The National: New Australian Art

By Ben Stephens.

Contemporary art is so right now. That’s due to its own omission within the name itself, that art produced in the current period be exactly that, contemporary. Art is always a personal thing, take for example Tim: The Human Canvas, he is currently sitting in Hobart’s MONA. In short, Tim was tattoed by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye, his skin was then sold to the highest bidder and once Tim dies his skin will be stretchered out to complete the artwork that Wim started. Contemporary art, it’s a hell of a thing.

When you mash Sydney and the contemporary art scene together, you get a whole range of things, from Museums to festivals and an ever booming street art scene. It’s a nice paring of two greats. The Biennale comes to town every two years to celebrate international and national artists, though it’s the year that it doesn’t come to town that there was a hole in the scene. Thankfully the complete geniuses behind the Museum of Contemporary Art, Carriageworks and The Art Gallery of New South Wales have joined forces to celebrate the mind-bending and completely jaw-dropping contemporary art from Australian artists.