Image: installation view of Angus Nivison and Peter Maloney

Presented by 3:33 Art Projects with Young Curators from Abbotsleigh and Hornsby Girls High School.

The Young Curators Program supports education in the arts and provides unique experiences for the students, the school and the broader community whilst supporting Australian artists.
The exhibition for 2026 is curated in collaboration with Utopia Art Sydney.
Artists: Richard Larter, Caroline Nakamarra, Joy Gibson Napaltjarri, Lorna Napanangka, Yalti Napangati, Benisa Napurrula, Maylene Nungurrayi, Kintore Women's Collaborative, Peter Maloney, Polly Nangala, Lorna Napanangka, Angus Nivison, Adam Gibbs Tjapaltjarri, Raymond Maxwell Tjampitjinpa, Justin Corby Tjungurrayi, Joey West Tjupurrula, Samson West Tjupurrula, John R Walker

Tate Modern has acquired a work by Maxie Tjampitjipa for its permanent collection, further strengthening its holdings of contemporary Indigenous Australian art.

The acquisition reflects Tate’s ongoing commitment to representing major figures associated with Western Desert painting and the Papunya Tula Artists, which has played a central role in the development of contemporary Aboriginal art since the 1970s.

Tjampitjipa’s work is recognised for its connection to Country and its use of traditional iconographic systems translated into contemporary painting practices. The inclusion of the work in the Tate collection situates it within an international context of modern and contemporary art, expanding global recognition of Indigenous Australian artistic practice.

Christopher Hodges, Angus Nivison and John R Walker have been selected as finalists in the inaugural Australian China Art Residency Art Prize. Established in 2025, the ACAR Art Prize supports artistic exchange between Australia and China, with a curatorial focus on contemporary interpretations of landscape. The 2026 finalists reflect diverse approaches to the genre, ranging from abstraction to materially driven painting practices. Each artist brings a distinct perspective shaped by long-standing engagement with landscape as both subject and conceptual framework. Their inclusion positions them within a broader dialogue around Australian landscape painting and its evolving critical context. Winners of the 2026 ACAR Art Prize will be announced in April.

John R Walker and Angus Nivison are included in Holding Ground, a major group exhibition curated by Gavin Wilson. Bringing together painting, ceramics, sculpture, photography and textiles, the exhibition examines relationships between landscape, place and ecological change across New South Wales. Through diverse artistic approaches, Holding Ground explores contemporary perspectives on the Australian environment and the cultural significance of regional landscapes.

Presented alongside the touring Wynne Prize exhibition Ngununggula, Contemporary Landscape Painting from the Salon des Refusés at at Retford Park, National Trust, highlights significant developments in Australian landscape painting. The exhibition includes works by Christopher Hodges and John R Walker, whose practices explore the continuing relevance of landscape within contemporary Australian art.

National Gallery of Australia has acquired works by Joseph Jurra Tjapaltjarri and George Tjungurrayi for the national collection. The acquisition reflects the gallery's ongoing commitment to representing major artists associated with Papunya Tula Artists. Both painters are recognised for their significant contributions to contemporary Aboriginal art and Western Desert painting traditions, and their inclusion strengthens the National Gallery's holdings of important Papunya Tula Artists works. "> The National Gallery of Australia has acquired works by Joseph Jurra Tjapaltjarri and George Tjungurrayi for the national collection. The acquisition reflects the gallery's ongoing commitment to representing major artists associated with Papunya Tula Artists. Both painters are recognised for their significant contributions to contemporary Aboriginal art and Western Desert painting traditions, and their inclusion strengthens the National Gallery's holdings of important Papunya Tula Artists works.

Kylie Stillman has been selected as a finalist in the WAMA Art Prize, one of Australia's leading awards for environmental art.

Presented by the Australian Centre for Environmental Art in Victoria, the prize celebrates contemporary artistic responses to environmental themes and the relationship between people and the natural world. The award forms part of the newly established Australian Centre for Environmental Art at Budja Budja (Halls Gap), located within the culturally and ecologically significant Grampians region.

Stillman's selection as a finalist recognises her distinctive practice, which explores transformation, materiality and the intersections between nature and human intervention. Winners of the 2026 WAMA Art Prize will be announced later this year.

Unfolding:  First Nations Works on Paper, is an exhibition drawn from the extensive collection of Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery.  Featuring Emily Kame Kngwarreye and Gloria Petyarre.

John R Walker presents Forest Song, a solo exhibition at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, on view from 21 November 2025 to 31 January 2026.

The exhibition features immersive large-scale portraits of trees, expressive drawings and fresh, immediate monotypes that capture the movement of light and fleeting moments in time. Renowned for his sustained engagement with the Australian landscape, Walker brings his distinctive observational approach to a body of work that explores the character, presence and vitality of the natural world.

