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Sydney-based actor and artist Liam Nunan with his portrait of fellow actor Jonny Hawkins is The Richard Lester Prize for Portraiture 2019 Winner of WA’s premier portrait prize – The Lester Prize.

Liam wins $50,000 cash donated by founding sponsor The Lester Group, plus two economy class return tickets to any Singapore Airlines destination valued at $7,320.

With Brutalist design back in favour and a revival of interest in the art of the 1970s, AGWA marks the 40th anniversary of its 1979 Brutalist icon with a suite of special exhibitions and events.

As part of AGWA 40 – a season exploring the development and design of the building – the art of the 1970s in WA will be revisited in the exhibition That Seventies Feeling...the Late Modern.

That Seventies Feeling showcases some of the Gallery’s best works from the decade that saw the opening of AGWA’s much longed-for new Gallery.

The Art Gallery of WA's Art and Memories guided tours and Artistic Adventures workshops assist people living with dementia, and their carers or primary support network, to challenge their condition and help develop a creative mind.

Art and Memories is a program provided throughout the year by AGWA's Voluntary Gallery Guides (VGGs) to people living with dementia. Through these guided tours participants can discover how works of art can encourage conversation, contribute knowledge, engage in interpretation, express emotions and recall memories.

A new capsule exhibition featuring sculptures, jewellery and ceramics from the State Art Collection will visit regional audiences across Western Australia from 2020.

The finalists’ works will be on display at AGWA from 9 November – 9 December 2019. 

Forty finalists from across Australia have been selected from over 400 entrants for this year's The Lester Prize. Amongst this year's finalists, 15 were WA artists, 10 were from VIC, 9 from NSW, with the remaining 6 from QLD, TAS and the ACT.

Subjects of the works range from self-portraits to people who have played a significant part in the artists' lives. A quarter of this year's finalists have been named as finalists in previous years of the competition.

With Brutalist design back in favour and a revival of interest in the art of the 1970s, AGWA marks the 40th anniversary of its 1979 Brutalist icon with a suite of special exhibitions and events.

AGWA 40 is a season exploring the development and design of the building with the exhibit Perth Brutal: Dreaming in Concrete, plus talks, performances and a symposium presented with Curtin University’s School of Design and the Built Environment. The art of the 1970s in WA will also be revisited in the exhibition That Seventies Feeling...the Late Modern. A special AGWA Open Night includes Co3 dance company celebrating the architecture in movement, alongside a special appearance by design guru Tim Ross.

Dissolution and regeneration of works gives pause to audiences

The latest exhibition in the WA Now series at the Art Gallery of WA, Breathing Pattern, showcases new and recent work by Western Australian artist Eveline Kotai, including canvas reconstructions and painting.

Over the past 15 years, Eveline Kotai’s interest in material dissolution and regeneration has culminated in the practice and process of cutting up and reworking her own paintings into new works.

Pulse Perspectives A-B-C People's Choice Winner is...

Each year, the winner of the Act-Belong-Commit People's Choice Award is the artist whose work received the most votes by members of the general public. This year that student was Aliss Rigby.

• Interim leadership will commence on July 23, 2019 for six-month period
• Colin Walker to act as chief executive officer and Dr Ric Spencer as lead curator

Culture and the Arts Minister David Templeman has today announced a new interim leadership team will oversee the Art Gallery of Western Australia for a six-month period. The interim leadership team will work with the Art Gallery's board during the recruitment process for a new permanent director. Senior government arts executive, Colin Walker will act as chief executive officer managing administration of the Gallery from July 23, 2019.

The Botanical: Beauty and Peril explores the abundant beauty of the botanical world and the threats that assail it.

Drawing from the renowned Janet Holmes à Court Collection and the State Art Collection, this major exhibition presents a vivid, involving and sometimes disturbing journey through the diverse representation of the natural world by Australian artists.

TJYLLYUNGOO/Lance Chadd is the next featured artist in the Art Gallery of WA’s WA Now series.

