Time to see QUEER stories from the NGV Collection in Melbourne running out

Updated: 13/08/2022

The National Gallery of Victoria is exploring Queerness in its full space exhibition Queer: stories from the NGV collection, which ends this month, 21 August. As they say, QUEER shines a light on the NGV Collection to examine and reveal the queer stories works of art can tell. This exhibition of works from the NGV Collection spans historical eras and diverse media including painting, drawing, photography, decorative arts, fashion, video, sculpture, and design and explores queerness as an expression of sexuality and gender, a political movement, a sensibility, and as an attitude that defies fixed definition. And this month through closing weekend of the exhibition, the Gallery will host a schedule of free programs, talks, entertainment, and late-night access to the exhibition in case you missed it or need another visit. And if you fancy a party, well the NGV has that, too. The NGV Queer Climax: Closing Weekend Party is a free event hosted by Queer performer and Drag Queen, Aysha Buffet filled with an impressive line-up of iconic queer performers, bars courtesy of Yering Station (drinks available for purchase), and late-night access to QUEER: Stories from the NGV Collection. The line-up of performers has been curated by Ruby Slippers and is an epic showcase of talent for all to enjoy. Make a free booking here

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, LGBTIQ, LIFESTYLE, MELBOURNE

Tags: ngv, NGV Queer, NGV Queer closing party Melbourne, Queer Melbourne

Melbourne’s Affordable Art Fair is back this September

View from up top 2 inc Art to Art and Fenton and Fenton

by James Banham

Updated: 19/08/2022

Returning to Melbourne this September 2022, Uniting trusted galleries with avid aesthetes, the famed Affordable Art Fair aims to help people discover new artists and galleries and demystify the conventional art buying experience with highly visible and relatively affordable pricing. For a few days this September (1-4), the Fair will collate myriad art forms including painting, sculpture, photography and limited-edition prints. With something to suit all budgets, prices will start from $100 and cap at $10,000. Similar to the Affordable Art Fair of 2021, buyer’s will walk away with select pieces or arrange for delivery of larger or bulkier buys for their homes, places of work and collections. Exhibiting galleries include the coveted Martinich&Carran on Victoria’s Surf Coast, Prahran’s Fenton & Fenton, Studio Gallery founded by Melbourne artist Kerry Armstrong, and all-female collective, Tits & Co. Leading Australian online gallery Bluethumb will return for its second year with M Artist Collective making its Fair debut alongside JUMBLED and BlackCat Gallery. London’s Rebecca Hossack Gallery (RHG) headlines the list of international galleries with The Gallery Eumundi travelling from Queensland. The full list of exhibiting galleries can be viewed on the Affordable Art Fair website.

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, LIFESTYLE, MELBOURNE

Tags: Affordable Art, Affordable Art Fair, Art Fair Melbourne, Australian art, Best places to buy art Australia, Melbourne Affordable Art Fair, melbourne art

National Gallery London’s Summer on the Square

The National Gallery London from the front with umbrellas and tables spread out in Trafalgar Square

by James Banham

Updated: 23/07/2022

This summer from 11 29 August in the heart of London, the National Gallery will host a free festival of immersive art, creativity and community. Summer on the Square (Trafalgar, that is), is a festival that’s a re-working of the Gallery’s art collection – creating an entirely new participatory set of experiences and activities that play with scale, spectacle and sound. Come along to immerse yourself in a purpose-built arts studio; participate in practical and walk-in art and sound installations; as well as sketching, making, moving, and exploring The National Gallery’s collection. The sessions will be free, drop-in and open to all ages and abilities. During an unprecedented cost of living crisis, the National Gallery hopes the festival will be an opportunity for local and London-wide communities to enjoy art and celebrate their own creativity with friends and family – creating a space for wellbeing and joy in tough times. For the full program and timings, head to the Summer on the Square website

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, FEATURES, LIFESTYLE, LONDON

Tags: london, London blog, london guide, National Gallery festival, National Gallery London's Summer on the Square, Summer on the Square, what to do london, What's on in London

