Denise M Taylor

Writing Consultant I Editor I Proofreader

Face masks of dough, wire and the Australian flag; portraits of royalty dripping with black paint; veils, dots and paper cut-outs masking memory and identity; videos hinting at masked abuses in Australia’s history—these are a few of the contemporary art works by approximately 20 Australian artists on display at the TarraWarra Museum of Art (TWMA) Biennial 2014 exhibition, ‘Whisper in […]

Categories: Musings on Art

At its core, Melbourne is a labyrinth: a network of streets and back alleys connecting spaces and places that give this city an intimate personality, an undeniable energy, an edgy culture, and a strong sense of community. How can this be denied when ‘Melbourne Now’, the biggest exhibition of local contemporary art ever staged at the National Gallery of Victoria […]

Categories: Musings on Art

Melburnians have their favourite hang-out places: a lane, an arcade, an outdoor café, an open square, a grassy knoll, a river bank; many are just content to wander. Most ‘places’ are graced by some form of public art such as a statue, painted poles, murals, a sculpture, or that contentious form of art, graffiti. In 1980 a sculpture called ‘Vault’ […]

There’s a pig flying down Swanston Street. I saw it only recently on a cold wintry day in Melbourne as I waited for the lights to turn green at the Burke Street intersection. The sun was shining and the sky was so blue that I looked up and there it was … a pig with wings, balancing on top of […]

Melburnian notable, Barry Humphries, always gives his honest opinion—often through the sharp tongue of his alter ego, Dame Edna Everage. He was less than flattering when he described the bold geometric façade of Melbourne’s Federation Square (built to commemorate Australia’s centenary in 2001) as “getting used to leprosy”. Others consider Fed Square to be a dynamic meeting place on the […]

Categories: Musings on Art