Goodbye, Deco. Hello, Dali

The National Gallery of Victoria's big show for the year is about to vanish in a triumphant flash of Art Deco chrome, but there are more blockbusters coming, aimed at broadening minds, bringing people into the gallery - and boosting state revenue.

Mind The Flying Spike

The art gallery of NSW is full of works that move - literally.

The Spirit Of Progress

Style was everything in the design-conscious decades that delivered Marlene Dietrich, Bakelite radios and the iconic Empire State Building. In the National Gallery of Victoria's Winter Masterpiece exhibition, the dawn of modernism can be traced in objects and images that marry the mundane and the majestic.

Here's A Secret About Contemporary Art: You Don't Actually Have To Like It

Visiting a gallery on a long weekend afternoon is a pleasant experience. Gallery bookshops are great for browsing and you can enjoy a coffee on a terrace with a city view. For many people the only problem is the art. As a friend recently complained to me he just didn't "get" most of it - too obscure, difficult or just plain ugly. So I told him the truth. Art isn't always made with an audience in mind and some of it is wilfully obscure. And not all art is made for everyone. You don't expect to ...

A Small Measure Of Menace

DAN O'DAY Still II. Catherine Asquith Gallery, 130 Flinders Street, until May 10 PAUL BATT Service Station Portraits 2006-08. Shifted, 15 Albert Street, Richmond, until May 17

Now It's Up To The Tough Guys

THE paintings in the National Portrait Gallery have come off the walls, found themselves a drink and are standing around talking about ideas. The gallery is hosting the reception to welcome delegates to the summit, 150 of whom have portraits in the collection. I am no oil painting.

Rounding Up True Talent

THE SONG COMPANY December 5: Wollongong City Gallery The Song Company artistic director Roland Peelman is excited.

Sculptor Of The Soul

Giacometti opens at the Art Gallery of NSW on Friday and runs until October 29. Alberto Giacometti's spare, evocative sculptures reflect his cool-headed intellect and his rampant libido.

Tour Of Duty By Lens And Brush

The return of the official war artist celebrates the skill of capturing a moment amid the chaos of conflict. Witness to War Official Art and Photography 1999-2003 S.H. Ervin Gallery, until August 13

Some Fink She Loves About Berlin

PRODUCER Margaret Fink has just returned from showing Candy at the Berlin Film Festival, which she says has a true festival feeling and gave the screening a wonderful reception. Actors Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish, who feature in the movie, were there, too. (Fink predicts a big future for Cornish, who appears next in Elizabeth: The Golden Age with Cate B.) Zek Solomon flew from Sydney in support, as did Germaine Greer, who arrived from London. (Fink, later in London herself, nipped to the V&A ...

Putting Nature Back Into Things Made Of Brick And Steel

VISUAL ARTS REVIEW: CALLUM MORTON, Anna Schwartz Gallery, 185 Flinders Lane, until March 23; RAAFAT ISHAK, Sutton Gallery, 254 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, until March 8

Pretension Perfected

VISUAL ART REVIEW: BEATON PORTRAITS Bendigo Art Gallery, 42 View Street, Bendigo, until March 26

Mmm ... Humans

Ron and Valerie Taylor capture the secret life of sharks on camera. JORDAN BAKER reports. SHARK Where Underwater Australia Gallery, 1 Edgecliff Road, Woollahra When Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-6pm, Sunday, 10am-4pm, until July 31 How much Free More information www.underwateraustralia.com.au

Melbourne Goes Dutch In Its Love Affair With Winter Art

IT IS the "symbolic heart" of Melbourne's next blockbuster exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria director Gerard Vaughan says.

A Ticket To Ride For Film-maker

AUSTRALIAN SURF MOVIE FESTIVAL Dec 21: Wollongong Town Hall D ec 27: Warilla Surf Club Dec 28 & Jan 16: Sussex Inlet RSL Dec 29 & Jan 15: Gerringong Town Hall Dec 30: Culburra Community Hall Jan 17: Ulladulla Civic Centre Jan 18: Merimbula RSL It was talk-back radio host John Laws who got Tim Bonython started in his career as a surf-film maker.

Matthew Griffin: Disappointment Now

Matthew Griffin: Disappointment Now WHERE: Uplands Gallery, Level 1, 12 Waratah Pl, city WHEN: Until Nov 27

Old Faithful Norman Lindsay Gallery

Norman Lindsay Gallery, 14 Norman Lindsay Crescent, Faulconbridge. Open daily, 10am-4pm. $9/$6/$4/$24 family, 4751 1067. If you've seen Sirens, the 1994 movie featuring Elle Macpherson and Hugh Grant, then you're already familiar with Springwood, the property that houses the Norman Lindsay Gallery.

Tony Garifalakis: The Other Hell

Tony Garifalakis: The Other Hell WHERE: Mir Gallery, 11th floor, 522 Flinders Lane, city (enter through King's car park lift). WHEN: To: Oct 15

Paying Homage To Ham's Humanity

The movie Planet of the Apes inspired artist Lisa Roet's fascination with the simian world, writes Louise Bellamy. Astro-Chimp is at Karen Woodbury Gallery, Richmond, until September 4.

Bust A Movie

Michael Jackson and the Angels turn up in the Kingpins' homage to the seriously strange Cremaster Cycle, reports DOMINIQUE ANGELORO.