The Other Art Fair is not your ordinary art fair

by Emi Berry

Updated: 19/07/2022

Sydney, it’s almost time for The Other Art Fair! Held from 21 to 24 July, The Other Art Fair Sydney showcases more than 120 independent artists against the spectacular sandstone backdrop of Barangaroo’s The Cutaway. Presented by Saatchi Art, The Other Art Fair combines boundary-pushing yet always affordable works with installations, performances, live DJ sets and live tattooing for good measure. The Other Art Fair is a global gathering of creative thinkers, game changers and pleasure seekers sharing emerging talent and unforgettable experiences. Set against the backdrop of the world’s biggest cities, each of their fairs is different. The fair combines boundary-pushing yet always affordable artworks with immersive installations, performances and a few curious encounters. The result is an inspiring, evocative, inclusive and fun art fair experience that reframes art and creates the unexpected. Meet and buy art directly from some of Australia’s most exciting up-and-coming artists while enjoying a mulled wine from The Other Art Fair bar. “Sydneysiders have well and truly embraced The Other Art Fair’s egalitarian and light-hearted approach to all things art. We can’t wait to introduce them to new artists and experiences once again,” said Fair Director Luke Potkin. The Other Art Fair makes buying art easy, acting as a one-stop shop for everything you need to get your new piece home and on the wall ASAP. Purchase artwork at the fair using Art Money, enabling you to pay over time and interest-free. Grace Fine Art will provide complimentary wrapping so your new artwork can safely join you on the… Read More

Category: ART, SYDNEY

Tags: art fair, saatchi art, the other art fair

London’s Royal Academy of Arts announces Charles Wollaston Award winner 2022

by James Banham

Posted: 24/06/2022

Good news for independent and emerging artists as this year’s Royal Academy’s 254th Summer Exhibition and Charles Wollaston Award has a new winner! Uta Kögelsberger took out the position for her video work, Cull, a 5-channel video installation that follows the gigantic task of the clear-up process after the devastating impact of bushfires. It charts the efforts of the teams responsible for cutting down the dead trees left standing, that are now endangering the remaining structures and roads. In a metaphor for the suspended sense of emergency we find ourselves in, each tree is documented as it comes crashing to the ground, seemingly out of nowhere, like dead carcasses, sometimes falling with such force that the earth beneath them shake. Uta won the £25,000 prize for the Charles Wollaston Award, recognising ‘most distinguished work’ in the exhibition and is one of the most significant art prizes awarded in the UK. For more and to pay it a visit, head to the Royal Academy of Arts website

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, LIFESTYLE, LONDON

Tags: London art school, London's Royal Academy of Arts announces Charles Wollaston Award winner 2022, Royal Academy Arts London

National Gallery London begins countdown to 200th birthday with Bicentenary celebration

People gathered around front door of National Gallery Trafalgar Square

by James Banham

Updated: 22/06/2022

2022 it seems, is the year of milestones and celebrations. If Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee wasn’t reason enough to celebrate all that’s wholesome and likeable about the UK, then perhaps the news that the Nation’s favourite Western-style gallery, the National Gallery of Trafalgar Square is turning 200 years old. And they’ve got a lot planned to celebrate it. The countdown’s on to 10 May 2024 when the institution hits the milestone. What will it do with this time? Celebrate its past and look forward to the future with a year-long festival of art, creativity and imagination which sets the tone for its third century, of course! And the best bit is everyone’s invited. The celebrations will extend from in-to-outside the Gallery, encouraging visitors to London and locals to participate, view, engage and learn. “We will make it easier than ever for everyone to share a space with some of the greatest paintings in the world. From seeing a real work in the context of your local museum or gallery to enjoying a dive into the virtual history of the nation’s collection, everyone can find new ways to connect with art,” says the Gallery. Here’s a run-down of what’s on to look forward to. Dates and more info to come from the National Gallery website MORE: See the Raphael exhibition at the National Gallery until 31 July The Gallery across the nation The National Gallery is going national, taking key elements of its 2000+ strong collection to areas all over the UK. NG200: National Treasures 12… Read More

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, FEATURES, LIFESTYLE, LONDON

Tags: national gallery, National Gallery 200 birthday, National Gallery London, NG200, Trafalgar Square gallery

Date nights for VIVID Sydney in 2022

by James Banham

Posted: 24/05/2022

If you’re not climbing up Sydney Harbour Bridge or getting together at one of the many gin opportunities that lie before you this VIVID Sydney 2022, then perhaps date night’s on the cards. The Harbour View Hotel is putting on the festival of lights and visual art in their own way. And by offering delicious takeaway meals with drinks so there’s no need to worry about dinner before exploring the exhibitions around The Rocks. The Harbour View Hotel will be launching a special pop-up glow bar, serving glow in the dark cocktails outside their historic venue in The Rocks. This limited edition glow bar will be available throughout Vivid (from 27th May until 18th June), making it easy to sip on cocktails while you take in the stunning light installations of Vivid. The Harbour View Hotel will also be selling takeaway packs so you can wander through The Rocks and find the perfect picnic spot overlooking the harbour and Vivid lights. The Harbour View Hotel Vivid Takeaway pack (for $95) includes: Antipasto for 2 Stir fried noodles with chicken bites and capsicum x 2 Flatbread bread with roasted capsicum dipping sauce x 2 4 x Smirnoff Seltzers 1 x Blanket For more information, head to the Harbour View website

