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Arts
Who’s in, who’s out as Labor figures head cultural leadership shake-up
ALP veterans head a list of 10 new prestigious appointments to the state’s leading galleries and museums.
- by Linda Morris
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Spectrum
She died a ‘housewife’, now Ethel Carrick breaks art auction records
From the streets of Paris to the beaches of Australia, Ethel Carrick was ahead of her time.
- by Linda Morris
Major galleries reveal their 2025 blockbusters – with big surprises in store
The Art Gallery of NSW and Museum of Contemporary Art have unveiled their shows for 2025, and there is not an Impressionist master among them. Here are the best shows.
- by Linda Morris
Crypto executive eats banana artwork bought for $9.6 million, says it tasted ‘quite good’
Chinese-born Justin Sun peeled off the duct tape and enjoyed the banana in a press conference held in the ritzy Peninsula Hong Kong hotel.
- by Kanis Leung
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Good Weekend
‘It’s a mess’: Artist Julie Mehretu on art, sex and capitalism
The record-breaking Ethiopian-American artist on the role of markets in “making it”, creating works with big brands – and the advice she’d give her younger self.
- by Benjamin Law
Shock for fruit vendor who sold $9 million banana for 25 cents
When Shah Alam, who works on a fruit stand in front of Sotheby’s in Manhattan, learnt a cheap piece of fruit he sold had become part of an absurdist artwork that went for millions in the auction house, he began to cry.
- by Sarah Maslin Nir
Unique Australian snake sculpture nets record price
Once the poor cousin of painting, sculpture is having its moment in the sun. A record $1.25 million has been paid for a work by Australian artist Bronwyn Oliver.
- by Linda Morris
Spot the difference: A $185m surrealist masterpiece and its sister displayed here
In 1954, surrealist Rene Magritte painted four variations of an intriguing work bringing together night and day. One just sold for a record-breaking price, the other is on rare show in Australia.
- by Linda Morris
Someone just paid $9.6m to stick a banana to a wall
Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian – aka the banana duct-taped to a wall – was created in 2019 and has since been shown around the world.
- by Elizabeth Flux
Richard Flanagan knocks back $100k literature prize over sponsor’s fossil fuel links
Flanagan was awarded the Baillie Gifford Prize for his latest book at a ceremony in London.
- by Lachlan Abbott
Feted in France, the Australian artist you’ve never heard of. Until now
The Australian cubist potter, Anne Dangar, died in relative obscurity, but a new exhibition aims to resurrect her much-neglected reputation.
- by Linda Morris