Kick off 2012 with an exciting Sydney Chinese New Year Festival visual arts line-up that features free exhibitions, exclusive viewings, hand-picked previews, priceless collections and young artists’ Australian debuts.
From the Aussie premiere of Beijing’s Red Gate Gallery exhibition Two Generations: 20 Years of Chinese Contemporary Art, to free events at the Art Gallery of NSW (AGNSW) and highlights from the Ray Hughes collection, this Sydney Chinese New Year Festival is far and away the City’s biggest and best.
“As we ring in the Year of the Dragon this January, Sydneysiders will be captivated with the largest visual arts program ever featured in the City’s Chinese New Year Festival,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.
Highlights include:
Two Generations: 20 Years of Chinese Contemporary Art 17 – 28 January at Centennial Hall, Sydney Town Hall – free
Beijing’s Red Gate Gallery and the 2012 Sydney Chinese New Year Festival proudly present Two Generations, featuring artworks from 10 renowned Red Gate artists who have each nominated a young artist to exhibit alongside them.
Contact: sydneychinesenewyear.com
Dragon to Dragon: A Photographic Retrospective of the Chinese New Year Parade
23 January – 1 March at Customs House, Circular Quay – free
Relive your favourite Chinese New Year Parade memories with Sydney photographer Sharon Hickey, who has captured the colour and excitement of Sydney’s favourite cultural event since 2005. Here, she presents a selection of images that revisit Sydney Chinese New Year over a decade.
Contact: sydneychinesenewyear.com Dragon
19 January – 4 March at Art Gallery of NSW, The Domain – free
To celebrate the Year of the Dragon – traditionally meaning wealth and good fortune – the AGNSW is dedicating this year’s exhibition to the dragon, a favourite symbol in the art of China for centuries. See dragons depicted in ceramics, textiles, jade, metalwork, calligraphy and paintings from the gallery’s collection.
Contact: artgallery.nsw.gov.au
Museum of Sydney: Special items from the Simpson Lee & Co. Collection
21/22 January at Museum of Sydney, cnr Bridge and Philip streets
Simpson Lee & Co. was a successful Sydney shop that sold Eastern-style homewares on lower Pitt Street between 1910 and 1954. See hand-coloured carpets, catalogues of camphorwood chests, and books of Chinese artistic wares.
Contact: hht.net.au
The Chinese Decade: Ten Years of Chinese Contemporary Exhibitions and Fish and other New Work by Li Jun 21 January – 15 February at Ray Hughes Gallery, Surry Hills – free
Featuring over 100 works by more than 20 artists from the collections of Ray Hughes and patrons of modern Chinese arts, this contemporary show also features young painter Li Jun, exhibiting for the first time outside China with the show Fish.
Contact rayhughesgallery.com
Facing East 4 February – 10 March at Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Waterloo – free
This exhibition features the work of contemporary Chinese and Taiwanese artists, representing a region where contrasting elements co-exist, creating a world where fantasy meets reality. Presented by Gallery Barry Keldoulis and Ausin Tung Gallery.
Contact: ausintunggallery.com or gbk.com.au Make Yourself At Home
2 – 23 February at ChinaLink Gallery, Redfern – free In this exhibition, artists explore the common experience of Chinese Australians born in the ’70s and ’80s: adjusting to life Down Under. Make Yourself At Home explores local artists’ different perspectives through installation, photography, video art and painting.
Contact: chinalinkgallery.com
Breathing Fire
19 January – 5 February at Inner City Clayworkers Gallery, Glebe – free
This exhibition features new ceramic works from Australian-Chinese artists and gallery co-op members, who using porcelain, stoneware and earthenware, will explore the Year of the Dragon theme. Contact: clayworkers.com.au
For the full program, visit sydneychinesenewyear.com
City of Sydney’s popular Sydney Chinese New Year Festival karaoke competition is back, and all karaoke-lovers are being invited to have a go. 
