Australian Drawing Biennial
Since 2014 the Art Gallery of New South Wales has presented a new series of curated exhibitions on contemporary Australian drawing, sponsored by the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation.
Held every two years, the biennial follows on from the nationally acclaimed Dobell Prize for Drawing held at the Art Gallery between 1993 and 2012. Each Biennial has a different curatorial concept and seeks to showcase the vitality and breadth of drawing in contemporary Australian art. A selection of exhibited works is acquired for the Gallery’s collection from each Biennial and the exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.”
For information on the twenty Dobell Art Prize exhibitions (1993 – 2012) at the Art Gallery of NSW, including winners and finalists see: www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/dobell
2020
Art Gallery NSW – Real Worlds
Real worlds: Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial 2020 presents the work of eight contemporary Australian artists who create extraordinary new worlds in drawings of great complexity and invention.
With drawing as the principal medium, the exhibited works evoke distinctive ways of seeing and making sense of the world. For some, it recreates a physical environment, grounded in a deep connection to place or country. For others, it is an invention that springs forth from history, memory and the imagination.
The exhibiting artists are Martin Bell (Victoria), Matt Coyle (Tasmania), Nathan Hawkes (NSW), Danie Mellor (NSW), Peter Mungkuri (South Australia), Becc Ország (Victoria), Jack Stahel (NSW) and Helen Wright (Tasmania).
Becc Ország Fantasy of virtue / All things and nothing 2018. Collection of the artist. © Becc Ország
Walk through the exhibition ‘Real Worlds’ with curator Anne Ryan
2018
Art Gallery NSW – PLAYBACK
In response to images found in art history, archives, newspapers, cinema and online, the artists in this exhibition use drawing to reanimate history, in a process that involves imagination, fabrication and the repurposing of prior sources.
Vernon Ah Kee creates skeletal and ghostly faces in remembrance of the 2004 Palm Island riots; Sharon Goodwin’s 3-D drawings re-vision the slippery surfaces of fact and fiction in historical narrative; and Laura Hindmarsh’s double exposures trace images of women in cinematic classics as found on the internet.
Locust Jones The end of the beginning, New Year’s Eve to April fools 2018 (detail) Collection of the artist
© Locust Jones. Photo: AGNSW
2016
Art Gallery NSW – CLOSE TO HOME
The Art Gallery of New South Wales is delighted to announce Close to home, the second Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial, from 30 July until 11 December 2016. Continuing the legacy of the Dobell Prize for Drawing, this curated exhibition presents the work of six Australian artists whose practice is connected by narrative, memory and experience.
2014
Art Gallery NSW – DRAWING OUT
Showcasing the vitality and breadth of drawing in Australia. Drawing is fundamental to the practice of each of the ten contemporary artists in this exhibition. Their works range from watercolour to film, performance and sculpture, highlighting how the art of drawing can often defy classification.
The exhibition reveals how the process of drawing itself allows these artists to engage with the landscape – urban, rural, natural or constructed – and the importance of a tangible subject to their work.
Drawing out is the first in a series of curated exhibitions on contemporary Australian drawing to be held every two years – the Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial – following the acclaimed Dobell Prize for Drawing (1993–2012). It features Tom Carment, Joe Furlonger, Ross Laurie, Ivy Pareroultja, Ana Pollak, Peter Sharp, Mary Tonkin, John R Walker, Gosia Wlodarczak and John Wolseley. Their wide-ranging works move from intimate sketchbook drawings to large-scale panoramas
Media
Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial opens at Orange Regional Gallery
Central Estern Daily: October 10 2019, By Alex Crowe Playback, the third Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial, will open at the Orange Regional Gallery on Friday. The exhibition presents work by eight contemporary Australian artists, exploring history through crossovers...
Artist Locust Devours All the News – Daily Telegraph
Locust Jones’ news-inspired artwork takes plague proportions in AGNSW Dobell drawing show Blue Mountains artist Locust Jones pictured with one of his artworks at Sydney Olympic Park last year. Picture: supplied THERE are news junkies, and then there’s Locust Jones....
Drawing Out, the inaugural Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial is now on at the Art Gallery of NSW
John McDonald, SMH 5 December 2014 One cannot travel very far in any discussion of drawing without coming across a famous statement from the great neo-classicist, Jacques-Auguste-Dominique Ingres: "Drawing is the probity of art." "Probity" means both "correctness" and...