'Painting matters to Australia and Australians as it does in few other countries. It has formed our consciousness, our sense of where we come from, and who we are. It cries out for wider recognition and acknowledgement.' - Patrick McCaughey Why has Australia, an island continent with a small population, produced such original and powerful art? And why is it so little known beyond our shores? Strange Country: Why Australian Painting Matters is Patrick McCaughey's answer.

The reputations of artists are curious things, influenced by factors beyond the quality of the work. Affairs of the Art explores the role those left behind play in burnishing an artist's reputation after he or she dies. Through interviews with those handling the estates of artists including Fred Williams, Brett Whiteley, John Brack, Howard Arkley, Bronwyn Oliver, George Baldessin and Albert Tucker, as well as a raft of art dealers, academics, curators and auctioneers, Strickland traverses the strange alleyways of the art market, where power resides with those who hold the best stock, and highlights the sometimes heart-wrenching way emotion and duty intersect in the making of decisions by those left behind.

From the emergence of pop art in the 1950s through to its reinvented forms in the 1980s, this book explores the dynamic engagement of art with popular culture. Drawn from major public and private collections around the world, this book includes over 180 works by 77 artists including pivotal works by artists such as Lichtenstein, Warhol, Richter and Hockney. Beginning with early pop art in the United Kingdom, Europe and America, it proceeds through the key years of high or classic pop in the 1960s and early 1970s including a substantial Australian component and finishes with a new generation of artists who began exhibiting in the late 1970s with works dating up to 1986.

Ava has just landed a job as a reporter in Gubinge, a tiny tropical town in Australia's north.Gubinge has a way of getting under the skin. Ava is hooked on the thrill of going hand-to-hand with barramundi, awed by country, and stunned by pindan sunsets. But a bitter collision between a native title group and a Japanese-owned uranium mining company is ripping the community in half.From the rodeos and fishing holes of northern Australia, to the dazzling streets of night-time Tokyo, Ava is swept in pursuit of the story. Will Gerro Blue destroy Burrika country? Or will a uranium mine lift its people from poverty? And can Ava hold on to her principles if she gives in to her desire for Noah, the local Burrika boss?

He seemed to be always at watch, scanning the immediate environs for anything that might make for an interesting image, anything that was out of sync with 'the norm' Martin Kantor approached his photography with an emotional intensity that exhilarated those around him. Armed with intelligence, wit and curiosity, he documented the painters, musicians and other artists who emerged during the culturally frenetic eighties. Kantor saw the world in sharp focus, evident in both his photojournalism for TheAustralian, and his brilliant portraiture for such magazines as Tension and World Art. He was an adventurous creator, ranging from remaking the rules of rock'n'roll photography to mastering the depiction of contemporary artists in unconventional ways. Martin Kantor (1960-2015) left an archive of intimate images, a window into his extraordinary work and a testament to his enviable talent.

This revised and updated edition explores Howard Arkley's influences and the milieu which nurtered and inspired him - from punk music and feminism to the exuberant art scene of the 1980s. Spray examines his work from its early development through abstraction, the gradual move to figurative iconography, into figuration and landscape.