Briony Downes

Based in: Nipaluna/Hobart, Australia

Briony has worked in the arts industry for 20 years as a writer, art theory tutor, actor and fine art framer. She is a regular contributor to Art Guide Australia and her writing has also appeared in Artlink, Eyeline Contemporary Visual Arts, RealTime and Art + Australia. Most recently, Downes studied Art History through Oxford University and Australian Aboriginal Art with Curtin University. She lives and works in Nipaluna/Hobart, Tasmania.

FEATURES

Tastemakers: Sarah Rose

The curators setting the tone for the year ahead.

Agenda Setters: Iain Dawson

The artworld people set to influence the region in the year to come.

Curator’s Radar: Erin Coates

A round up of artists who have recently attracted significant curator attention by way of commissions, acquisitions and inclusion in major public exhibitions.

Curator’s Radar: Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre

A round up of artists who have recently attracted significant curator attention by way of commissions, acquisitions and inclusion in major public exhibitions.

Curator’s Radar: Lucienne Rickard

These artists have recently garnered significant attention from curators of public galleries.

Curator’s Radar: Petrina Hicks

These artists have recently garnered significant attention from curators of public galleries.

Cool Hunter Predictions: Jenna Lee

The artists to watch in the year ahead.

Collectors Love: Holly Greenwood

With sell-out shows in 2021, these artists were clearly collector favourites of the year.

Behind the Scenes: Art Life Post-Covid

Fighting funding cuts, organisation closures and social distancing requirements, the Australian art world is finding new ways to engage and evolve as the world wakes up to a post-Covid reality.

VIDEO: Pull Focus with Tamara Dean

Watch artist Tamara Dean in conversation with Briony Downes about her work ‘Smoke Signals’.

Debutantes: Charlie Ingemar Harding

We look at those artists who gallerists have thrown their weight behind with a recent debut premier commercial exhibition.

VIDEO: Pull Focus with Grace Wright

Watch Briony Downes in conversation with artist Grace Wright about 'Harmonic End'.

VIDEO: Pull Focus with Tyne Gordon

Watch Briony Downes in conversation with artist Tyne Gordon about 'Slough'.

VIDEO: Pull Focus with Rachel Hope Peary

Watch Briony Downes in conversation with artist Rachel Hope Peary about 'There is a sweet ease'.

Cigdem Aydemir: Beyond the veil

Cigdem Aydemir’s practice dissects what it means to be Muslim. Her latest work explores connections to the veil and hair.

VIDEO: Pull Focus with David Keeling

Watch Briony Downes in conversation with artist David Keeling about 'Morning walk along a blue road'.

VIDEO: Pull Focus with Kate Just

Watch Briony Downes in conversation with artist Kate Just about 'Anonymous Was a Woman'.

VIDEO: Pull Focus with Karen Mills

Watch Briony Downes in conversation with artist Karen Mills about 'Saltbush Terrain'.

VIDEO: Pull Focus with Valerie Sparks

Watch Briony Downes in conversation with artist Valerie Sparks about 'Sanctuary – Series 2'.

VIDEO: Pull Focus with Atong Atem

Watch Briony Downes in conversation with artist Atong Atem about 'Bloom (Claudette)'.

VIDEO: Pull Focus with Jeff Makin

Watch Briony Downes in conversation with Jeff Makin about 'The Mountain and the River'.

VIDEO: Pull Focus with Izabela Pluta

What makes these particular artworks WORK as works of art?

VIDEO: Pull Focus with Liam Benson

What makes these particular artworks WORK as works of art?

VIDEO: Pull Focus with Honey Long and Prue Stent

What makes these particular artworks WORK as works of art?

Karla Dickens: Lost and Found

Employing anything from rusty lids and souvenir spoons to taxidermy birds and vintage fabrics, Karla Dickens unearths underlying narratives of both the tender and the traumatic.

Michael Bugelli: Old world, new world

In one of the oldest Georgian buildings in Australia, young dealer Michael Bugelli has created a multipurpose gallery space full of nooks, crannies and secrets.

Philip Wolfhagen: In Our Nature

Philip Wolfhagen is a master of the atmospheric.

John Young: Algorithms of Colour

After more than 70 solo exhibitions worldwide, John Young continues to innovate his artistic practice.

Anne Noble: Throwing New Light

Lauded as one of New Zealand’s finest contemporary photographers, Anne Noble interrogates our complex relationship with the natural world.

Spring 1883 returns to Sydney

Following the tradition set in 1994 by New York’s Gramercy International Art Fair, Sydney's Spring 1883 engages with the hotel environment for the exhibition and acquisition of artwork.

Sarah Scout Presents: Closing the Gap

Sarah Scout Presents occupies premises in Melbourne that allow the gallerists to present work the way a collector might live with it.