Arts / Culture

Art in December: Your guide to the Australian exhibitions taking place this month

australian art december 2023

December... how did we get here? It's the first day of summer and galleries across the country are bringing out the biggest and brightest shows in time for the holidays. So what's on the cards this month? Artspace will open the doors to its revamped space in Woolloomooloo while Surrealist Lee Miller is worth seeing for art lovers and history buffs alike (catch our conversation with the photographer's son here).

For the best in Australian art in December 2023, keep scrolling.

 

NSW

 

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Chalk Horse

Stranger Family

Daniel Domig

Until December 22, 2023.

 

STATION Gallery

How does it feel?

Angela Brennan, Jahnne Pasco-White, and Julia Trybala

2 December 2023 – 27 January 2024

 

Cement Fondu

Earthen

Ali Cherry, Rachel Farag, Isadora Vaughan, Lucy Bleach, and more.

Until December 3, 2023.

 

China Heights

Phonies

Curated by Sam Stephenson featuring Nash Ferguson and Mitchell Tolman

Opens December 8, 2023

 

Peach Black Gallery

Carla Ruffino

5–10 December 2023

 

Olsen Gallery

Paintings for Tomorrow's Yesterday

Andrew Taylor

Until December 15, 2023.

Hold Your Horses

Kenny Pittock

Until December 15, 2023.

 

COMA Gallery

2 Summers

Mikey Yates

1 December 2023 – 27 January 2024

 

Ngununggula

New Dog Old Tricks

Billy Bain, David Griggs, Guido Maestri, Jason Phu, Julia Gutman, Madeleine Pfull, Marc Etherington, Nadia Hernández, Noel Mckenna, and Todd Fuller.

Until February 4, 2024.

 

Arthouse Gallery

Stolen Flowers

Jo Davenport

Until December 16, 2023.

 

Bundanon Art Museum

Miwatj Yolŋu - Sunrise People

Until February 11, 2024.

 

N.Smith Gallery

108 Stars and Spirits

Casey Chen

Until December 16, 2023.

 

Murray Art Museum Albury

Monumental as Anything

Until February 11, 2024.

Bank Manager Hour

Courtney Young

21 January 2024

 

ACMI

The Dark Current

Angela Tiatia

Until February 4, 2024.

 

Powerhouse Museum

A Line, A Web, A World

Until December 2023.

1001 Remarkable Objects

Curated by Leo Schofield AM

Until December 2023.

 

Hake House of Art

SUMMER

Lucinda Jones

Until December 24, 2o23.

 

Artspace

untitled (transcriptions of country) 

Jonathan Jones

15 December 2023 – 11 February 2024

 

Penrith Regional Gallery

Jana Hawkins-Andersen and Paris Taia

Until December 23, 2023.

 

Mosman Art Gallery

Imants Tillers: The Mosman Years

Until February 4, 2024.

 

National Art School

Grad Show

1–10 December 2023

 

Bathurst Regional Art Gallery

BRAGS Art Fair

Until December 3, 2023.

 

Art Gallery of New South Wales

Hoda Afshar: A Curve is a Broken Line

Until January 21, 2024.

Kandinsky

Until March 10, 2024.

Has the Day Invaded the Night or Has the Night Invaded the Day?

Louise Bourgeois

Until April 28, 2024.

 

Art Leven

Ngarukuruwala Kapi Murrakupuni – we sing to the land

Until December 9, 2023.

 

Museum of Contemporary Art

Primavera 2023

Until February 4, 2024.

Waters' Witness

Tarek Atoui

Until February 4, 2024.

Tacita Dean

8 December 2023 – 3 March 2024

 

Sullivan + Strumpf

BLOB OUT

Polly Borland

Until December 16, 2023.

My Candle Burns At Both Ends

Marion Abraham

Until December 16, 2023.

 

VIC

James Makin Gallery

Heavenly Bodies

Ara Dolatian

Until December 10, 2023.

Dancing Light

Annalisa Ferraris

Until December 10, 2023.

 

West Space

where you from?

Chris Ng

Until December 16, 2023.

 

TarraWarra Museum of Art

Surrender & Catch

Brent Harris

Until March 11, 2024.

 

Linden New Art

Gathering Dust

Elise Cakebread

Until December 23, 2023.

 

Buxton Contemporary

Around

Nadine Christensen

Until April 7, 2024.

karu kin

Collective special project led by Grace Dlabik as part of her fellowship with BLAK C.O.R.E.

1 – 17 December 2023

 

Art Gallery of Ballarat

Whereabouts: Printmakers Respond

Until February 4, 2024.

Between Worlds

Tamara Bekier

Until January 28, 2024.

Significant Others

Until February 11, 2024.

 

Hamilton Gallery

Emerging from Darkness

Artemisia Gentileschi, Lavinia Fontana, Sofonisba Anguissola, exhibited alongside paintings from Peter Paul Rubens, Valentin de Boulogne, Guercino, and Bartolomeo Manfredi.

