The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Fund us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Cannes
      • Sundance London
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • Tumblr

  • RSS


CultureArt

Australia at the Royal Academy of Arts

Australia at the Royal Academy of Arts | Exhibition review
19 September 2013
Francis Davies
Avatar
Francis Davies
19 September 2013

Like the continent it’s named after, this exhibition is expansive. There is a staggering amount of content on display: over 200 pieces spanning a chronology of over 200 years, and featuring almost 150 artists. The exhibition is broken into 13 different sections from indigenous paintings, through colonial periods, right up to the modern day. The art is on loan from important public collections and most of it has never been put on display in the UK before.

Two prominent themes running throughout the exhibition are landscapes and patterns. The patterns assert themselves early on in the first room with the indigenous art. There are some impressive bark and pigment paintings that look almost fractal in the amount of detail present. These are not small pieces either, they are several feet in any direction sometimes – not an easily dismissible display of perseverance, if nothing else. These same sorts of patterns return sporadically throughout the phases of the exhibition, resurfacing most prominently in the more contemporary periods, in works such as Dorothy Napangardi’s Sandhills of Mina Mina (2000).

If you’ve ever run across any kind of description or marketing of Australia as a place, you’ve probably heard, more than anything else, about geography. To be fair, there is quite a lot of it. It’s there in the art, too. There are a lot of landscapes in this exhibition, starting at the early colonial period and only really abating when you get to the early modernist displays. The way the individual periods handle landscape is interesting – most notably the presence or lack of life in the scenes. Landscapes never go away as a subject, but by they certainly aren’t as prevalent in the later parts of the exhibition.

Even if you only have a passing interest in Australian art, take a look at Australia. Be prepared to set aside a good chunk of time to soak it all in –there is a lot of art in a lot of mediums on display. The show is not something you can cruise through: it’s pretty dense, but due to its scope, unless you’re only looking for the utterly outlandish, there’s something for everyone. It’s all there – Australia is impressive, to say the least.  

Verdict: ★★★★★

Francis Davies

Photos: Andrei Grosu

Australia is at the Royal Academy of Arts from 21st September until 8th December 2013, for further information visit here.

Related Items

More in Art

Rationalism on Set at Estorick Collection

★★★★★
Anna Souter
Read More

If all art is autobiographical, how should we approach it?

The editorial unit
Read More

ISelf Collection: Bumped Bodies at Whitechapel Gallery

★★★★★
Anna Souter
Read More

Monet and Architecture at the National Gallery

★★★★★
Daniel Amir
Read More

Must-see London exhibitions this April

Anna Souter
Read More

Joan Jonas – BMW Tate Live Exhibition: Ten Days Six Nights at the Tate

★★★★★
Catherine Sedgwick
Read More

Tacita Dean: Still Life at the National Gallery

★★★★★
Anna Souter
Read More

Tacita Dean: Portrait at the National Portrait Gallery

★★★★★
Anna Souter
Read More

Isle of Dogs exhibition in London: Explore Wes Anderson’s latest film’s sets

Euan Franklin
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Tickets

Theatre tickets

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Project Gastronomía: How will Londoners eat in 2050? A symposium on gastronomy and multisensory design
    Food & Drinks
  • Clare Smyth crowned the World’s Best Female Chef 2018
    Food & Drinks
  • Bat Out of Hell at the Dominion Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Tribeca Film Festival 2018: On the red carpet with the stars of Westworld season 2
    Cinema
  • Tokio Myers at the Forum
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Wound (Inxeba)
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Clare Smyth crowned the World’s Best Female Chef 2018
    Food & Drinks
  • Strictly Ballroom at Piccadilly Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The Writer at the Almeida Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Avengers: Infinity War
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Wound (Inxeba)
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Strictly Ballroom at Piccadilly Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The Writer at the Almeida Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Avengers: Infinity War
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Sherlock Gnomes premiere: A chat with James McAvoy, his co-stars and the film’s creators
    Cinema

Instagram

Something is wrong. Response takes too long or there is JS error. Press Ctrl+Shift+J or Cmd+Shift+J on a Mac.
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Fund us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • New London restaurant openings and pop-ups
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Subscribe
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2018 FL Media Ltd

Falling Off Maps at Buffalo Bar | Live review
Cold Comes the Night | Movie review