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Scoundrels, wayfarers and deviates: Cultural Relativism in the art of Brock Q Piper
A snapshot review of Caravel, New Paintings by Brock Q Piper at Level 1, 575 Church Street, Richmond Brock Q Piper’s artistic adaptation...
Andrew McIlroy
Jul 22, 20212 min read


'Everyone is an artist', but not everyone can make art: Artists in a post-Covid world
Joseph Beuys' famous line 'Everyone is an artist' is often misunderstood. For Beuys “artist” was the word to describe the essence of...
Andrew McIlroy
Oct 27, 20203 min read


"It's like fighting God": Depicting bushfire in contemporary Australian art
Bushfires as a factual or historical subject may still and forever hold a place in Australian art, but to avoid derisive clichés and to rema
Andrew McIlroy
Oct 5, 20205 min read


This too shall pass: Reflections on mortality, vanity and the transience of life ... in Hobart Town
Here on display are one of the remainders of the colonial period, an extraordinary collection of portraits, faces each lined with history
Andrew McIlroy
Jul 6, 20204 min read


From Paris to Woolloomooloo: Artists integral place as 'exhibition objects'
A review of the art of Craig Handley and Min Woo Bang
Andrew McIlroy
Jun 23, 20208 min read


'A happy childhood is hardly worth your while': My messy life as an artist
We can separate our artistic pain, the experience of feeling deeply, from leading a painful life, whatever its origins.
Andrew McIlroy
May 14, 20206 min read


'Buy clothes or buy pictures': Gertrude Stein's timeless advice on collecting ‘accrochable' art
“It’s good”, she said. “That’s not the question at all. But it is inaccrochable.
Andrew McIlroy
May 4, 20206 min read


Re-imaginings: Nostalgia and cultural memory in the paintings of Dani McKenzie and McLean Edwards
Attachment to nostalgia traverses generations, it finds ever-changing expression – through music; through photography; through ar
Andrew McIlroy
Apr 28, 20206 min read


'Put to good use': Sculptor Bruce Armstrong puts his back into painting
As a sculptor and painter, Bruce Armstrong has inordinate ability and range.
Andrew McIlroy
Apr 16, 20203 min read


Nick Cave's rediscovery: How the 'imagination propels itself beyond the personal’
Nick Cave speaks of rebuilding his relationship with song writing, which had been damaged while enduring the death of his son. “I found wit
Andrew McIlroy
Dec 9, 20194 min read


Camille Claudel: More than Rodin’s muse
Camille Claudel struggled throughout her life against the creep of insanity, and lived in fear that her lover renowned sculptor Auguste Rodi
Andrew McIlroy
Dec 5, 20172 min read


For better or worse: The potency of artist rivalry
When it comes to inspiration, finding oneself in competition with a brilliant rival may for an artist be every bit as important as being, sa
Andrew McIlroy
Dec 1, 20172 min read


Being true has its price: NGV Wilson Security protestors inadvertently risk funding of leftist art
When around a dozen artists-as-activists last month shrouded Picasso’s 'Weeping Woman' in a black veil emblazoned with the Wilson Se
Andrew McIlroy
Nov 27, 20173 min read


Archibald Prize 2017: Pointing to difference of male and female portraitists sets back feminism
Art critic Robert Nelson throws the cat amongst the pigeons, with the startling proposition that one only has to look at this year’s Archiba
Andrew McIlroy
Nov 22, 20174 min read


Artists, copycats and other villains: The pursuit of authenticity in contemporary art
There is no such thing as originality in art, just authenticity. But controversy in the art world is its lifeblood and allegations of blata
Andrew McIlroy
Nov 21, 20174 min read


Australian War Memorial breaks new ground to honour war art
Sketches, paintings, sculptures and maps produced in extraordinary circumstances of war and the stories they tell are rarely celebrated, in
Andrew McIlroy
Nov 17, 20172 min read


Selling art and managing expectations: Artists, galleries and the ‘Paradox of Choice
The success or otherwise of an artist’s essential exhibiting career depends on the health of the artist/gallery relationship. At the heart
Andrew McIlroy
Nov 15, 20173 min read


Melbourne's ‘Not Fair’ Art Fair 2017 - An exercise in artist branding or a bold, new experiment
With the demise of many artist-run spaces and second tier ‘feeder’ galleries over the last 10 years or so, Not Fair’s less-than-revolutionar
Andrew McIlroy
Nov 14, 20175 min read


"No-one was expecting a forgery as brazen as this." New book on Whiteley forgery scandal
The release this week of Gabriella Coslovich’s new book, Whiteley on Trial, has once again ignited Art World chatter, shining a light on the
Andrew McIlroy
Nov 8, 20175 min read


The enduring place of the artist's muse behind 'Great Art'
Does the romantic idea of the intimate relationship between the artist and muse run counter to the very notion of living a creative life as
Andrew McIlroy
Nov 6, 20173 min read
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