New Painting in Australia is a series of exhibitions organised by the Art Gallery of New South Wales that survey current painting practice by leading artists from around Australia � some familiar names, others not so well known. The exhibitions highlight the relevance of Australian painting to contemporary culture.

The second in the series, it�s a beautiful day: New Painting in Australia 2, has been curated by Bala Starr, Curator at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne. The exhibition brings together a selection of themes and sensibilities from the field of painting � evidence that contemporary painting is a remarkable and sometimes difficult adventure for artists and audience.

A painting is much more that just an image. it�s a beautiful day asserts that paintings provide unique material conditions for us to experience reflective relationships between ourselves and the world around us.

The exhibition seeks to provide the opportunity for speculation on the symbolic and imaginative motifs as well as the conceptual and technical issues embedded in painting today. Works include Tim Maguire�s vast canvases composed of transparent coloured glazes and depicting magnificent over-scaled wild berries; Derek O�Connor�s luscious, viscous and richly coloured landscapes; Julie Dowling�s powerful representational paintings of key turning points in her family�s history; and Raafat Ishak�s linear, kaleidoscopic depictions of places he�s travelled from Castlemaine to Cairo.

Participating artists are: Peter Booth, Mutlu �erkez, Julie Dowling, Matthys Gerber, David Jolly, Brent Harris, Raafat Ishak, Tim Maguire, Tim McMongale, Derek O�Connor, Vivienne Shark LeWitt and Anne Wallace.

Principal Sponsor Ernst & Young