TJYLLYUNGOO/Lance Chadd is a Bibbulmun Nyoongar/Budimia Yamatji man, born in the south-west of WA. His tribal name Tjyllyungoo - means Elder, wisdom, law - given by his father Norman Chadd.

AGWA's WA Journey gallery shares the story of WA art from the 1920s to today. It's the perfect introduction to WA Now, showcasing a leading WA practising artist.

Updated version, 18 April 2019.

Art Gallery WA marks 40 years of its landmark building with diverse season.

Art Gallery of WA’s new season promises to mark the anniversary of the 1979 brutalist building in style, with a bold season combining historical gems, cult T-shirt fashion, political and botanical art from respected Perth collector Janet Holmes à Court, and the first regional tour for 20 years.

The anniversary highlights (Sep-Oct) explore the iconic building with the exhibition Perth is Brutal: Dreaming in Concrete, followed by a reappraisal of the vibrant WA and international art scene of the decade of punk and bad haircuts in That Seventies Feeling.

First tour from AGWA in 20 years launched this week.

How Did I Get Here?, the first capsule exhibition of works from Art Gallery of WA’s State Art Collection opens on 12 April at the Katanning Gallery as part of the Freighting Ideas state-wide initiative.

Inspired by the 1980 Talking Heads song Once in a Lifetime, the first touring exhibition from Art Gallery of WA for twenty years, How Did I Get Here? brings together twelve photographic and video works with various complementary pieces from Katanning’s collection.

The Art Gallery of WA revealed a fresh new approach for the annual favourite Year 12 Perspectives as part of a broader strategy to engage mid-late teens. AGWA Pulse is a year-round program aimed at 15-21 year olds which will see a series of Pulse events, online content and the formation of a Pulse Teen Council. The headline event of AGWA Pulse remains the Perspectives exhibition, which opens on the 6 April 2019 as Pulse Perspectives in AGWA’s Centenary Galleries.

Art Gallery WA marks 40 years of its landmark building with diverse season.

Art Gallery of WA’s new season promises to mark the anniversary of the 1979 brutalist building in style, with a bold season combining historical gems, cult T-shirt fashion, political and botanical art from respected Perth collector Janet Holmes à Court, and the first regional tour for 20 years.

The first exhibition born from the innovative Freighting Ideas project will open at the Katanning Library and Art Gallery on April 13, 2019.

'How Did I Get Here?' will present works from the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) collection by some of the country's most engaging and accomplished photographic and video artists. These works will be displayed alongside complementary works from Katanning's local collection that reflect and expand on the theme of identity.

The winner of the 2019 Tom Malone Prize for Australian glass artists is Mark Eliott for his work Down at the water table. The Prize was announced by AGWA Director Stefano Carboni at the Awards Night held at the Art Gallery of WA on Tuesday evening. As an acquisitive prize, Down at the water table becomes part of the State Art Collection where it will join works by previous winners.

Tom Malone Prize 2019 opens at AGWA Saturday 9 March | FREE
The Art Gallery of WA is pleased to announce the twelve shortlisted artists for the 2019 Tom Malone Prize for Australian glass artists.

This year's prize will bring together many of Australia's best glass artists. The exhibition will feature the work of: Clare Belfrage (SA), Jeremy Lepisto (NSW), Marc Leib (WA), Jenni Kemarre Martiniello (ACT), Mark Eliott (NSW), Nick Mount (SA), Matthew Curtis (NSW), Liam Fleming (SA), Kayo Yokoyama (NSW), Anne Sorensen (WA), Stephen Skillitzki (SA) and Lewis Batchelar (SA).

Desert River Sea: Portraits of the Kimberley opens as part of the Perth Festival on Saturday 9 February with a day of talks and events celebrating the exhibition.
Desert River Sea: Portraits of the Kimberley is an exciting, experimental, and current look at Aboriginal art from the Kimberley, Western Australia. The show brings together over 150 new and old works that reveal the many faces and features of contemporary Aboriginal art from the region.

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