Through painting, drawing and printmaking, Forest Song reflects Walker's mastery as a draughtsman and his ongoing investigation of landscape as both lived experience and artistic subject. The exhibition offers insight into one of Australia's most respected contemporary landscape painters.

Clayton Utz Art Partnership in Sydney supports contemporary art through a programme of exhibitions in their meeting rooms and corridors.  October 2025 to February 2026

Country is a group of over 60 paintings from Papunya Tula Artists, John R Walker, Angus Nivison and Christopher Hodges, that show artists responding to the landscape and 'Country' they live and work in. 

Australian Abstraction in Context is curated by Rhonda Davis and Kon Gouriotis at the Macquarie University Art Gallery.   Exploring the diversity and layered narratives of abstraction in Australian art, two of Helen Eager's paintings from 25 years apart will show how abstract artists evolve and refine their work over their careers. 

John R Walker's significant painting Driving the Badja Road (2009) has been acquired by The Australian National University for its art collection.

The work will be featured in ANU Art Collection: Conjunction, opening on 23 October 2026. The exhibition highlights works from the university's collection and explores connections between visual art, ideas and creative practice.

As part of the project, the Jazmourian Ensemble has created a new musical composition in response to Driving the Badja Road. The work will premiere in November, extending Walker's exploration of landscape into a dialogue between painting and contemporary music.

The acquisition recognises Walker's longstanding contribution to Australian landscape painting and ensures that Driving the Badja Road will become part of an important public collection.

Bush Lines is an exhibition drawn from the collections of the Tamworth Regional Gallery and the Art Gallery of NSW.  Includes Anemone by Christopher Hodges, alongside many batik works from the Utopia community that were donated to Tamworth by Christopher Hodges and Helen Eager

Christopher Hodges curates an exhibition presenting significant works from the Utopia community in the Northern Territory, highlighting the region’s major artistic output from its peak period in the 1990s.

The exhibition focuses on the internationally recognised artistic production of artists from the Utopia region, particularly developments in contemporary Aboriginal painting and the emergence of distinct visual languages associated with Country, ceremony and lived experience.

Featured artists include Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Gloria Petyarre and Ada Bird Petyarre.

By bringing together key works from this period, the exhibition underscores the historical and cultural significance of the Utopia community as one of the most influential centres of contemporary Indigenous art practice in Australia.

Celebrating the gift by collectors Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan of over 70 works by Australian Indigenous Artists to the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, USA.  Includes work from Papunya Tula Artists and the Utopia Community.  

Emily Kame Kngwarreye is the subject of a major survey exhibition at the Tate Modern, marking several institutional milestones.

The exhibition is the first solo presentation by an Australian artist at Tate Modern and the first solo exhibition by an Indigenous artist at the institution. It presents a comprehensive overview of Kngwarreye’s practice, highlighting her significance as one of Australia’s most important contemporary painters.

Developed in association with the National Gallery of Australia, the exhibition brings together key works from public and private collections internationally. It traces the evolution of Kngwarreye’s painting practice and her sustained engagement with Country, ceremony and large-scale abstraction.

The survey positions Kngwarreye’s work within a global context, reinforcing her influence on contemporary painting and her enduring legacy in Australian and international art history.

Four painters from Papunya Tula Artists have been selected as finalists in the Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

For three artists—Angus Tjungurrayi, Rambo Tjungurrayi and Aubrey Tjangala—this marks their first selection as Wynne Prize finalists. Lorna Napanangka returns as a finalist, following her previous inclusion in 2006, when her work was acquired by the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

The Wynne Prize recognises outstanding Australian landscape painting and figure sculpture. Following its presentation at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the 2026 exhibition will tour regional galleries for a year, extending public access to the shortlisted works across Australia.

Christopher Hodges' enigmatic painting Bluff 2025 has been selected for the Salon Des Refuses at the SH Ervin Gallery in Sydney.

Bobby West Tjupurrula has created an installation of light, shadow and water for the light festival in Alice Springs for 2025.  Through it he tells the story of Palipalintja, in his Country near Kiwirrkurra, WA.

Curated by Tony Mighell, this exhibition celebrates expressive freedom through drawing, calligraphy and material exploration.

Includes Peter Maloney and Emily Kame Kngwarreye

Trinity Delmar Gallery, Sydney

Drawn from the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, this exhibition includes an early work of Christopher Hodges.

This is exhibition focusses on women abstract painters in the New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, NSW.  Includes Pat Larter and Helen Eager

The new gallery at Coffs Harbour, the Yarrilla Art Museum (YAM), has curated an exhibition examining the important role surfing has had on the culture of the Mid North Coast.