Dispatch Review respectfully acknowledges the Whadjuk people as the traditional owners and custodians of the lands upon which we live, work and enjoy. We pay deep respect to Elders past and present. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
Reviews:
- Dispatch Review’s 2024 Wrap-up.
- The people yearn..., by Max Vickery and Erin Russell.
- An invitation to dance, by Sam Beard.
- We Talk, We Discuss: An Interview with Taring Padi by Max Vickery.
- AGWA x PrideFEST by Felicity Bean.
- Tim Meakins, Body Mould by Sam Beard.
- Nick FitzPatrick, Hero Image by Francis Russell.
- Jacob Kotzee, Arrangements by Dan Glover.
- Hollow Icons: Desmond Mah at Mossenson by Darren Jorgensen.
- Pilgrimage: An interview with Vedika Rampal.
- The UnAustralian: Doubling Double Nation – An interview with Rex Butler.
- Negative Criticism: A Year of Dispatch Review by Tara Heffernan.
- Custodians as Reverse Monument by Darren Jorgensen.
- End of History – LWAG by Francis Russell.
- Hatched Dispatched 2024 by Dan Glover, Jess van Heerden, Nalinie See & Sam Beard.
- David Bromfield: A critic at large and ‘Where did the artists go?’
- Me, Also Me by Sam Beard.
- Paper Trails Between Lion and Swan by Sam Beard.
- Ceramically Speaking by Ben Yaxley.
- The Strelley Mob by Sam Harper.
- Rone: The Mighty Success by Leslie Thompson.
- Paper Trails: An interview with Yeo Chee Kiong by Sam Beard.
- Power 100 by Dispatch Review.
- Foresight & Fiction by Ben Yaxley.
- Twin Peaks Was 30 by Matthew Taggart.
- Breaking News: It’s Rone! by Sam Beard.
- Look, looking at Anna Park by Amelia Birch.
- The Fan by Francis Russell.
- Follower, Leader by Maraya Takoniatis.
- Wanneroo Warholamania by Sam Beard.
- Death Metal Summer by Sam Beard.
- Players, Places: Reprised, Renewed, Reviewed by Aimee Dodds.
- Scholtz: Two Worlds Apart by Corderoy, Fisher, Flaherty, Wilson, Fletcher, Jorgensen, & Glover.
- Partial Sightings by Sam Beard.
- True! Crime. by Aimee Dodds.
- The Human Condition by Rex Butler.
- Light Event by Sam Beard.
- Rejoinder: Archival / Activism by Max Vickery.
- Access and Denial in The Purple Shall Govern by Jess van Heerden.
- 4Spells by Sam Beard.
- Abstract art, DMT capitalism and the ugliness of David Attwood’s paintings
by Darren Jorgensen. - Unearthing new epistemologies of extraction by Samuel Beilby.
- Seek Wisdom by Max Vickery.
- Something for Everyone by Sam Beard.
- Violent Sludge by Aimee Dodds.
- State of Abstraction by Francis Russell.
- Double Histories: Special Issue, with texts by Ian McLean, Terry Smith, and Darren Jorgensen & Sam Beard.
- Six Missing Shows by Sam Beard.
- What We Memorialise by Max Vickery.
- At the End of the Land by Amelia Birch.
- The beautiful is useful by Sam Beard.
- ām / ammā / mā maram by Zali Morgan.
- Making Ground, Breaking Ground by Maraya Takoniatis.
- Art as Asset by Sam Beard.
- Cactus Malpractice by Aimee Dodds.
- Sweet sweet pea by Sam Beard.
- COBRA by Francis Russell.
- PICA Barn by Sam Beard .
- Gallery Hotel Metro by Aimee Dodds.
- A Stroll Through the Sacred, Profane, and Bizarre by Samuel Beilby.
- Filling in the Gaps at Spacingout by Maraya Takoniatis.
- Disneyland Cosmoplitanism by Sam Beard.
- Discovering Revenue by Anonymous.
