Finding Their Inner Spring

Spring is in the air at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art. Each September, the gallery celebrates the budding talents of the Australian art world, and this year's "Primavera" has the riotous colors of hothouse flora. Taking as its subject the painted landscape, it's a terrific show - from the airily spiritual (Pedro Wonaeamirri's totem poles) to the patently superficial (Jemima Wyman's fluoro forests). While at times dark in theme (in particular, Madeleine Kelly's ecological dreamscapes are eerily resonant of inundated New Orleans), it's enough to raise your spirits about the state of contemporary art. The buoyant mood continues upstairs on the...