ike schoolteachers, art gallerists get great holidays over summer. Most small, contemporary galleries close their doors before Christmas and then don’t open again until February. So if you need an art fix and have felt a little lost without a gallery to go to on weekend lately, the wait is over: the galleries have reopened for 2011 with some exciting shows.

The year ahead is looking very promising if these current exhibitions are any indication. Artist Jeremy Dower’s first major solo exhibition, Canis Mortuus Familiaris, is at Lamington Drive at the moment. It’s also the first show at their new home at the Compound Interest in Collingwood and features a range of digital paintings of man’s best friend, the dog.

Utopian Slumps is featuring Nathan Gray’s futuristic installation In the year 2525, where optical effects are used to explore a dystopian future.

Y3K gallery is featuring Charlie Sheen by Dan Arps, winner of New Zealand’s prestigious Walters Prize, while at MUMA (Monash University Museum of Art) a group show, NETWORKS (Cells & Silos), features the work of Australian and international artists and explores the ever-changing nature of connections in an increasingly networked society.

ACCA is featuring a retrospective of work by American artist Joseph Kosuth until February 27. His exhibition, '(Waiting for –) Texts for Nothing' Samuel Beckett, in play is a play on the works Waiting for Godot and Texts for Nothing by Beckett himself.

Unclassified is a group show at Dianne Tanzer Gallery featuring a range of artists co-curated by Gillian Brown and Rachel Feery, exploring the convention of classifying by medium.

Nellie Castan gallery presents COLOUR light TIME, curated by David Thomas. The show features a range of artists from Australia, New Zealand, Europe and America, in an equally diverse variety of mediums celebrating complexity and the transience of humanity.

Canis Mortuus Familiaris is at Lamington Drive until March 5.

In the Year 2525 is at Utopian Slumps until February 26.

Charlie Sheen is at Y3K until March 5.

NETWORKS (Cells & Silos) is at MUMA until April 16.

'(Waiting for -) Texts for Nothing' Samuel Beckett, in play is at ACCA until February 27.

Unclassified is at Dianne Tanzer Gallery until February 26.

COLOUR light TIME is at Nellie Castan gallery until February 26.