Past exhibitions 2006

In this video installation inspired by movies such as Prisoner, Scum, Stir, Ghost of the civil dead and Chopper, Brendan Lee re-creates a prison meeting room where a barrier separates inmate and visitor.

The most respected award for drawing in Australia, the annual Dobell Prize brings the remarkable drawing talents of Australian artists into the public domain.

From the halcyon days of the hippy, anti-establishment era, this exhibition explores the inventive genius of Peter Kingston and Martin Sharp, two key artists of the Yellow House in Sydney.

Finalists of Sydney Morning Herald Shoot the chef! photographic competition are exhibited at the Gallery as part of Good Food Month this October.

This exhibition brings to Australia, for the first time, sculptures, prints and drawings by Alberto Giacometti drawn from the collection of the Marguerite and Aimé Maeght Foundation, France.

In a unique fundraising event, this exhibition brings together great artists and the songwriters whose songs have been chosen as inspiration.

Works by the greatest Zen masters of the last three centuries, drawn from the remarkable private collection of Dr Kurt A Gitter and Alice Rae Yelen.

Sketchbook drawings by Hodgkinson which document his travels in Europe following WW2, including images of Italy (in particular Florence), Paris and England.

Considers the inventive ways in which contemporary artists use form, colour and space in sculpture.

One of the most significant photographic voices of the 1960s, Lewis Morley’s work covers a range of the photography from portraiture to theatre, reportage to fashion.

The exhibition at the Gallery includes some of the 80 artists from 40 countries around the world who form part of this international festival of contemporary art, including Ai Wei Wei and Fiona Tan.

Tells the unfolding story of the graphic arts in Europe, from the time of Mantegna and the master printmakers of the Italian Renaissance up to the 18th century.

Works from the Australian collection on the theme of waterfalls, including paintings by Eugene von Guérard, Conrad Martens and Fred Williams and a group of spectacular 19th-century photographs.

This prize has been established to promote contemporary portrait photography and excellence in all forms of still photo-based art.

This annual exhibition is one of the most popular in Australia and often one of its most controversial.

This exhibition presents examples of lavish court textiles from Java, boldly designed warrior cloths from Sumba, narrative paintings of the Ramayana epic from Bali and ship cloths from Sumatra.

An installation of wall pieces that allude to everyday architecture – sidewalks, elevators, subways, patterns – within the gallery space.

This exhibition brings together painted self-portraits by some of the world’s greatest artists from the mid 16th century to the beginning of the 21st century.

An exhibition that displays Scharf’s best-remembered work, Night in a city, a portfolio of 20 etchings depicting a city from early evening to dawn.

Kitamura Tatsuo, working under the art name Unryuan, is one of Japan’s leading contemporary lacquer artists. His work displays an astonishing range of styles, impressive imaginative flair and remarkable technical skill.

A dynamic and popular exhibition featuring a selection of outstanding student artworks developed for the artmaking component of the HSC examination in Visual Arts, 2005.

An exhibition of photographs blurring the borders between dream and photography. Includes photographs by Robert Ashton, Robert Besanko, Kate Breakey, Ian Dodd and Victoria Fernandez.

Griggs’ paintings focus on the human condition, engaging with political imagery, underground media, conspiracy theories, local crime histories and personal experiences.

Leading Japanese contemporary artist Yukinori Yanagi uses national symbols to question the politics and ideology of contemporary Japan.

Regarded as a central Impressionist figure, Pissarro was the only painter of the group who participated in all eight Impressionist exhibitions.

A display of drawings by Nora Heysen, the first woman to win the Archibald Prize and the first female war artist in Australia.

In Saskia Olde Wolber’s videos, fictional stories in the form of reportage provide the soundtrack while fantastical landscapes or extraordinary interiors provide the visual focus.

Iranian-born, New York-based Shirin Neshat is known for her video installations and photographs which explore immigrant experiences and dramatically confront the stereotypes of Muslim women.

A survey of Australian photography from 1985 to 1995, including works by Rosemary Laing, Robyn Stacey, William Yang and Anne Zahalka, among others.

This retrospective exhibition traces the artistic development of Grace Cossington Smith, one of Australia’s most significant artists.