- Uncomfortable Borrowing by Jess van Heerden.
- It’s Not That Strange by Stirling Kain.
- Hatched Dispatched 2023 by Sam Beard & Aimee Dodds.
- Fuck the Class System by Jess van Heerden, Jacinta Posik, Darren Jorgensen, et al.
- Wild About Nothing by Sam Beard.
- Paranoiac, Peripatetic: Pet Projects by Aimee Dodds.
- An Odd Moment for Women’s Art by Maraya Takoniatis.
- Transmutations by Sam Beard.
- The Post-Vandal by Sam Beard.
- Art Thugs and Humbugs by Max Vickery.
- Disneyland, Paris, Ardross and the artworld by Darren Jorgensen.
- Bizarrely, A Biennale by Aimee Dodds.
- Venus in Tullamarine by Sam Beard.
- Weird Rituals by Sam Beard.
- Random Cube by Francis Russell.
- Yeah, Nah, Rockpool by Aimee Dodds.
- Towards a Blind Horizon by Kieron Broadhurst.
- Being Realistic by Sam Beard.
As the year draws to a close, Dispatch Review invited a group of critics and regular contributors to reflect on the past year and share their thoughts on what, perhaps, 2025 might bring.
What is your highlight of 2024?
On 21 October, the West Australian newspaper reported that “Art Gallery of WA director Colin Walker unveils ambitious plans for the ‘most modern’ gallery in the world.” Otherwise, the internet is completely silent on what should be the highlight of Perth’s art news of 2024. Did someone get the story wrong? If so, then artists, budding curators, and collectors should all benefit, as big public galleries tend to generate more public interest in the visual arts, as well as more funding and support for local scenes.
John Curtin Gallery quietly delivered some of the most significant exhibitions of 2024, including the Brett Whiteley studio show, IOTA’s Codes in Parallel, The Strelley Mob, and an excellent selection of paintings surveying the career of Aida Tomescu. Of particular interest to me was the Brett Whiteley exhibition, as it demonstrated the strengths and shortcomings of an artist with great facility held back both by his own eagerness to skim off the top of art history (revealed in often hokey appropriations). This tension snaps into clarity upon viewing the best of his work, the intimate studio scenes and sketches. It was also nice to see the main gallery painted white, as gloomy, dark-lit exhibitions are becoming a fad (with the exception of The Strelley Mob, which utilised dramatic lighting to complement the work).
The End of History exhibition at LWAG (18 May–27 Aug) was a gluttonous visual feast that showcased the curatorial wizardry of Gemma Weston (and the extended LWAG exhibition team). Great catalogue. Great install. Kudos to ‘em for dealing with ‘80s weirdness so well—connecting the era's various apocalyptic social concerns without making it utterly depressing to visit; hinting at the persistent artworld hangover (collectively suffered) from too much passion Pop, male-artist, ego-centric ‘80s wankerism (and gesturing to potential remedies for it); aesthetically wrangling big, senseless, and probably post-Soviet-inspired whopping sculptures with good, bad, and ugly collection paintings, and making the above, frankly, enjoyable to peruse. The brilliant and informative review by Francis Russell (in Dispatch) completely upended any easy conclusions I'd reached and made me re-rethink what I'd seen and read. I wished I could've returned to the show with Franco's text as my guide, but it had already ended.
State of Abstraction at AGWA and The End of History at LWAG stand out as particularly thought provoking shows, in that, even where those shows didn't quite work for me I felt their respective impasses and lacunae were fascinating. It was also a highlight to see a string of very promising shows by emerging artists like Nick Fitzpatrick, Jacob Kotzee, Isabel Bereczky, and Matt Brown.
What is a lowlight of 2024?
