MRAG

Commercial artists go rogue! Six young creatives respond to a non-commercial brief with each allocated a day of the week to explore and collaborate in their own medium. Andy Gallagher is Saturday. In Andy's Saturday he delves into the world of digital technology and creates immersive worlds with virtual reality. Visitors will experience how the artist uses virtual reality to suspend time and allow them to exist inside a synthetic interactive space. The Monday to Friday artists will be Andy's…

Just Not Australian brings together 20 artists across generations and diverse cultural backgrounds to deal broadly with the origins and implications of contemporary Australian nationhood. With works ranging from the late 1990s right through to newly commissioned pieces, they are united by their desire to take Australia’s ‘official’ history to task, making space for people and events that have, often wilfully, been sidelined or omitted. The artists explore the politics of images, their construction and circulation, as well as their…

Paula Jenkins grew up near Paterson in the NSW Hunter Valley; a place of fond memory for the artist where she grew up swimming in the river and exploring bushland. For the last 13 years she has called Walcha home. During this time Paula has made many journeys between Walcha and Paterson, along the Thunderbolts Way, observing the vast and interesting landscapes between the two places. This exhibition will be a display of these landscapes captured in oil on canvas,…

The boxing ring has long been a compelling site for artists. It has produced many books, songs, paintings and films. What is it about the fight that speaks to artists through the ages and why do some contemporary artists respond so vividly to its grit, history and contest? Shadow Boxer will highlight this cultural fascination and showcase the work of contemporary Australian artists who explore ideas of race, gender and class and the sheer physicality of Boxing in their work.…

Barka, the forgotten River reflects the love artists Badger Bates and Justine Muller have for the Barka, or Darling River - "our mother and the blood in our veins" - and its people, the Barkandji. Indigenous peoples across the globe looked after their environment in a sustained manner for thousands of years; nowhere was a system so sophisticated than with the first peoples of Australia.  Throughout time conventions, world summits, protocols have tried to protect her, our environment, our habitat,…

The Art Sale is a bi-annual fundraising exhibition of paintings, prints and sculptures raising funds for the MRAG Members Program to support great initiatives at the gallery like Free Art Sunday.

Built on Wonnarua land, The Maitland Hospital is a layered place. Ancient songlines are overwritten by a patchwork of buildings from across 170 years. Corridors are imbued with the fears and hopes of large numbers of people. The smells and sounds of medical care and treatments are ever present. There are good and bad memories. There are funny and sad stories. A Conspicuous Object – The Maitland Hospital taps into these layers. Nine artists were invited to respond to stories…

Every year schools across New South Wales are invited to participate in Operation Art, an initiative of The Children’s Hospital at Westmead in association with the New South Wales Department of Education. The Operation Art program provides a forum for schools and students to demonstrate their visual arts achievements through exhibitions at the Armory Gallery, Sydney Olympic Park and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. A touring exhibition from The Arts Unit

A collective group of Australian artists, we have been driven to reclaim public advertising space with posters speaking to the Australian government’s inaction on climate change and the devastating bushfires. “As a collective group of Australian artists, we have been driven to reclaim public advertising space with posters speaking to the Australian government’s inaction on climate change and the devastating bushfires. We do not accept that this situation is ‘ business as usual’. We are making these issues visible in…

Artist and climate justice activist Fiona Lee lost her family home near Taree to the catastrophic  bushfires in November 2019. She was compelled to respond to comments at the time from the Deputy Prime-Minister that the idea of linking climate change to the ongoing bushfire crisis were “the ravings of pure, enlightened and woke capital city greenies.” Days later, Fiona and her family arrived on the steps of the NSW parliament armed with a bucket full of ash from what…

National Art – Part One is an exhibition and celebration of 50 practising Australian artists who all studied at the National Art School and generously donated work from their personal collections to the School. Touring exhibition from the National Art School

Neridah Stockley is a multi-disciplinary artist  based in Alice Springs. She was the 2019 recipient of the Arts NT Creative-in-Residence at the Araluen Arts Centre and in this exhibition presents a unique body of work in response to Hermannsburg. Hermannsburg is a locally and internationally recognised chapter of inland Australia history; site of Lutheran Mission activity coupled with the Hermannsburg School of watercolour painting made famous by Albert Namatjira. It is a unique cross-cultural heritage site characterised by local landscape,…