Art & Galleries in Australia
Every city in Australia boasts a major art gallery. Along with an appreciation for the visual arts of Europe and Asia - seen in the major touring exhibitions - Australia has a world-class
tradition of its own in the art of its Aboriginal people, which has undergone a renaissance in the last 30 years.
Australia's Finest Artworks
 The National Gallery of Australia, youngest of the world's great galleries, houses Australia's premier public art collection, spanning some 5,000 years
of international art and more than 30,000 years of indigenous culture. Guided tours of the gallery's paintings, sculptures, prints, photographs, drawings and decorative arts
begin at 11am and 2pm daily.
While the National Gallery of Australia displays works by Rodin, Picasso, Pollock and Warhol, its underlying strength lies in its superb Australian collection.
Australian art
includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art - the oldest continuing tradition of art in the world. The gallery includes significant works from all the major art areas
of indigenous Australia, from the wild and remote Kimberley region in the north-west, where artists paint on canvas and bark; to the central and western deserts,
whose artists produce vibrant batiks and acrylic paintings on canvas.
The gallery's collection of Australian art since European settlement in 1788 includes significant works by artists
such as Tom Roberts, Charles Conder, Frederick McCubbin and Arthur Streeton, members of the Heidelberg School, generally regarded as the national school of Australian painting.
Many of Sidney Nolan's paintings of the bushranger Ned Kelly hang also.
International
works range from Peter Paul Rubens' Self Portrait to Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles. The latter stirred major controversy when acquired in 1973 and has since become one of
the gallery's best-known works.
Where Sydney's Stars Shine
 The MCA, as it's usually known, aims to engage audiences with new ideas in art ranging across the complete spectrum. It does so through innovative
programs of exhibitions, screenings, public forums, debates, education projects and the inventive use of new media technology. The gallery is open from 10am to 5pm every
day except Christmas Day.
The gallery venue is an imaginative new use of a distinguished waterfront Art Deco building formerly used by the Maritime Services Board. The building may soon be altered;
bold new architectural plans are being keenly debated.
The MCA's exhibitions range widely, drawing on the whole world. For a while in 1996, Puppy, a huge floral sculpture by New York-based artist Jeff Koons, towered in front of the MCA,
delighting visitors to the Opera House on the other side of Circular Quay. The MCA also hosts
lectures on all sorts of contemporary themes. Gaylord Donnelley, a professor of English and art history at the University of Chicago, was speaking recently on 'The Work of Art in
the Age of Biocybernetic Reproduction'. Or you might prefer 'Dancing with Elephants', a performance at the MCA in which a trio of Thai dancers from the Oriental Dance Ensemble performed
contemporary and traditional Thai dance as a salute to working elephants.
Quite apart from the exhibitions inside, few art museums in the world enjoy such a view - you can gaze at Sydney Opera House and watch the ferries come and go. The cafe on the terrace
is an excellent vantage point.
Modern Aboriginal Art
 The artistic heritage of Australia’s indigenous people attracts tourists keen to add extra depth
to their explorations. Aboriginal painting, in particular, draws many visitors to major art galleries – including some
people with no interest in viewing anything else. In larger Australian cities, civic art galleries run specialist
Aboriginal art sections, with permanent displays as well as periodic visiting exhibitions.
Specialist galleries dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art can be found in outback towns like
Broken Hill and Alice Springs and in the art precincts of major cities. Sydney’s trendy Paddington district,
Bourke and Spring streets in Melbourne, and the Brisbane “Art Circuit” (New Farm, Newstead and
Fortitude Valley) are good places to start. Adelaide, Perth and Hobart also have galleries dedicated to
Aboriginal art.
Galleries run cooperatively by Aboriginal people exist in Darwin, Alice Springs and Cairns, as well as in
remoter places like Kakadu National Park. Tour operators report a growing interest in art tours to outback
communities, where visitors can meet artists and buy artworks direct from their producers. Clients on
these tours tend to be educated, with a specific interest in Aboriginal culture and people.
A typical one-day
art tour might visit an Aboriginal community, meet tribal artists and learn of the mythology associated with
the art.
Modern Aboriginal artworks, often in acrylic on canvas, may use traditional styles such as the “dot”
technique. This evolved from the ground art that sometimes accompanies ceremonial dance and song. The
subject matter may be a Dreamtime journey, depicting the wanderings of spirit ancestors.
As well as graphic art, Aboriginal dance troupes thrill audiences with electrifying routines based on
indigenous stories and creation themes. Performances blend the latest theatrical technology with superb
dance skills and stories passed on orally for thousands of years.
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