John McDonald
John McDonald is an art critic and regular columnist with Good Weekend.
Opinion
Jurassic art: we're going on a dinosaur hunt in the Hunter Valley
Bring your kids and your imagination to see what artist Andrew Sullivan painted during a field trip more than 66 million years ago.
- by John McDonald
Latest
Opinion
The moments that defined Australian art in 2020
From record-setting auctions to the Archibald Prize, art critic John McDonald paints a portrait of the year that was.
- by John McDonald
Opinion
Architect Marion Mahony Griffin: her positivity confronted pessimism
A colleague of Frank Lloyd Wright and wife of Walter Burley Griffin, the pioneering female architect was crucial in the design of Canberra and Castlecrag.
- by John McDonald
Opinion
Why Peter Kingston, master of Sydney Harbour art, changed course
The pop culture artist diversified into painting with oils in his late 40s after the death of his friend, Brett Whiteley.
- by John McDonald
Opinion
'Un-Australian' and beyond, via thought-provoking art
The Just Not Australian exhibition is both a critique of reflexive, brainless nationalism and a view of shared experiences.
- by John McDonald
Overwhelmed by choice? Let our critics be your guide this summer
As live entertainment returns, albeit with some restrictions, choosing what to book can be a challenge. Hang on, help is on the way.
- by Nick Galvin, Harriet Cunningham, George Palathingal, John Shand, John McDonald, Valerie Lawson and Garry Maddox
Opinion
Dobell show delves deeply into the imaginative, interior world
The work of eight diverse Australian artists is put under the microscope at the Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial 2020.
- by John McDonald
Analysis
Australian art collectors have money to burn and fashions to chase
In times of economic downturn the art market is usually the first to feel the pain and the last to recover - but buyers aren't following the script.
- by John McDonald
Opinion
Birthday blues: artists lose their marbles over life and death
John McDonald takes us on tour of Sydney galleries that celebrates everything from bushfires to sad birthdays.
- by John McDonald
Opinion
Time for 'dead white male' artists to move over?
The inexorable rise of women artists is one of the major features of art today.
- by John McDonald
Opinion
Spirituality, seduction and owls on display in Sydney this week
Three very different exhibitions in three different Sydney galleries explore nature, eroticism and Indonesian feminism.
- by John McDonald