Cleaning Ian Fairweather’s ‘Head’

The cleaning of paintings such as Ian Fairweather’s Head c.1955 (illustrated) is a fascinating subject. Changes in approaches to conservation practice mean that cleaning now often involves varnish removal. Traditional conservation practice commonly involves removing an old discoloured varnish from a paint layer and the changes are often visually dramatic. Natural resin varnishes such as…

Embodied Acts: Live and Alive

Embodied Acts is an exciting program of performances, events and actions taking place in and around the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) during ‘Contemporary Australia: Women’. Involving a diverse group of artists whose practices criss-cross between disciplines and interests, Embodied Acts foregrounds site-specific, performative and ephemeral forms of art. Each of the artists, in variously…

Modern Woman

For art to be truly modern, the French writer Charles Baudelaire urged in 1846, it must reflect its own time. By the second half of the nineteenth century, the artists featured in ‘Modern Woman: Daughters and Lovers 1850–1918: Drawings from the Musée d’Orsay, Paris‘ turned away from traditional subjects and techniques that had dominated French…

Across Country

‘Across Country’ celebrates the vibrancy of contemporary Aboriginal art made across the country, particularly in the past five years. The exhibition highlights major acquisitions including some notable Jiman and Bagu. Fire-sticks and fire-stick-figures or fire-boards are among the most important objects from Aboriginal Australia as they provided fire and enabled people to hunt, cook, eat,…

A Tale To Tell

The telling of stories is important in Papua New Guinea. It is the way that knowledge is passed on, a time to relax, and an important means of connecting with others. This story is about the Gallery’s latest project — a tale that began in July 2011 when Michael O’Sullivan and myself, and guest co-curator…