in South Korea, raised in Warrnambool but now resides on Wurundjeri land. She has a background in publishing with an arts and cultural focus and is co-writer of the Substack, Pleasure Principle. Br ion y Dow nes is an arts writer based in Hobart. She has worked in the arts industry for over 20 years as a writer, actor, gallery assistant, art theory tutor and fine art framer. Most recently, she spent time studying art history through Oxford University. Ray leen For ester is an independent curator, writer and publisher based on Kaurna Country. She is interested in cross-cultural engagement through exhibition making and programming. She was previously Associate Curator at Adelaide Contemporary Experimental and was a co-founder of artist-run initiatives FELTspace (SA) and fine print magazine. Rayleen currently serves as Chair of un Projects (VIC). Dee Jefferson is an editor, journalist and critic with two decades’ experience covering culture, previously as national arts editor for the ABC and Time Out, and currently as a culture reporter for Guardian Australia. Jasmeet K aur Sa hi (she/her) is writer, editor and arts programmer living and working on Boonwurrung Country in the west of Narrm (Melbourne). She is a regular writer for arts publications and recently curated Nature is a Home, a visual arts exhibition at the Louis Joel Gallery, Altona. A dam K enna creates portraits shaped by intuition, connection, and storytelling. His work explores presence and vulnerability, creating honest images that feel human, personal, and grounded in real moments and genuine connection.
Louise M a rtin-Chew is a freelance writer. Her most recent book is the cat came back: Stephen Hart’s sculpture published by AndAlso Books in 2025. Her first biography, Fiona Foley Provocateur: An Art Life (QUT Art Museum, 2021) won the 2022 Best Book Prize (joint), AWAPA, Art Association of Australia and New Zealand. Giselle Au-Nhien Ngu y en is a VietnameseAustralian writer and critic based in Naarm/Melbourne. Supa rom Ron y ut-Henry is a Thai-Australian illustrator and designer who creates dreamy, character-led art from her Melbourne studio. Blending digital techniques with vibrant Risograph printing, her work captures everyday warmth through rich, tactile storytelling. Ba r naby Smith is a writer, editor, critic, poet and musician based on Darug and Gundungurra Country/the Blue Mountains. His writing about art has appeared in Art Guide Australia, Art Collector, Art + Australia, Art Almanac, Openbook, The Quietus and others, and he has written about music, literature and film for Rolling Stone, the Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Book Review, Metro, The Guardian and more. His book in the 33 1/3 Oceania series on classic pop albums was published in July 2025, and he is a PhD candidate at Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Paul Suther la nd is a writer, editor, and former journalist. He writes short- and long-form fiction and non-fiction from his home in regional Victoria. Camilla Wagsta ff is a journalist and writer based in Sydney, Australia. She specialises in arts, culture, interiors and travel writing.
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TH E
LONG
V I EW
There is a growing conversation about the relationship between motherhood and art. The fact that the lives of artists who are mothers are increasingly the subject of literature and visual culture—from memoirs on navigating the work of care alongside the creative impulse, to exhibitions such as MOTHER at the National Gallery of Victoria, that charts the aesthetic possibilities of motherhood feels long overdue. For the first essay in Art Guide’s The Long View series for the year, author and journalist Sarah Ayoub draws on personal observations and the experiences of artists, writers and thinkers to consider the struggles faced by artist-mothers but also what it means to look beyond Western ideals of the nuclear family when it comes to acts of care. As economic and cultural instability heightens the tensions and trade-offs that have always underpinned the connection between artmaking and caregiving, recognising the obligations that are invisible and undervalued feels like urgent work.
Neha Kale E D I T O R -AT- L A R G E 102
Labour Pains: On Reimagining the Relationship between Art and Care When my grandmother died, my father, who was the executor of her estate, instructed her 18 grandchildren to go to her house one last time. “Take what you want from it,” he told us. “Whatever remains will be donated or binned before we sell the house.” The storyteller in me was ecstatic. I imagined coming away with the kind of knickknacks I’d find at antique stores and estate sales, treasures from a life and foreign country that came way before me. Instead, I returned home clutching an embroidered tablecloth—stained in one corner, torn in another—and a small replica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a Byzantine icon that depicts the Virgin Mary clutching the child Jesus whose sandal was slipping off His foot. The icon represented domestic life and her role in His care: He had run to her in a panic after a vision of His death, apparently, and His shoe had slipped off. I put it in my office to remember my grandmother but now, every time I look at it, it is a piece of art that reminds me of the labour and care involved in mothering. In it, I realise, my vocations intersect.
***
WRITER
Sarah Ayoub I L L U S T R AT I O N S
Suparom Ronyut-Henry
My career as an author began just over 13 years ago, with the publication of my first young adult novel. It was followed by two other novels, their word lengths gradually increasing in tandem with the maturity of their themes. It was inevitable and obvious to those that closely followed my work that writing for adults would be next. Instead, my trajectory took an interesting, unplanned pivot as my family grew, and the adult novels I have been ruminating on for years made way for short children’s picture books written in rhyme. There are currently five to my name, with three more out this year. When people asked me what prompted the change, a number of things would run through my head. Don’t admit that your brain no longer has the intellectual capacity to do more robust work. Don’t go on a rant about the precarity of an artist’s income in this country. Don’t throw your husband under the bus. Don’t blame the kids. 103
Art of Lunch
Celebrate the exhibition Strike a Pose at the RACV City Club with an afternoon of art, conversation, and cuisine. Hear from exhibiting artists while enjoying culinary creations inspired by the exhibition. Ticket includes three-course lunch, paired wines, and artist talks. Saturday 15 August 2026, 12pm-3.30pm Member’s Dining Room, RACV City Club
Top left: Lillian O’Neil, Rock, 2025, Courtesy the artist and The Commercial, Sydney Top right: Lauren Dunn, Portrait of a Cyborg (Pure Honey), 2024, Courtesy the artist and Sarah Scout Presents Lower right: Dessert from Art of Lunch: Where Memory Transforms, 2026, Photography Matto Lucas
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