Sep 16 2019

Roundup from Sydney Contemporary 2019

by Michael Young

General view of Sydney Contemporary 2019 at Sydney’s Carriageworks. Photo by Zan Wimberley. Courtesy Sydney Contemporary.

The fifth Sydney Contemporary Art Fair (September 12-15) opened at Carriageworks, its usual home, with 95 plus galleries exhibiting 450 artists from over 11 countries. Looking as stylish as ever, booths appeared more expansive and accessible.

John Gow of Auckland-based gallery Gow Langsford observed that collectors from all over Australia, not just Sydney, were in attendance. Starkwhite (Auckland) co-director John McCormack noted brisk business, with buyers drawn to the variety of Australian and international art at appealing price points.

Although in 2017, fair founder Tim Etchells told ArtAsiaPacific that the decision to switch to an annual format was to attract “more galleries from around the world,” Sydney Contemporary remains decidedly domestic. Roslyn Oxley9 (Sydney) showed Australian artists Dale Frank, David Noonan, and Brook Andrew, with the latter’s Sector of the world encompassed by the brutal world of oneself (2019) priced at AUD 35,000 (USD 24,050).

Moving-image art was thin on the ground. A highlight was Sydney-based Glaswegian Joan Ross’s debut virtual reality work, Did you ask the river? (2019). Ross laughed with delight as participants wearing headsets lurched and stumbled while exploring the artist’s vibrant but unsettling VR colonial landscape.

Justin Miller Art (Sydney), which operates in the secondary market, recently acquired 40 works on paper by the late modern master Sidney Nolan. Some of these pieces were among the works presented at the dealer’s booth, with price tags ranging from a modest AUD 3,500 (USD 2,400) to AUD 375,000 (USD 257,700).

Quality indigenous art was sparse but specialist Beverly Knight of Melbourne’s Alcaston Gallery brought works by Tiger Yaltangki, whose AUD 19,000 (USD 13,060) Malpa Wiru (Good Friends) (2019) flew off the wall. Three paintings by the late Sally Gabori also sold for AUD 16,000 (USD 11,000) each. Knight let slip that Gabori will have a retrospective at Paris’s Fondation Cartier in November 2020.

Here are some highlights from Sydney Contemporary 2019.

Gow Langsford (Auckland) brought the AUD 575,000 (USD 395,150) Lily Pond at Humpty Doo (2004) by Australian painter JOHN OLSEN, whose works are popular as ever with Australian buyers. All photos by Michael Young for ArtAsiaPacific unless otherwise stated.

CONSUELO CAVANIGLIA’s Filters 11 (2019), part of Installation Contemporary at the fair.

Indigenous artist BROOK ANDREW’s mixed-media work, Sector of the world encompassed by the brutal word of oneself (2019), was offered at the booth of Roslyn Oxley9 (Sydney) for AUD 35,000 (USD 24,050). The artist is the artistic director of the 2020 Bienniale of Sydney, opening in March.

Justin Miller Art (Sydney) had an eclectic booth with works by several artists. An oil painting by the late SIDNEY NOLAN was priced at AUD 375,000 (USD 257,700), while the late ROSALIE GASCOIGNE’s Honey Flow (1985), pictured here, was offered for AUD 195,000 (USD 134,010).

NICHOLAS HARDING’s delightful AUD 38,000 (USD 26,110) painting Dog (Parramatta Rd) (2007) at Justin Miller Art (Sydney).

RAMESH MARIO NITHIYENDRAN’s Yellow fertility figure (2019), earthenware and mixed media, at Sullivan + Strumpf (Sydney / Singapore). The gallery moved several pieces with AUD 50,000 (USD 34,360) price tags during the VIP evening.

South Australian emerging artist TIGER YALTANGKI, one of the few Indigenous artists at this year’s fair, was featured at the booth of Alcaston Gallery (Melbourne), whose owner, Beverly Knight, specializes in Indigenous art. Malpa Wiru (Good Friends) sold on the first VIP evening at AUD 19,000 (USD 13,060).

Three AUD 16,000 (USD 11,000) paintings by MIRDIDINGKINGATHI JUWARNDA / SALLY GABORI at Melbourne’s Alcaston Gallery. The late Indigenous artist took up painting in 2005, at the age of 81, and enjoyed meteoric success. Her work is now eagerly sought after.

Winners Are Grinners (2019) by Sydney sculptor ALEX SETON. The marble skull and base weighs 9,000 kg and riffs on the memento mori genre.