December 9 2023 – 14 April 2024

 

Swan Hill Regional Gallery

Conflated

Until December 3, 2023.

 

Brunswick Street Gallery

Last Light: Season's End

James Riches

7 – 21 December 2023

New Vanitas

Peter Tankey

7 – 21 December 2023

 

Gertrude Contemporary

Another Kind

Elyas Alavi

Until December 16, 2023

 

STATION Gallery

Aboriginal Intelligence

Karla Dickens

Until December 16, 2023.

10 flowers i picked at a cemetery and left on your doorstep, now you’re haunted by their ghosts and the cops think you are the cemetery flower robber

Jason Phu

Until December 16, 2023.

 

CRAFT

Everybody's heard of a dragon

Until January 27, 2024.

 

MARS Gallery

Babble On

Brie Trenerry

Until December 9, 2023.

Dust

Atong Atem

14–20 December 2023

 

National Gallery of Victoria

Planetary Redesign

Liam Young

Until February 11, 2023.

Photography: Real & Imagined

Man Ray, Cindy Sherman, Wolfgang Tillmans, Gilbert & George, Nan Goldin, Max Dupain, Olive Cotton, Mervyn Bishop, Polly Borland, and Darren Sylvester.

Until February 24, 2024.

Emily Kam Kngwarray

2 December 2023 – 28 April 2024

 

Heide Museum of Modern Art

Surrealist Lee Miller

Until February 25, 2024.

 

Bendigo Art Gallery

The kingdom, the power

Marikit Santiago

Until February 4, 2024.

 

WA

Art Gallery of Western Australia

Death Metal Summer

Deanna Templeton and Ed Templeton

Until April 21, 2024.

 

Goolugatup Heathcote

The beautiful is useful

Lisa Liebetrau and Shannon Lyons

Until January 14, 2024.

Perth Maker's Market

17 December 2023

 

Perth Institute of Contemporary Art

The Purple Shall Govern

Roberta Joy Rich

Until December 31, 2023.

 

Fremantle Arts Centre

Special Treat

Dionne Hooyberg

Until January 28, 2024.

Bazar Christmas Maker's Market

1–3 December 2023

 

ACT

 

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National Portrait Gallery

Archie 100: A Century of the Archibald Prize

Until January 28, 2024.

 

National Gallery of Australia

Nan Goldin

Until January 28, 2024.

 

Belconnen Arts Centre

Scenes from the mall

Spiros Coutroubas

Until February 11, 2024.

Hesitation

Eliza Adam

Until February 11, 2024.

 

QLD

 

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Institute of Modern Art

Rainbow Serpent

Daniel Boyd

Until December 16, 2023.

Capital

Laresa Kosloff

Until December 16, 2023.

 

Home of the Arts

Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street

Until January 24, 2023.

 

Edwina Corlette Gallery

One Part of the Story

Bundit Puangthong

2–16 December 2023

 

Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art

Gone Fishing

Until January 21, 2024.

The Castle of Tarragindi

Natalya Hughes

Until July 14, 2024.

A Feeling for Light

Isaac Walter Jenner

Until January 28, 2024.

 

Museum of Brisbane

Rearranged: Art of the Flower

Until August 11, 2024.

 

SA

 

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Adelaide Contemporary Experimental

Studios: 2023

Until December 16, 2023.

Art Gallery of South Australia

Tarnanthi

Until January 21, 2024.

Australia in Colour

Vincent Namatjira

Until January 21, 2024.

 

Adelaide Festival Centre

By Barry Humphries: From the David Dridan Family Collection

Until April 13, 2023.

 

NT

 

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Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

Gumurr’manydji Manapanmirr Djäma (Making successful business together)

Open now

2023 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award 

Open now

 

Laundry Gallery

Gatjpu! 

Open now

 

Araluen Arts Centre

My Country

Until March 4, 2024.

Alice Prize 1970-2020

Until March 3, 2024.

 

TAS

Museum of Old and New Art

Jean-Luc Moulène and Teams

Until April 1, 2024.

 

Salamanca Arts Centre

Continuum

Emma Bingham

Until January 28, 2024.

 

Despard Gallery

The Paper It's Written on

Patrick Hall

Until December 9, 2023.


Looking to invest in art of your own? Here are some pieces the RUSSH editors have welcomed into their own spaces.

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Images:

One: Brent Harris, Appalling Moment (wig) 1995, oil on linen, 121.6 x 98.6 cm. Gift of Michael Galimany through the Art Gallery of South Australia Contemporary, Collectors 2018. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gift Program. Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide © Brent Harris

Two: Vasily Kandinsky 'Blue painting' January 1924, oil on canvas board, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, gift, Fuller Foundation, Inc, 1976, photo courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, via @artgalleryofnsw