Andrew McIlroy
- Apr 8
Long live the ‘lunatics, inebriates and idiots’: How the tokenism of ‘inclusion’ fails artists
The ‘Kew Lunatic Asylum’ built between 1856 and 1872, a complex of majestic Italianate and French Empire styled buildings set high on a...
Andrew McIlroy
- Mar 6
From Montparnasse to Glenhuntly: How Fat Bob’s Café on Melbourne's fringe became a haven for artists, musicians and other misfits
Once dotted with Victorian mansions, many demolished in the early twentieth century to make way for new housing and stores for...
Andrew McIlroy
- Jan 30
Damien Hirst’s ‘The Secret Gardens’ and NGV Triennial playfully bump still life and flowers to the forefront of contemporary art
To say Damien Hirst’s paintings do not exactly compare to the Old Masters is a predictable understatement. However, scathing critics (of...
Andrew McIlroy
- Jan 25
George Bell to Mirka Mora: The emergence of the artists’ studio in Madame Brussel's Bohemian Melbourne
In the late 1880’s Madame Brussels was a notorious brothel owner with several exclusive establishments or 'flash houses' from Bennett’s...
Andrew McIlroy
- Jan 10
NGV Triennial: How a 20th century architectural masterpiece triumphantly embraces old and new art
Though anticipating a backlash to his postmodernist designs for a new National Gallery of Victoria in conservative Melbourne in the...
Andrew McIlroy
- Dec 8, 2023
Restlessness, experiment and change: A failure of artistic vision or something more
There has always been an irresistible curiosity surrounding the lives of artists. Wandering into any good bookstore it is hard to miss...
Andrew McIlroy
- Nov 30, 2023
The artistry of the Myer Christmas Windows: Why this Melbourne tradition still means so much
On a rainy December morning a few years back now, a queue of people was forming along a bustling early morning Bourke Street Mall. For...
