Gallery sights in Australia
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Bundaberg Arts Centre
In town, the Bundaberg Arts Centre is a small gallery displaying local and travelling exhibitions.
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Art Gallery of NSW
With its classical Greek frontage and modern rear end, the ultrareputable Art Gallery of NSW plays a prominent and gregarious role in Sydney society. There are three permanent collections: Australian, European (post-16th century) and Asian. Don’t miss classic Australian paintings by Brett Whiteley, Arthur Streeton, Sidney Nolan and Lloyd Reese, and the Yiribana Gallery’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art.
Blockbuster international touring exhibitions arrive regularly (past examples include Man Ray and Caravaggio), and there are free guided tours on the hour from 11am to 2pm (Tuesday to Sunday). Kids swarm to the GalleryKids Sunday program, offering workshops, …
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Hunter Street
Hunter St has a row of fine Georgian warehouses (including the old IXL jam factory) that have recently been restored and now house the super-swish Henry Jones Art Hotel, Hobart's new hotspot, plus affiliated restaurants and a couple of art galleries. While this development has remained true to the heritage of the area and retains much of its original façade, not all of the hotel's neighbours can make the same claim.
It's no secret that the design of the large, modern hotel and apartment complex at the corner of Davey and Hunter Sts has few admirers; many Hobartians consider it totally inappropriate for the historic area (and you'd be forgiven for feeling the same way abo…
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City Lights Projects
Melbourne’s rep for street art is not just a recent thing. The City Lights Project has been shining away for over a decade. Lightboxes are installed in a small alcove off Centre Place (look for the creperie, then down the alley opposite) and along Hosier Lane (also famous for its densely applied stencil work). Local and international artists make use of the illuminated minigalleries; view them 24/7. The project’s main man Andrew Mac has also opened a more traditional gallery space, Until Never; it highlights underground artists and is an interesting bridge between the two scenes.
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Danks Street
In recent years Danks St in Waterloo has emerged as a shopping and eating enclave, with some beaut cafes and galleries perfect for losing a few hours in. If the wonderful Danks Street Depot cafe isn’t enough to tempt you off the Waterloo streets, the 10 commercial galleries that inhabit the converted warehouse at 2 Danks St should push you over the edge. Displays cover a broad range of contemporary arts, including photography, sculpture, painting, jewellery and Aboriginal and Pacific art.
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Brett Whiteley Studio
Whiteley (1939–1992) was rock-and-roll artistry – he lived fast and without restraint, and when he let fly on the canvas, everybody went ‘ Ooohh! ’. His hard-to-find studio (look for the signs on Devonshire St) has been preserved as a gallery for some of his best work. At the door is a miniature version of his famous sculpture Almost Once, which you can see in The Domain. Get in early for weekend discussions, performances, readings and workshops.
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Yellow House
Once a sunflower-yellow symbol of all things bohemian, this former artists’ residence was home to such cult heroes as Martin Sharp, Peter Weir, Brett Whiteley and George Gittoes. It fell on hard (er) times in the 1970s but has recently been renovated to become the slick commercial gallery Martin Browne Fine Art, showcasing contemporary Australian and New Zealand art. The cafe-providore Yellow, known for its wicked chocolate cake, is also located here.
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Fountain Gallery
The acclaimed Wadlata Outback Centre has many excellent exhibits, particularly the Flinders Range and Outback Tunnel of Time, tracing the Aboriginal and European past using audio-visual displays, interactive exhibits and a spooky giant snake. If you're overwhelmed on your first visit, there's a pass-out valid for 12 months. Right next door is the Fountain Gallery , an intimate space with works by local and indigenous artists.
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National Gallery
This gallery has a stunning collection of over 100,000 works of art representing four major areas: Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander, Australian (from colonial to contemporary), Asian and international. Treasures range from traditional Aboriginal art to the controversial Blue Poles by Jackson Pollock. The spectacular Art of the Indian Subcontinent gallery showcases one of the largest subcontinent collections outside of India.
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Queensland Gallery of Modern Art
The world-class Queensland Gallery of Modern Art is the nation’s largest modern art gallery, focusing on art, including cinematic and multimedia, from the last 30 years. Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol temporary exhibitions have been major attractions for the gallery since its opening, creating renewed excitement about Brisbane’s arts scene. Eye-opening permanent displays include a life-size statue of a seal balancing a piano on its nose.
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Holmes à Court Gallery
Idyllically located by the river in East Perth, the Holmes à Court Gallery was started by the late millionaire industrialist Robert Holmes à Court in the 1970s and today the collection comprises more than 3000 pieces. About one-third is made up of the best collection of canvas and bark paintings by Indigenous artists held in private hands; the remainder includes some of Australia’s leading contemporary artworks, and touring exhibitions.