A snazzy new public gallery, something like GOMA or Sydney Modern, will spell death and despair for artists in Perth. Every other state in Australia has rushed to spend big bucks on these infernal art megaplexes, but they leave locals behind. In Melbourne, the expanded National Gallery of Victoria has become so dominating that council and community galleries are no longer viable, bypassed for the latest action in the city. MONA has swallowed everything that once made Hobart liveable, and in Brisbane, the state government can barely afford to keep GOMA’s monstrous spaces open, let alone support struggling local artists.
The disappearance of The Pretext. Also, the cancellation of Sculpture by the Sea. Perhaps it has run its course, but it is sad to see the oddity of Sculpture by the Sea come to a close after bringing such eccentricities and excesses as the “Master’s Milk Carton Boat” by Ellen Broadhurst, Tom Rogers, and Jaxon Waterhouse, or the gargantuan Homer (the Greek) x Homer (the Simpson) inflatable by Dave Glass. One can only hope that some Cottesloe benefactor might fork out a little dosh to bring this peculiar event back in 2026.
What do you want to see more of in 2025?
Fremantle Arts Centre gets back on its feet. Tim Burns with a megaphone. Sculpture by the Sea. Video by Makaela Rowe-Fox. Paintings by Penny Coss. Paintings by Demond Mah. Bill’s PC. Big, complex woven things by Emma Buswell. Graduate shows. Disneyland Paris. Dispatch events. Erin Coates. The Fremantle Biennale. Curtis Taylor. The 2025 Art Association of Australia and New Zealand conference. Hatched. The Pretext. Shannon Lyons. Kamile Gallery. Hearts of Darkness. Paper works by Clare Wohlnick. Scout shirts by Jess Day. Paintings by Naomie Hatherley. Big puffy weirdness by Tarryn Gill. Something new from Dan McCabe. Tony Windberg’s Martian pyrography. Quicker exhibition turn-arounds. More art, more often please.
More dedication to discipline specificity, thorough research, and a growing wariness of edu-tainment culture and bureaucratised accessibility protocols. Hopefully, we’ll see more investment in fostering critical para-academic spaces, balanced with a genuine effort to preserve institutions (less “institutional critique” and more pragmatic interest in bettering the teaching of the humanities and the creative arts within the university).
More funding for art that is not commercially viable and less funding for art that is! It’s about time there was more philanthropy for the arts in WA (and there are the telltale signs that there will be, for sure). Yet, why publicly fund art that will likely end up above the Moroso sofa of a Mosman Park home?
The Pretext, honest shows, new faces in high-up arts jobs, risk-taking, original/skilful uses of medium and material, diversification of arts funding sources relative to the WA and Aus economies, private donors supporting independent and small-scale projects, intergenerational collaborations, and arts festivals happening in calendar times other than the middle of Perth's summer.
I desperately want to see a wider pool of art critics and theorists writing in 2025—for Dispatch or otherwise. We have an impressive range of philosophers, novelists, cultural critics, historians, and of course artists in our own backyard, but there seems to be a great deal of hesitation when it comes to writing about contemporary art. I honestly don't know how to improve this situation, but in 2025 I would love to see a wider embrace of dialogue as the starting point for understanding art. The event of understanding art happens in the cafe, the pub, and the group chat just as much—if not more so!—than the gallery or museum. Don't feel like you have to start with a granular understanding of art and its history to begin thinking with and through a work of art; instead, use the work as a point of departure to talk to others and to think critically and speculatively. Returning to the work—its author, context, history, politics, etc.—is an important and unavoidable step, but don't feel like that task has to come before the fundamental act of sharing with others why you are or aren't moved by something.
What do you want to see less of in 2025?
Balancing Act at AGWA, the collection show of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art on the ground floor, has been there so long I can’t remember a time before it. I had shiny blonde hair when I first smiled at Mavis Petyarre’s Painted Car Door (1990) and had gone grey when I tried to explain Gordon Bennett’s Painting for a New Republic (1994) to my teenager. Now I am balding, the gallery has been spending on new acquisitions, and the same old stuff is sitting there. Can we bring something else up from the basement, please?