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, AUSTRALIAN FOOD, FOOD & DRINK, LIFESTYLE

Tags: Date night Vivid Sydney, Date nights for VIVID Sydney in 2022, vivid sydney, What to do Vivid Sydney

Meet Alexander McQueen at NGV International: man behind the Mind, Mythos, Muse

by James Banham

Posted: 21/05/2022

From 11 December to 16 April, you’ve got the chance to get more familiar with one of the most significant fashion designers of the late twentieth century, who was lauded for his conceptual and technical virtuosity. McQueen’s critically acclaimed collections synthesised his proficiency in tailoring and dressmaking with encyclopaedic and autobiographical visual references that spanned time, geography, media and technology. Organised by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), in partnership with the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse is the first major Australian exhibition to explore the work of this boundary-pushing fashion designer. Showcasing 60 garments and accessories drawn from LACMA’s holdings of important works by McQueen, the Melbourne presentation also features nearly 50 designs by McQueen from the NGV Collection, making this Australian-exclusive presentation especially rich and comprehensive. Offering an unprecedented insight into the mind of this seminal designer, McQueen’s work is presented alongside more than 70 historical artworks including painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts and works on paper from the collections of LACMA and NGV, that reveal the myriad reference points that influenced his designs. The juxtaposition of garments and artworks highlights McQueen’s creative process and capacity for storytelling, as well as offering audiences an opportunity to gain a deeper appreciation of his artistic legacy and the nature of inspiration. So, now you’re sold, get more info and tickets at the NGV website

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, LIFESTYLE, MELBOURNE

Tags: alexander mcqueen, national gallery victoria, ngv

What to do this Queen’s Jubilee at the National Gallery London

by James Banham

Posted: 21/05/2022

The most incredible time in the history of the UK – well, one of the – is upon us; Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee! And if you’re not heading to the Mall for the Trooping The Colour parade, or heading to any of the other celebrations around London and the UK, then maybe a visit to the National Gallery is on the cards. Here’s a taste of what’s on… Fit for a Queen: Symbols and Values of Sovereignty An innovative virtual exhibition for everyone, anywhere to enjoy online, free. The wonders of digital will bring together a display of 28 National Gallery masterpieces – from Hans Holbein the Younger to Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Gossaert to Anthony van Dyck – curated by Susanna Avery-Quash. The display will explore images of female rulers from different epochs and countries as well as images that relate to some of the attributes most frequently associated with queenship in the past and present. Online visitors can navigate themselves around the virtual gallery, zooming in close to explore the 3D images of the diverse works of art on display. Click on the panel next to the picture to listen to an audio guide for each painting. Fit for a Queen: Symbolism and Values of Queenship will be live from Thursday 2 June 2022. Collections There will be a special Jubilee tour through the Gallery with wall labels, linked to Fit for a Queen: Symbolism and Values of Queenship. It will also draw attention to important pictures Her Majesty has generously… Read More

Category: ART, LIFESTYLE

Tags: national gallery, National Gallery London, Queen's Jubilee National Gallery

Picasso at the National Gallery London: Face to Face

by James Banham

Updated: 12/05/2022

For the first time ever, a painting by Pablo Picasso ‘Woman with a Book’, 1932 from the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California and the painting by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, ‘Madame Moitessier’, 1856, which famously inspired it, will be shown side by side at the National Gallery, London as part of a special collaboration between the two museums. After debuts of the sensational and influential work by Artemisia Gentileschi, Picasso’s welcome to the halls of the Gallery comes at only too good a time, after the lockdowns of the world have ended and the doors of all public buildings have been thrown open. This exhibition is an opportunity to explore Picasso’s enduring affinity with Ingres, and his ability to reference or ‘steal’ previous artist’s work which he famously acknowledged when he said: ‘Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal.’* It will provide visitors with a unique opportunity to compare the two works and to engage with these masterpieces in a different way. Exhibition organised by the National Gallery, London and the Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena. Following its display in London, the exhibition will be on view at the Norton Simon Museum of Art 21 October 2022– 30 January 2023. For more info and to arrange a visit, go to the National Gallery website

Category: ART, ARTS & CULTURE, CITIES, FEATURES, LIFESTYLE, LONDON

Tags: National Gallery London, Picasso at the National Gallery London Face to Face, Picasso London