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Falls Gallery
As you head into the town of Wentworth Falls, you’ll get your first real taste of Blue Mountains’ scenery: views to the south open out across the majestic Jamison Valley. In town, the Falls Gallery is one of the Blue Mountains’ best privately run galleries. The paper and ceramic collections are displayed in a restored weatherboard house, surrounded by precisely maintained gardens.
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Araluen Centre
Alice Springs' art gallery, the Araluen Centre shows off an enviable collection of works spanning decades. Permanent exhibitions include the Albert Namatjira Gallery - the Territory's largest collection of the famous watercolourist's works - plus paintings by Albert's mentor Rex Battarbee and other artists from the Hermannsburg School. Other galleries exhibit acrylics from the central desert region, plus European-style oils and outdoor sculptures.
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Ken Done Gallery
The cheerful, quasi-childlike work of Sydney artist Ken Done is exhibited inside the lavishly restored Australian Steam Navigation Building. Expect luridly coloured Australian landscapes, Opera House renderings and comic minutiae from Done’s days. Help prop up his ailing empire (recently devalued from $61 million to around $8 million) with a visit to his shop, Done Art & Design just down the road.
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Artspace
Artspace is spacey: its eternal quest is to fill the void with vigorous, engaging Australian and international contemporary art. Things here are decidedly avant-garde – expect lots of conceptual pieces, AV installations and new-media masterpieces. It’s an admirable attempt to liven things up in Sydney’s art scene, experimenting with sometimes-disturbing concepts. Excellent disabled access.
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Christine Abrahams Gallery
This airy commercial gallery shows a mix of well-established, interesting local and national artists. These include iconic photographer Wolfgang Sievers and ceramicist Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, as well as midcareer sculptor Bronwyn Oliver and painter Matthew Johnson. There is a works on paper and ceramics room, and a large stockroom with a rack storage system that allows additional works to be viewed by visitors.
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Australian Centre for Photography
The nonprofit ACP exhibits the photographic gems of renowned Sydney and international photographers. It’s particularly passionate about photomedia, video and digital-imaging works, its displays extending into a multiexhibition space next door. The Project Wall highlights the work of up-and-coming artists. Pick up a copy of the centre's magazine, Photofile, while you're here.
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Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi
Gabrielle Pizzi, one of Australia’s most respected dealers of indigenous art, ran this Flinders Lane stalwart from the 1980s until her death in 2004. Her daughter has continued her work and shows contemporary city-based artists such as Julie Gough and Leah King-Smith, as well as traditional artists from the communities of Balgo Hills, Papunya, Utopia, Maningrida, Haasts Bluff, and the Tiwi Islands.
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Artspace Mackay
Artspace Mackay upholds the strong reputation of regional Queensland art galleries, showcasing local and visiting works on the edge of the civic precinct. You can dabble in a workshop or graze at Foodspace, the in-house licensed cafe open 10am to 4pm Tuesday to Friday, from 9am on weekends. Information on the Mackay Self-Drive Art Gallery, Pottery & Craft Tour is available.
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Footsteps Gallery
Housed within the old School of Arts, a short walk east of King George Sq, is the Footsteps Gallery, established to support emerging artists from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. It hosts monthly exhibitions of Indigenous art and is one of the better spots for purchasing handmade Aboriginal souvenirs.
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Alcaston Gallery
Set in an imposing boom-style terrace, the Alcaston’s focus is on living indigenous artists. The gallery works directly with communities and is particularly attentive to cultural sensitivities; it shows a wide range of styles from traditional work to contemporary artists. There’s also a space dedicated to works on paper.
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Shepparton Art Gallery
Make sure your stay here includes a visit to the Shepparton Art Gallery. Its permanent collection of Australian art includes Goulburn River near Shepparton (1862) by Eugene von Guèrard, depicting McGuire’s punt crossing the river. A separate gallery houses temporary and touring exhibitions.
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SH Ervin Gallery
High on the hill inside the old Fort St School (1856), the SH Ervin Gallery exhibits invariably rewarding historical and contemporary Australian art. Annual mainstays include the Salon des Refuses (alternative Archibald Prize entries), The Year in Art and the Portia Geach Memorial Award. There’s a cafe here, too.
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Bendigo Art Gallery
One of Victoria's finest regional galleries, the permanent collection here includes outstanding colonial and contemporary Australian art, such as work by Charles Blackman, Fred Williams, Rupert Bunny and Lloyd Rees; the annual temporary exhibitions are cutting edge. The Gallery Café overlooks Rosalind Park.
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Uplands Gallery
Uplands space is hard to find, but that’s part of the appeal. The gallery shows both emerging and established artists, and while being taken increasingly seriously by collectors, loves to push boundaries. With past shows entitled Big Dirty Love and The Fucking Weird Show, you get the picture.
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