Art Almanac – July 2026

Summary

Ayako Saito's steel and painted sculpture Evening Calm at 20.5 x 15.5 cm fronts the July 2026 issue of Art Almanac at AUD 10 — Australia's longest-running monthly art guide, established in 1974 — with Victoria Hynes previewing Wayne Eager and Ayako Saito's joint exhibition New Religion (page 18), Sasha Grishin reviewing Archie Moore's Ngura Pulka – Epic Country (page 27), and the Editor's Pick spotlighting Making Old New at South Australia's David Roche Gallery, the DRG 10th Anniversary exhibition running until 1 August 2026.

The Two Up feature (page 23) by Emma-Kate Wilson examines Wayne Eager and Ayako Saito's dialogue in Movement in Form. Bronwyn Watson (page 32) covers Archie Moore's monumental Venice Biennale victory with kith and kin, 2024. The Venice Biennale section (page 44) also covers Khaled Sabsabi's Australian pavilion presentation at the 61st edition. David Thomas's book Amid is reviewed on page 48. The Editor's Pick (page 15) features Making Old New at David Roche Gallery, where 20 South Australian artists from JamFactory created contemporary responses to the gallery's 18th-to-early-20th-century European and British collection — responding to objects ranging from a prisoner-of-war straw box to a copper royal peck measure, a Russian malachite vase and a Louis Moinet l'Aine clock.

The What's On section runs 88 pages covering every Australian state and territory: Melbourne (page 55), Victoria (73), Sydney (81), New South Wales (97), Australian Capital Territory (107), Tasmania (111), South Australia (115), Western Australia (119), Northern Territory (125), and Queensland (129), each with gallery indexes and exhibition listings. The Art and Industry section (page 144) includes artist opportunities, awards, auction houses, submissions, studio spaces, materials, services, consultants and valuers, member organisations and training. The August 2026 issue deadline was 1 July 2026 with newsstand date 3 August 2026. Editor Dr Joseph Brennan writes the Editor's Note (page 14) reflecting on his forthcoming second Oxford University Press contract, signed in May 2021 and March 2023, and the five years of unpaid work behind it.

Editor's Take

The July issue demonstrates why Art Almanac has survived 52 years: the What's On section remains the most comprehensive exhibition calendar in Australian publishing, and the gallery-index system is genuinely useful for planning. The strongest editorial piece is Sasha Grishin's review of Ngura Pulka, which balances admiration for the work's dazzling scale with necessary critical distance on its delayed reception. The weakest is the Venice Biennale coverage — Khaled Sabsabi's pavilion gets a single page after the Editor's Note flags it as a significant work held up by controversy. The Making Old New feature is the kind of smart, local-anchored story that keeps regional subscribers engaged. This is for the active gallery-goer who needs listings first and criticism second.

Strengths
• 88-page What's On section is the most comprehensive Australian exhibition calendar published
• Sasha Grishin's Ngura Pulka review offers genuine critical balance
• Making Old New feature connects contemporary SA artists with historic collections

Weaknesses
• Venice Biennale coverage is thin — one page for a major national pavilion story
• Editor's Note personal reflection on OUP contracts is tangential to reader needs

Verdict: Essential — The indispensable Australian gallery guide; no other publication matches the listings depth at this price.