Fiona Hall honoured at national visual arts awards

Artist Award winner Fiona Hall, guest speaker Cate Blanchett
and Melbourne Art Foundation CEO Bronwyn Johnson

Fiona Hall's Understorey, 1999 - 2004 (detail)

Australian artist Fiona Hall will receive the Artist Award in recognition of her outstanding achievement in the visual arts spanning 35 years of practice. One of the most influential, critically acclaimed artists working in Australia today, Hall will be honoured at a gala dinner at the Art Gallery of NSW hosted by the Melbourne Art Foundation National Awards for the Visual Arts on Thursday 15th September. 

Hall began her career in photography before extending into diverse inter-disciplinary practice including sculpture and installation that often sees her collaborate with scientists, historians and museologists as part of her meticulous research and fieldwork. Image courtesy the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery.

Primavera 2011

The MCA has announced the latest group of young contemporary Australian artists selected to exhibit in the Musuem's annual Primavera exhibition with the launch of a new dedicated artist website.

The exhibition is being conducted 'off site' this year -  thanks to the MCA building redevelopment - with artist performances taking place across various locations in The Rocks.  Expected highlights? Rebecca Bauman's explosions of multi-coloured metallic confetti and Hiromi Tango's autobiographical performances (pictured).

Annie Laerkeson solo exhibition

Sydney artist Annie Laerkesen's new solo exhibition opens 6pm, Thursday 27th October... more details here.

MONA love...

MONA gallery featuring Sidney Nolan's Snake made up of 1620 individual images

Juz Kitson's Formations of Science: Freudian Flowers

Eriwn Wurm's Fat Car

Incredible work that creates words out of falling water by Julius Popp

Banksy works heading to Cockatoo Island

A private collection of 23 works by Banksy, the world’s most famous street artist, is headed to Sydney's Cockatoo Island this November as part of the Outpost Project street art festival.

The Banksy works are all owned by a private New Zealand collector and are part of the Oi You! Collection, never before seen in this country, that contains more than 70 rare and original pieces by the world’s leading street artists.

Presented by the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, Outpost Project, Art from the Streets runs from 4 November until 11 December 2011 and features over 100 local and international artists and artists’ collectives, making it the biggest street art festival in the Southern Hemisphere. 

Architecture, art & avant-garde film collide

CarriageWorks.. the 'canvas' for film makers, artists and architects 

Filmmakers, artists and architects will combine their creative juices for the one-night only 'Expanded Architecture' exhibition  being presented at CarriageWorks as part of this year's Sydney Architecture Festival.  

Expanded Architecture will next week announce the winning ten collaborative proposals to project moving imagery on to the floors, ceiling and walls of the CarriageWorks centre in Sydney's Eveleigh. The event, which is free entry, will be hosted on the evening of Wednesday 26 October. Details of the works will be announced on this blog and via the  Sydney Architecture Festival website.  

Celebrating Australia's art world luminaries

The foyer at the Art Gallery of NSW where the awards dinner will be held

Here is your chance to rub shoulders with some of the top names in contemporary art, both living artists and the arts philanthropists and arts sector workers who support them.

On Thursday 15th September, a gala dinner will be hosted at the Art Gallery of NSW celebrating the main award winners in the categories of 'artist' and 'artist visionary'.

Guest speakers include Cate Blanchett and Edmund Capon, with live performances by the talented Katie Noon and her band Elixir.  All guests are up to win original art works by contemporary artists Jess MaNeil and Ildiko Kovacs. Not to be missed... more details on (rapidly disappearing) tickets here.