Sydney's Top 10 Art Galleries
Commercial? Institutional? CBD or way out west? White cube or decaying dunny? Nick Dent rates the 10 best places in Sydney to see art right now
1 Cockatoo Island
Sydney Harbour
It's a former prison turned shipyard. The buildings are rotten and skanky and the floors are muddy. We're not even convinced it's entirely safe. But right now, this industrial wasteland is ground zero for art in Sydney. Its unrenovated barracks, underground tunnels and vast turbine halls house the cream of the Biennale. Even the nasty, graffiti-covered toilet blocks have been commandeered in the name of art by Vernon Ah Kee and Mike Parr. Sure, the historic venue upstages some of the artists' actual works - but this is about as raw and real as a gallery visit can get.
2 Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Domain
From Bruce Nauman and Duchamp to Yoko Ono and Joseph Beuys, the AGNSW nabbed the lion's share of the Biennale's modern art treasures. The Taisho Chic, Harold Cazneaux, Judy Cassab and Adam Cullen shows are pure class. A pleasure to visit any time of the year.
3 Casula Powerhouse
1 Casula Road, Casula
Stop moaning and drag your sorry arse out Liverpool way. Yes, there is culture in them there outer 'burbs. Recently refurbished, this industrial-scale centre is hosting a multicultural show of homegrown art, Australian, that's exuberant, fresh and exciting.
4 Pier 2/3, Walsh Bay
Hickson Road, Walsh Bay
There are just three Biennale artworks on display inside this, the only Sydney wharf structure still in its original state - but two of them are bona fide masterpieces. Doreen Reid Nakamarra's untitled painting of Marrapinti land in WA resembles rippling soundwaves, while The Murder of Crows, by Canadians Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, is a magnificent aural piece using 100 speakers. Brilliant.
5 Brett Whiteley Studio
2 Raper St, Surry Hills (Sat-Sun only; closed this weekend)
Miraculously, the studio of Australia's great expressionist has been kept the way it was when he died of a heroin overdose in 1992. Browse Whiteley's books and records, see the unfinished painting he was working on, and enjoy current show, The Poetic Eye. A semi-secret Sydney treasure.
6 Museum of Contemporary Art
140 George St, The Rocks
Horses and cobras aside (see opposite), the MCA got stuck with the fuzzy end of the Biennale lollipop this time around. But a breathtaking show of indigenous bark paintings, They Are Meditating, makes up for a lot. Oh, and they have Jesus on a bomber, too.
7 Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery
8 Soudan Lane, Paddington
Hard to find, unless you're a cop determined to confiscate "offensive" photographs, this leading commercial gallery in a tiny Paddington backstreet boasts top Australian artists such as Bill Henson, Tracey Moffatt and Fiona Hall on its books. And a little controversy never hurts, does it?
8 Object Gallery
415 Bourke St, Surry Hills
The former St Margaret's Hospital chapel is now a grand circular space for craft and designed objects. Current show How You Make It lets you try on haute couture garments for yourself. That's right - art's just like shopping!
9 Ray Hughes Gallery
270 Devonshire St, Surry Hills
We've a soft spot for longtime Sydney art luminary Hughes and his evergreen warehouse, currently showing Indian tribal art with surprising similarities to our own Aboriginal stuff.
10 S H Ervin Gallery
Watson Rd, Observatory Hill, The Rocks
Housed in the gorgeous 1856 National Trust Centre building, this often-overlooked gallery currently has a great show of abstract aerial photography works by Richard Woldendorp.