Today
David Rowe cartoons for January 2026
David Rowe is a multiple Walkley award-winning cartoonist. He draws a daily political cartoon and one for the Chanticleer column.
Yesterday
The Melbourne art fair punching above its weight against Sydney
Victoria’s biggest art fair has been catching up to the sales volume of its northern rival, focusing on entry-level budgets with young galleries and a new salon for designer homewares.
This Month
Why big galleries are small buyers in the secondary art market
Major public galleries and libraries acquire hundreds of works a year, but they are infrequent players in the saleroom. Here’s what they have bought.
Jewish artist says exhibition combats ‘pro-Hamas bias’
Rebel gallerist Nina Sanadze is highlighting a massacre she says has been downplayed by the pro-Palestine artists dominating the Biennale of Sydney.
From prison to the Oscars: Director’s potent strike against Iran
With “It Was Just An Accident”, Jafar Panahi delivers a compelling ethical dilemma, revenge thriller and comedy all at once.
Sydney Biennale’s olive branch amid anti-Zionist claims
The arts festival will give a Jewish representative an advanced look at its exhibitions, and the opportunity to express concerns.
Sidney Nolan’s spray can years and how graffiti rose from street art to fine art
Spray-painted graffiti might be synonymous with vandalism for many, yet a new exhibition shows it has influenced some of Australia’s most celebrated artists.
January
The shows you must see in February
Whether you prefer a sexy stage take on “The Great Gatsby”, or the whole novel read out in an eight-hour epic, February’s got you. Oh, and Ed Sheeran’s coming too.
Australia’s biggest art controversy is about to go on show
NGA director Nick Mitzevich is pushing ahead with an exhibition of works from APY ACC, despite thorny questions about the context of their making.
When he’s not working with a scalpel, this doctor is a sculptor
For Joseph Hkeik, sculpting the face and sculpting with clay is the same – just a different material.
An epic work reveals dark truth about luxury fashion
Lacrima, making its Australian debut in Sydney before moving to Perth, is a love letter to textile workers that pulls on haute couture’s secret threads.
Physicists wage war over the swirls in ‘The Starry Night’
Do the flowing brushstrokes of Vincent van Gogh’s masterpiece evoke the real physical phenomenon of turbulence? Art lovers won’t care, but feuding scientists do.
December 2025
David Rowe cartoons for December 2025
David Rowe is a multiple Walkley award-winning cartoonist. He draws a daily political cartoon and one for the Chanticleer column.
Federal government splashes surprise funding on Vic gallery
May’s budget allocated $35 million to a major extension of the Melbourne institution, but the mid-year budget papers reveal a much higher spend.
Smorgons sell luxury Flinders weekender with sculpture garden
The trophy getaway on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula has changed hands after five weeks on the market. Its new owner must decide how many sculptures to keep.
Katie Page’s horse sale gets a brush with culture
One of the Magic Millions’ most respected breeders is also an equine artist, who hopes to lure a few buyers from the yards to the gallery across the road.
Matildas star in a portrait like you’ve never seen
The $400,000 video work is on a scale befitting the national women’s soccer team, whose 2023 World Cup heroics were watched by more than two-thirds of Australians.
Howard Arkley dominates list of year’s top art sales
Languorous Lavender Bay gave way to lurid Melbourne suburbia as Howard Arkley shouldered Brett Whiteley off the winner’s podium in a strong year in the saleroom.
That’s no statue: The public art in this apartment block is alive
Council rules requiring public art in major projects have thrown up some unloved pieces. An artist and architect couple have a new twist for one development.
