As the summer heat lingers, February’s art scene across Australia comes alive with exhibitions that challenge, captivate, and immerse. From the bold abstraction of Free Form to the intricate storytelling of On Island, artists are pushing boundaries, reshaping narratives, and offering fresh perspectives on history, identity, and place.
In Brisbane, the latest Asia Pacific Triennial at QAGOMA brings together a sweeping lineup of artists from across the region, while in Melbourne, Gregory Hodge unveils his most ambitious paintings to date. Whether it’s the vibrant costumes of Radical Textiles or the thought-provoking installations of Climate of Violence: Lamentum, this month’s exhibitions promise to be as diverse as the country itself, offering something for every art lover to discover.
NSW
Ngununggula
Pursuit of Happiness – 8 February until 30 March 2025
A group exhibition where artists Rebecca Baumann, Christopher Langton, Belem Lett, and Brendan Van Hek explore the emotional and perceptual power of colour through painting, installation, and sculpture.
Goulburn Regional Art Gallery
Skywhales – from 22 February 2025
Experience the magic of Patricia Piccinini’s Skywhale and Skywhalepapa as these towering hot air balloon sculptures rise at sunrise in Goulburn, part of Skywhales Across Australia, a National Gallery Touring Event supported by the Australian Government.
Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
Fantastic Forms – from 15 February until 27 April
Bringing together Merric Boyd’s dynamic drawings and ceramics from the 1940s–50s, held in the Bundanon Collection, alongside contemporary works by Nabilah Nordin, Stephen Benwell, and Rubyrose Bancroft, exploring play, materiality, and the spiritual philosophy that shaped Boyd’s artistic legacy.
UTS Gallery
Extinguishing Hope – 13 February until 19 May 2025
The Sri Lankan Malay artist and filmmaker Akil Ahamat presents their debut solo exhibition – an immersive, multi-screen installation that captures the aesthetic and psychological weight of unfolding disaster-scapes, described by Ahamat as "slow cinema for short attention spans"
Sullivan + Strumpf
And Then Together – from 27 February until 29 March 2025
Paris-based Australian artist Gregory Hodge’s latest body of work, developed during his residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts, represents his most ambitious exploration of painting yet, refining his signature technique to layer bold, vibrant hues beneath intricate, illusionistic patterns that blur the boundaries between abstraction and recognisable form.
National Art School (NAS)
Queer Contemporary: Chaosophy – 14 February – 8 March 2025.
Examining queer experience, struggle, and joy, this exhibition showcases new works by leading contemporary artists Daniel Browning, Blake Griffiths, Victoria Spence, and Swamp Daisies – alongside emerging voices – spanning sculpture, installation, textile, stencil, and text-based pieces.
VIC
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
Melbourne Art Fair 2025 – 20 February until 23 February, 2025
For over 35 years, Melbourne Art Fair has been a cornerstone of the Australasian cultural calendar, championing living artists and driving critical and commercial engagement by showcasing new and iconic works from the region’s leading galleries, with support from Creative Australia and Creative Victoria.
Sullivan + Strumpf
Free From – from 6 February until 8 March 2025
This exhibition brings together leading Australian and Asia Pacific artists – including Daniel Crooks, Dawn Ng, Gemma Smith, and Yvette Coppersmith – to offer a fresh perspective on contemporary abstraction through dynamic materiality and form.
QLD
Outer Space
Climate of Violence II: Lamentum – from 7 February – 15 March 2025
Arianna Nixon and Amy Sargeant’s Climate of Violence: Lamentum transforms the bell tower at Outer Space into a site of resistance and reflection, confronting the rising discrimination against trans communities through a powerful installation that reclaims artistic space, amplifies transfeminine voices, and challenges systemic erasure.
QAGOMA
The 11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art – until 27 April 2025
Featuring 70 artists, collectives, and projects from over 30 countries, the latest edition of QAGOMA’s Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art brings groundbreaking new works to Brisbane, offering a dynamic exploration of artistic expression across Australia, Asia, and the Pacific, including co-curated projects that reveal rarely seen artforms and cultural contexts.
Edwina Corlette
Corporeal – from 5 February until 25 February 2025
In his latest body of work, Harry Rothel blurs the line between the mundane and the surreal, capturing fleeting moments of human experience through figures suspended in dreamlike landscapes, where everyday references merge with imaginary worlds to explore themes of confinement, escapism, and the fluidity of perception.
WA
Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA)
Form and feeling: artists’ studies of the twentieth century – until 4 May 2025
Bringing together figurative oil paintings and rarely seen preparatory drawings from The State Art Collection, this exhibition examines the central role of drawing in twentieth-century British and Australian art, tracing how artists like Stanley Spencer, William Dobell, and Frank Auerbach transformed preliminary sketches into finished works while shaping the trajectory of Modern art in Australia.
SA
Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA)
Radical Textiles – until 30 March 2025
Spanning 150 years of innovation and tradition, this major exhibition explores the radical potential of textiles – from William Morris to Sonia Delaunay – highlighting how artists and designers have used fabric as a tool for activism, resistance, and storytelling, with works drawn from AGSA’s collections alongside new commissions.
ACT
National Gallery of Australia
Masami Teraoka and Japanese Ukiyo-e Prints – until 26 July 2025
The National Gallery will showcase Masami Teraoka’s ukiyo-e-inspired works, including his Hawaii Snorkel Series (1992–93) and the newly acquired AIDS Series/Makiki Heights Disaster (1988), alongside historic ukiyo-e prints to mark the 30th anniversary of Don’t Leave Me This Way: Art in the Age of AIDS.
100 Flowers Falling – 28 February until 10 March 2025
Lindy Lee will illuminate the National Gallery’s facade for 10 nights from 8–11pm, blending cosmic imagery, ancient Chinese symbolism, and sound to explore identity, belonging, and the duality of self through the story of Ch’ien, a young woman torn between duty and independence.
TAS
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
On Island – until 21 September 2025
Borrowing its name from Flinders Island’s local vernacular, On Island explores the deep connections between artists and Lutruwita/Tasmania, weaving together narratives of place, history, and ecology through works from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery collection that reflect on invasion, industry, and climate within a global artistic dialogue.
NT
Laundry Gallery
WERRKNO II – from 8 February until 8 March 2025
An exhibition showcasing 33 original works on paper by senior women artists from Maningrida Arts & Culture, highlighting the rich artistic traditions of Kunibídji country on the northern coast of Arnhem Land.
