Art exhibitions to see in Sydney this week

The $30,000 Dobell Drawing Prize has a rich history of celebrating some of Australia’s most renowned artists, and you don’t have to hand over a cent to head down to the gorgeous gallery inside the sandstone walls of the National Art School to check out all of this year’s finalists. Curated by Lucy Latella, the exhibition features 56 artworks from an exciting cross-section of established, mid-career and early-career artists, selected from 965 nationwide entries. Now in its 24th year, this biennial art prize celebrates the enduring importance of drawing in contemporary art practice, with a focus on technique, innovation and expanded approaches. The selected works span various media – from coloured pencil, charcoal, chalk and watercolour to clay, human hair, aluminium, LED, and video – and consider a range of themes including domesticity and social dynamics, environmental care, and impacts of climate change and colonisation. NAS alumna Rosemary Lee took out the prize this year – her winning work ‘24-1’ depicts an urban landscape in Sydney’s Inner West, and the judging panel praised her work for the way it “observes tonal and compositional profundity in everyday life”. The judges also said: “We were most impressed by the level of visual intensity the artist has achieved in this complex work, both through its vibrant colour and in the extraordinary detail of the composition. The artwork’s exploration of the urban landscape and gentrification of the Sydney suburbs of Ashfield...

There’s something so intriguing about exploring the depths of the ocean, because we don't get many chances to check out what's down there. If you’re not a diver but you’ve always wanted to see what happens underneath the ripples of the water's surface, check out this ocean photography exhibition that's returning to the Australian National Maritime Museum.From November 28, the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2024 exhibition will feature all of the winners and finalists of the prestigious prize, which is led by the London-based Oceanographic Magazine.  The exhibition will display 118 of the most awe-inspiring wildlife shots ever snapped, immersing you in the otherworldly magic of the ocean and bringing you face-to-face with some of the sea's most majestic creatures. Particular highlights will no doubt be getting your peepers on the winning image from photographer Rafael Fernández Caballero. His incredible photo of a Bryde whale feeding on a heart-shaped baitball was taken in Baja California Sur, Mexico during the Mexican sardine run. The stunning shot was chosen from more than 15,000 images by a panel of expert judges.  There are plenty of other award-winning photos on display across 10 categories, including the Ocean Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Ocean Adventure Photographer of the Year and the Ocean Fine Art Photographer of the Year.   Tickets are on sale now with discounts available for concessions and children and family passes on offer. All tickets include access to...

When it comes to regional art galleries, Bundanon is top tier. But it’s difficult to convey the magic of this place if you haven’t experienced it for yourself. Hidden within a nature reserve and perched between a snaking bend of the mighty Shoalhaven River and the foot of a mountain, it's a special place to unplug and connect with art and nature. Hence, the latest exhibition to take up residence in the Art Museum, which encourages new ways of thinking through collaborations between humans and non-human worlds, is a natural fit.  From large-scale paintings in traditional Indigenous art styles to experimental technologies, Thinking together: Exchanges with the natural world features new major commissions from contemporary artists and collectives that take a range of unexpected forms and unusual perspectives. For example, Greek-Australian artist and performer Tina Stefanou has been “collaborating” with retired horses for almost a decade, and these equine beauties are now the stars of ‘Horse Power’ (2019) – a video work in which we see them dressed in costumes festooned with jangling keys, creating freestyle percussion as they graze nonchalantly.  Meanwhile, music-making mushrooms are the heroes of ‘Growth in the shadows’, a living artwork from Sydney-based interdisciplinary artist Keg de Souza – and that’s not a euphemism. Working with ecologists and Bundanon’s natural resources team, de Souza has “borrowed” live mycelium and fungi samples from the landscape and housed them...

Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) presents the first solo museum exhibition by Kamilaroi artist Warraba Weatherall, whose work has been exhibited widely nationally and internationally over the past decade. Through a dynamic combination of installation, sculpture and video works, Shadow and Substance turns a critical eye to the colonial record – reframing existing narratives about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and culture found within archival and museum collections.  Drawing on his own family’s experiences, Weatherall’s work draws attention to the ethics of how Indigenous property, cultural information and materials have been historically acquired and displayed. A refined display that invites contemplation, this exhibition curated by MCA Australia Curator Megan Robson premieres several brand new artworks, including ‘Trace’ (2025) a major new co-commission between the MCA and the Hawaiʻi Triennial 2025, which resembles a giant spinning toy. ‘Dirge’ (2023) is a particularly fascinating piece, which draws attention to the ways in which information is “translated and transmitted”. Weatherall has created a large-scale, custom-built polyphon – a disc-operated mechanical music box – and the score it plays is a Braille translation of a colonial document relating to Aboriginal land rights found in an Australian museum.  Running until September 21, Shadow and Substance is part of the MCA’s autumn 2025 exhibition program. You can spend up to an hour inspecting...

Julie Mehretu is widely regarded as one of the most significant painters of her generation, acclaimed for her large-scale paintings which erupt with colour, line, energy and movement. This summer, the first major survey of the New York-based artist’s work ever exhibited in Australia is coming exclusively to the MCA Australia on Sydney's Circular Quay.  Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and now based in New York City, Mehretu has exhibited extensively at major institutions across the US, UK and Europe. Most recently, Mehretu was commissioned to create an 83-foot tall glass mural for the Obama Presidential Centre in Chicago. She was named one of the “100 most influential people in 2020” by Time magazine; and in 2024, The New York Times described her as “one of today's most original and thought-provoking painters.”   Opening on November 29 and running until April 27, the much-anticipated Julie Mehretu: A Transcore of the Radical Imaginatory addresses urgent concerns of our globalised world including revolution, migration and climate change. Featuring 13 new works created especially for the exhibition, the presentation will include more than 80 powerful abstract paintings, prints and drawings dating from 1995 to the present. The exhibition will also feature a series of talks and tours, with extended hours for Art Up Late for Sydney Festival on Wednesdays, January 8, 15 and 22 until 9pm.  Julie Mehretu: A Transcore of the Radical Imaginatory is part of the Sydney International...