Faux contrarianism, “scene” reports, and “personal narrative” in art criticism: tired formulas that harmonise to demonstrate the malleability and philistinism of the aging trend-vampires that presently dominate the arts.
Multiple or too many (e.g. three) reviews of one boring (considered lame, slack, or broadly “undeserving” by audience consensus) exhibition taking up valuable real estate within a more-or-less weekly art criticism series, as it were.
What is your highlight of 2024?
On 21 October, the West Australian newspaper reported that “Art Gallery of WA director Colin Walker unveils ambitious plans for the ‘most modern’ gallery in the world.” Otherwise, the internet is completely silent on what should be the highlight of Perth’s art news of 2024. Did someone get the story wrong? If so, then artists, budding curators, and collectors should all benefit, as big public galleries tend to generate more public interest in the visual arts, as well as more funding and support for local scenes.
– Darren Jorgensen
John Curtin Gallery quietly delivered some of the most significant exhibitions of 2024, including the Brett Whiteley studio show, IOTA’s Codes in Parallel, The Strelley Mob, and an excellent selection of paintings surveying the career of Aida Tomescu. Of particular interest to me was the Brett Whiteley exhibition, as it demonstrated the strengths and shortcomings of an artist with great facility held back both by his own eagerness to skim off the top of art history (revealed in often hokey appropriations). This tension snaps into clarity upon viewing the best of his work, the intimate studio scenes and sketches. It was also nice to see the main gallery painted white, as gloomy, dark-lit exhibitions are becoming a fad (with the exception of The Strelley Mob, which utilised dramatic lighting to complement the work).
– Sam Beard
The End of History exhibition at LWAG (18 May–27 Aug) was a gluttonous visual feast that showcased the curatorial wizardry of Gemma Weston (and the extended LWAG exhibition team). Great catalogue. Great install. Kudos to ‘em for dealing with ‘80s weirdness so well—connecting the era's various apocalyptic social concerns without making it utterly depressing to visit; hinting at the persistent artworld hangover (collectively suffered) from too much passion Pop, male-artist, ego-centric ‘80s wankerism (and gesturing to potential remedies for it); aesthetically wrangling big, senseless, and probably post-Soviet-inspired whopping sculptures with good, bad, and ugly collection paintings, and making the above, frankly, enjoyable to peruse. The brilliant and informative review by Francis Russell (in Dispatch) completely upended any easy conclusions I'd reached and made me re-rethink what I'd seen and read. I wished I could've returned to the show with Franco's text as my guide, but it had already ended.
– Aimee Dodds
State of Abstraction at AGWA and The End of History at LWAG stand out as particularly thought provoking shows, in that, even where those shows didn't quite work for me I felt their respective impasses and lacunae were fascinating. It was also a highlight to see a string of very promising shows by emerging artists like Nick Fitzpatrick, Jacob Kotzee, Isabel Bereczky, and Matt Brown.
– Francis Russell
What is a lowlight of 2024?
A snazzy new public gallery, something like GOMA or Sydney Modern, will spell death and despair for artists in Perth. Every other state in Australia has rushed to spend big bucks on these infernal art megaplexes, but they leave locals behind. In Melbourne, the expanded National Gallery of Victoria has become so dominating that council and community galleries are no longer viable, bypassed for the latest action in the city. MONA has swallowed everything that once made Hobart liveable, and in Brisbane, the state government can barely afford to keep GOMA’s monstrous spaces open, let alone support struggling local artists.
– Darren Jorgensen
The disappearance of The Pretext. Also, the cancellation of Sculpture by the Sea. Perhaps it has run its course, but it is sad to see the oddity of Sculpture by the Sea come to a close after bringing such eccentricities and excesses as the “Master’s Milk Carton Boat” by Ellen Broadhurst, Tom Rogers, and Jaxon Waterhouse, or the gargantuan Homer (the Greek) x Homer (the Simpson) inflatable by Dave Glass. One can only hope that some Cottesloe benefactor might fork out a little dosh to bring this peculiar event back in 2026.
