Dana Schutz to Visit National Gallery of Australia

On 26 November 2026, artist Dana Schutz will join Director Nick Mitzevich for an in-conversation event during her visit to the National Gallery of Australia, presented in partnership with the American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia (AFNGA).

Known for constructing complex visual narratives through figurative works, Schutz will be the third artist to visit the National Gallery as part of the AFNGA: Visiting Creatives Program, following Jeff Koons and Jeffrey Gibson in 2025. Each year, the program brings influential American arts practitioners to Australia to engage with the national collection and the broader arts community.

Michigan-born and New York-based, Schutz is one of the most significant painters of our time. Exploring themes including anxiety, melancholy, and power from fantastical or dystopian worlds, Schutz has gained recognition for allegorical works, leaning into unpredictability and visceral gestures to capture a sense of unease across painting, clay, bronze, drawing and printmaking.

Schutz's visit to Kamberri/Canberra follows the National Gallery's recent acquisitions of her large-scale bronze sculpture Sea Group in 2024, followed by a suite of prints, eight technically innovative and textural etchings made after her paintings in 2025. During her conversation, Schutz will provide insights into her practice, and her works in the national collection.

Dana Schutz: 'I really hope that the work communicates an openness where people can find their own meaning within it. I think that's always the greatest hope for making art. To feel like it has its own independent life.'

The AFNGA: Visiting Creatives Program builds on four decades of close cultural ties between the National Gallery and the United States of America and is designed to deepen the transformational impact of cross-cultural exchange and creative collaboration between the two countries.

Participants in the Visiting Creatives Program work closely with National Gallery curators to explore the national collection, focusing on First Nations and contemporary Australian art. They also are able to engage with the National Gallery's significant collection of post-war American art, including Jackson Pollock's Blue poles and the Kenneth E. Tyler Collection, one of the most important bodies of American printmaking outside the U.S.

Nick Mitzevich, Director, National Gallery: 'It is an honour to welcome Dana Schutz to the National Gallery and offer a chance for our audiences to engage with a leading figure in contemporary artmaking, thanks to the support of the AFNGA: Visting Creatives Program. With several of her works recently acquired for the national collection, it is with great pleasure we can provide this opportunity for Australian audiences to hear directly from Schutz.'

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