Patrick Hartigan

Subsistence labour in a small village in Slovakia teaches a valuable lesson about the relationship between time and work.

A sabbatical to visit relatives in Eastern Europe brings a chance to discover the language of a small village.

At an exhibition of the Rijksmuseum’s Dutch masters, the viewer is captivated by the care and penetration in the work of Vermeer, Rembrandt and Hals.

The techno-fascism of Nazi Germany and the West’s postwar mass consumerism have been the subject of painter Gerhard Richter’s decades-long career, whether in photorealism or abstraction.

Two works – a video installation by Mika Rottenberg in Melbourne and a site-specific work in Sydney by Anri Sala – show how incongruous imagery can reveal the absurdity of the forces to which we unthinkingly submit.

At Sydney Contemporary, the commercial realities of the art fair dissolve as he apprehends the elemental power of Rover (Julama) Thomas’s works.

An exhibition of Tony Tuckson’s works on paper reveals an artist whose paintings did not so much respond to the world as express it.

Jenny Watson’s assured handling of paint, and the worlds hidden beneath it, as well as her exploration of feminism and psychoanalysis, make her a vital Australian artist.

An eclectic collection at UNSW Galleries explores human interaction with working models, as they straddle the divide between the imagined and the functional.

The Art Gallery of SA’s crowded rooms of images and sculptures overwhelm the opportunity of its Versus Rodin exhibition to pit contemporary artists against the figurative master.

Two exhibitions of utopian abstraction enable comparison of pure ideological approaches with something gentler. The latter is more satisfying.

Amid a deluge of data, land and lore tell a compelling story of the actual over the virtual world.

An AGNSW exhibition of iconic nudes on loan from Tate Britain pays homage to our fascination with the human form.

MONA’s On the Origin of Art features curation by a cognitive scientist, a professor of literature, a psychologist and an evolutionary neurobiologist.

Nature and the interdependence of all things are the keys to architect Vo Trong Nghia creations.

In conversation with MUMA's new curator.

Edgar Degas’ early emphasis on the line in masterful renditions of nudes, dancers and horses gave way as his sight faltered, leading to his most interesting paintings.

Nicholas Mangan explores the tension between capital and dwindling natural resources, and how they come together in the grim story of asylum seekers held on Nauru.

Diane Arbus’s intimate portraits are the work of a transgressive artist seeking to portray the almost invisible human truth.

An exhibition of Tang dynasty art and objects shows how possessions – even in death – signified power.

Stephanie Rosenthal's sprawling 20th Biennale of Sydney references Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square and Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror.

Lloyd Rees’s works remind that drawing is an expression of connectedness to our surroundings.

A major show of Ghanaian-born artist El Anatsui’s opulent sculptures folds and weaves scrap metals with ancient histories.

My Pretty Little Art Career puts Grayson Perry’s life of self-examination on display, from his kinky ceramics to works angrier but no less colourful.

A new exhibition of works by Robert MacPherson at GOMA showcases an artist for whom life, art and work are inextricably bound.

A string of group shows at commercial galleries make a virtue of the conversations that can be had between paintings.

An exhibition about action in art prompts the question: Can you have the vigour without the rigour?

The Art Gallery of NSW's historical photography exhibition teems with history but meaning gets lost in the detail.

Light and space saturate the senses in James Turrell’s retrospective at the NGA.

A drunken monk and an outdoor monk reunite as East meets West to illustrate the spirit beyond the surface.

A welcome revisit of Pop art's canny embrace of mass consumerism.

The German-born gleaner and Darlinghurst institution in a retrospective at Heide.

A voyage to a space where the pedestrian becomes a profound and uncommon place.

Two very different artists traverse the twin peaks of innocence and economy.

Not weighed down by noisy debate over public art, the City of Sydney shows a light touch with three bold new commissions.

Titian, the Italian master celebrated as the father of Spain’s Prado, finds his way to Melbourne.

A new exhibition explores the dichotomy between the real and the abstract, the free-flowing and the solid.

Two renowned figurative artists find magical ways to create their own history.

Overwhelming and sometimes strange, sprawling but also magical, the Sydney Biennale engages on many levels.

As a pioneer of conceptual art, Sol LeWitt produced deceptively simple but dramatic works whose influence transcends.