On the banks of the historic Yarra River in South Wharf, the Melbourne Art Fair (MAF) kickstarted its 18th edition today with an extensive program led entirely by women. Running until February 23 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), this year’s MAF spotlights homegrown artists and exhibitors—including regionally prominent dealers Sullivan+Strumpf, Station, and Ames Yavuz—with a strong focus on First Nations artists and organizations.

To coincide with the mega event, galleries and museums across Australia’s second-largest city are staging noteworthy exhibitions. Here’s a look at shows to see in Melbourne, from AAP’s editors.

Dec 7, 2024–Mar 16
The Charge That Binds
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art

Inspired by cultural theorist Deborah Bird Rose’s writings, “The Charge That Binds” at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art features recent works by Australian and international artists that probe the intersections of ecological crises and colonial legacy, reimagining modes of relationality beyond extractive capitalism. Highlights include New Zealand sculptor Brett Graham’s Ka Wheekee (2024), a monumental structure reflecting on Māori agency and environmental kinship, and Chinese artist Zheng Bo’s Pteridophilia film series (2016– ) that explores radical forms of intimacy between humans,  nature, and nonhuman species. 

Feb 8–Mar 8
Nadia Hernández
En la profundidad de la bruma
Station Gallery

For “En la profundidad de la bruma” at Station Gallery, Venezuelan Australian artist Nadia Hernández excavates family history through a 1985 Venezuelan newspaper interview with her great-grandfather, a truck driver whose life was transformed by an evening encounter. Through this archival remnant, Hernández weaves together personal and cultural displacement, expanding on her exploration of diasporic memory and narrative.

Dec 1, 2024–Feb 28
Fulli Andrinopoulos
Ethereal Portals
Benalla Art Gallery

Floating circular forms and bursts of color are central to Fulli Andrinopoulos’s practice. For her solo exhibition “Ethereal Portals” at Benalla Art Gallery, the Melbourne-based artist presents recent textile works and vivid, small-scale paintings that transform these simple elements into dreamlike abstractions through layers of ink, gouache, and pastel—evoking a sense of otherworldly intimacy.

Feb 15–Mar 15
Ben Quilty
Trinkets
Tolarno Galleries

For “Trinkets,” Ben Quilty’s latest exhibition at Tolarno Galleries, the Sydney-based artist showcases new paintings and drawings that explore—in distinctive Quilty style—grief and existential horror through contorted depictions of the human body. With a particular focus on heads, eyes, and mouths, the warped anatomical figures embody extreme—often unbearably painful—emotions, referencing Quilty’s personal confrontations with religion and mortality.

Feb 12–23
Red Salon
Red Gallery

Located in Melbourne’s eclectic suburb of Fitzroy, Red Gallery’s new group show “Red Salon” presents the work of more than 60 artists whose process-driven practices span installation, painting, sculpture, video, and sound. Featuring works that have a particular focus on tactility through the interaction of color, texture, and form, “Red Salon” invites viewers to consider the emotional resonance of such visual elements.  

Nov 1, 2024–May 31
Tony Clark
Unsculpted
Buxton Contemporary

Tony Clark is interested in blurring the boundaries between genres and mediums through an approach self-described as one that “distances the painting from painting,” often depicting motifs from the histories of art, architecture, and the decorative arts in his canvases. “Unsculpted” at Buxton Contemporary will present a series of paintings drawn from Clark’s four-decade-long practice that exhibit his early investigations of the interplay between two- and three-dimensional form. Also, a new array of sculptures—produced in collaboration with Melbourne-based artist Joanne Ritson—will be unveiled for the first time.

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