Guo Jian and Ah Xian
Aug 1st
![IMG_9280 (1)](http://www.artwriter.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/IMG_9280-1-300x300.jpg)
An extraordinary thing happened at the Casula Powerhouse last Friday night. It was the opening night of the new Refugees exhibition, which includes the now Sydney-based Chinese artists Ah Xian and Guo Jian. Cast your mind back to 1989 and the infamous Tiananmen Square massacre of pro-democracy protesters by government armed forces. Ah Xian and Guo Jian were both ...
Mike Parr turns blowtorch on global warming
Jun 27th
![IMG_9633](http://www.artwriter.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/IMG_9633-e1467027731842-225x300.jpg)
Anyone at Sydney's Carriageworks at 6pm on Thursday March 17, 2016, would have witnessed an extraordinary event at the centre of which was the well-known experimental artist Mike Parr. In the performance, Parr and several assistants doused petrol on $500,000 worth of Parr's beautiful etchings. Parr, without flinching, then tossed a flame on to the etchings which were ...
Snow Monkey: a review of George Gittoes’ new film at its Sydney premiere
Nov 11th
![Shazia, from George Gittoes](http://www.artwriter.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Shazia-150x150.jpg)
I’ve just been getting to know some of the street kids in the roughest parts of Jalalabad. This is Afghanistan’s second largest city, and reportedly the most dangerous city on earth. I met wide-eyed, gorgeous little Gul Mina, aged about five, who collects discarded cans in hessian bags and sells them for a few rupees to ...
George Gittoes and the Sydney Peace Prize: an interview from Artwriter’s archives
Nov 8th
![George Gittoes, 2014, photographed by Elizabeth Fortescue at Hazelhurst gallery, Gymea](http://www.artwriter.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Gittoes-2014-Hazelhurst-225x300.jpg)
The Australian artist George Gittoes will receive the prestigious Sydney Peace Prize on Tuesday November 10, 2015. It's a high accolade that's been won by the likes of Desmond Tutu. Ahead of the Peace Prize ceremony at Sydney Town Hall that day, I wanted to devote a post to Gittoes and his extraordinary body of work. I ...
Yang Zhichao and the Chinese Bible: major new artwork for the Art Gallery of NSW
Jul 8th
![IMG_7720](http://www.artwriter.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_7720-e1436360749346-225x300.jpg)
Yang Zhichao's artwork, Chinese Bible, on view at Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) in Sydney until August 1, 2015, is one of the most extraordinary works of contemporary art I have ever seen. Now it belongs to the Art Gallery of NSW, thanks to its recent gifting by the Sherman family. I saw Chinese Bible at SCAF and interviewed ...