– Sam Beard
What do you want to see more of in 2025?
Fremantle Arts Centre gets back on its feet. Tim Burns with a megaphone. Sculpture by the Sea. Video by Makaela Rowe-Fox. Paintings by Penny Coss. Paintings by Demond Mah. Bill’s PC. Big, complex woven things by Emma Buswell. Graduate shows. Disneyland Paris. Dispatch events. Erin Coates. The Fremantle Biennale. Curtis Taylor. The 2025 Art Association of Australia and New Zealand conference. Hatched. The Pretext. Shannon Lyons. Kamile Gallery. Hearts of Darkness. Paper works by Clare Wohlnick. Scout shirts by Jess Day. Paintings by Naomie Hatherley. Big puffy weirdness by Tarryn Gill. Something new from Dan McCabe. Tony Windberg’s Martian pyrography. Quicker exhibition turn-arounds. More art, more often please.
– Darren Jorgensen
More dedication to discipline specificity, thorough research, and a growing wariness of edu-tainment culture and bureaucratised accessibility protocols. Hopefully, we’ll see more investment in fostering critical para-academic spaces, balanced with a genuine effort to preserve institutions (less “institutional critique” and more pragmatic interest in bettering the teaching of the humanities and the creative arts within the university).
– Tara Heffernan
More funding for art that is not commercially viable and less funding for art that is! It’s about time there was more philanthropy for the arts in WA (and there are the telltale signs that there will be, for sure). Yet, why publicly fund art that will likely end up above the Moroso sofa of a Mosman Park home?
– Sam Beard
The Pretext, honest shows, new faces in high-up arts jobs, risk-taking, original/skilful uses of medium and material, diversification of arts funding sources relative to the WA and Aus economies, private donors supporting independent and small-scale projects, intergenerational collaborations, and arts festivals happening in calendar times other than the middle of Perth's summer.
– Aimee Dodds
I desperately want to see a wider pool of art critics and theorists writing in 2025—for Dispatch or otherwise. We have an impressive range of philosophers, novelists, cultural critics, historians, and of course artists in our own backyard, but there seems to be a great deal of hesitation when it comes to writing about contemporary art. I honestly don't know how to improve this situation, but in 2025 I would love to see a wider embrace of dialogue as the starting point for understanding art. The event of understanding art happens in the cafe, the pub, and the group chat just as much—if not more so!—than the gallery or museum. Don't feel like you have to start with a granular understanding of art and its history to begin thinking with and through a work of art; instead, use the work as a point of departure to talk to others and to think critically and speculatively. Returning to the work—its author, context, history, politics, etc.—is an important and unavoidable step, but don't feel like that task has to come before the fundamental act of sharing with others why you are or aren't moved by something.
– Francis Russell
What do you want to see less of in 2025?
Balancing Act at AGWA, the collection show of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art on the ground floor, has been there so long I can’t remember a time before it. I had shiny blonde hair when I first smiled at Mavis Petyarre’s Painted Car Door (1990) and had gone grey when I tried to explain Gordon Bennett’s Painting for a New Republic (1994) to my teenager. Now I am balding, the gallery has been spending on new acquisitions, and the same old stuff is sitting there. Can we bring something else up from the basement, please?
– Darren Jorgensen
Faux contrarianism, “scene” reports, and “personal narrative” in art criticism: tired formulas that harmonise to demonstrate the malleability and philistinism of the aging trend-vampires that presently dominate the arts.
– Tara Heffernan
Multiple or too many (e.g. three) reviews of one boring (considered lame, slack, or broadly “undeserving” by audience consensus) exhibition taking up valuable real estate within a more-or-less weekly art criticism series, as it were.
– Aimee Dodds
I can sense the reader's eyes rolling already but I don't think we can afford less of anything in WA at the moment. I'd happily take more of everything, even the bad stuff—hey, especially the bad stuff, you've got to start somewhere!– Francis Russell