Art Guide Australia

Art Guide Australia is a print and online magazine exploring contemporary Australian art. Our editors and our team of writers and contributors know the local art scene and keep you informed through engaging and thoughtful articles. We speak with artists, curators and gallerists to learn more about their ideas and share them with an audience who want to know more about Australian art and what to see. We’re here to support a vibrant and diverse arts community and our aim is to provide independent, considered editorial coverage alongside a comprehensive picture of what’s happening in the visual arts across Australia.

A Note From the Editor • July/August 2026

Art Guide Australia

Contributors

Previews • A roundup of essential exhibitions, handpicked by our editors.

Melbourne/Naarm

Cairns/Gimuy

Wollongong/Dharawal Country

Melbourne/Naarm

Hobart/nipaluna

Alice Springs/Mparntwe

Adelaide/Kaurna Country

Perth/Boorloo

Adelaide/Kaurna Country

The Vishnu Within • With 200 artworks spanning one-and-a-half millennia and half the globe, this exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales showcases the many representations of Vishnu, the Hindu deity whose role in preserving balance and restoring peace in times of turmoil is as pertinent as ever.

Iain Dean

THE LAND BEFORE TIME • In the foundations of Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art, artist Julian Charrière releases oxygen molecules trapped since deep time—the latest endeavour in a practice that traverses chronology and the elements.

Opening Up • Three exhibitions taking place across Australia and New Zealand highlight the ways Chinese contemporary art has found its way into Australian galleries over recent decades.

20 QUESTIONS WITH Elisa Crossing • Elisa Crossing finds moments of stillness in everyday life, paying close attention to the shapes that form around her. Through this approach, Crossing creates windows within her frames that serve as portals to other worlds. Ahead of her solo show Move me! at Civic Art Bureau in Canberra, we asked her 20 questions on her practice of slow looking, how she chooses the settings for her works and the best advice she has received on making art.

Unravelling Empire • In the New South Wales prison town of Bathurst, an exhibition surveys the conceptual practice of Elizabeth Day—grounded in material experimentation, and shaped by a lifetime of engagement with histories of migration and punishment.

Silent Treatment • A new durational performance piece from Berlin-based Adelaide artist Ida Sophia focuses on acts of silence, distance and forgiveness.

Party of One • The first exhibition in ACCA’s Art and Emotion series takes a kaleidoscopic look into different facets of loneliness.

Labour Pains: On Reimagining the Relationship between Art and Care

Songs Sung Anew • A background in psychiatry informs the work of Cuban-born, Brisbane-based artist Jorge Mariño Brito, whose papermaking and painting practice explores the spectrum of men’s intimacy.

A–Z Exhibition Listings • What to see in Melbourne and regional Victoria throughout July and August.

A–Z Exhibition Listings • What to see in Sydney and regional New South Wales throughout July and August.

A–Z Exhibition Listings • What to see in Brisbane and regional Queensland throughout July and August.

A–Z Exhibition Listings • What to see in Canberra and regional Australian Capital Territory throughout July and August.

A–Z Exhibition Listings • What to see in Hobart and regional Tasmania throughout July and August.

A–Z Exhibition Listings • What to see in Adelaide and regional South Australia throughout July and August.

A–Z Exhibition Listings • What to...