The good, the bad and that new $344m gallery: the year in art

Article: John McDonald
Image: Colin Lanceley’s Balmoral, 1984.

Other Sydney exhibitions that warranted serious attention included Shaken to His Core: Nolan’s Auschwitz at the Jewish Museum; Heart of Country, a first-rate collection of bark painting at the S.H. Ervin Gallery, and two brilliant shows at the National Art School Gallery – a retrospective of Colin Lanceley, an important artist who has been too easily overlooked since his death in 2015; and Captivate – an encyclopaedic, carnivalesque celebration of the 100th anniversary of the NAS, with extra material drawn from its pre-history as Darlinghurst Goal, from 1841-1914. The show ran for barely five weeks, but it deserved to be a permanent display.