REDSEA Gallery opens in Margaret River
Singapore’s REDSEA Gallery has opened a new space in Margaret River, Western Australia, where the owners Chris and Charlie Churcher now reside. The Churchers first established the REDSEA Gallery more than 20 years ago with the focus of exhibiting international and Australian artists.
The new space in Margaret River will extend REDSEA Gallery’s exhibition program and facilitate the exposure of artists to both the WA and Singapore art markets. The gallery current representation includes SA-based First Nations artist Tony Wilson, landscape artist Peter Watts, British contemporary artist Nick Veasey, and more.
Chris Churcher said in a media release shared with ArtsHub, ‘There’s a perfect triangular synergy between Singapore, Perth and Margaret River. Both [the Singapore and WA] galleries are able to operate on the same time zone, and WA is Australia’s nearest state to Asia making it easier to manage the two businesses. We realised the potential in Margaret River for our second gallery many years ago when we first started travelling here. It provides us with the perfect contrast and complement to Singapore.’
He continued, ‘The Margaret River Region is a drawcard for artists and art lovers. We now represent a number of incredible local creators and are excited to showcase them to our Singapore clients too.’
Margaret River is known as a popular holiday destination, and this was what drew the Churchers to the town. REDSEA Gallery is housed in a century-old heritage space with close historical ties to the local artistic community. Built in 1922, it became home to Margaret River’s first art and craft group from 1974 to 1987. It was then bought by a group of 15 local artists who refurbished the space. In 2022, the Churchers acquired the building from JahRoc Galleries and began renovations mid-2023 to retain most of the historic charm, but also fit for contemporary exhibitions.
REDSEA Gallery Margaret River is currently exhibiting works by New Zealand sculptor Philipp Meier, local landscape painter Alice Linford Forte, Indonesian artist Adi and more.
A Secondary Eye to launch new space in Sydney
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following section contains the name of deceased persons.
Secondary market gallery, A Secondary Eye, led by Jesse-Jack De Deyne and Boris Cornelissen will launch a new space in Woollahra, Sydney on 3 May.
A Secondary Eye was founded in 2020 with specialisation in First Nations and contemporary Australian art in the secondary market. Over the past four years, the gallery has exhibited and sold the works of significant artists, including Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Queenie McKenzie, Paddy Bedford, John Mawurndjul, Bill Whiskey, Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, Gordon Bennett, Tony Albert, Danie Mellor, Ben Quilty, Sidney Nolan, John Olsen and Fred Williams. A number of works have entered into major collections such as the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) and HOTA Gallery. The gallery will relocate to Sydney after spending three years in Brisbane.
The gallery will be located on Queen Street, a central strip once home to global art market organisations including Sotheby’s, Christie’s and the Rex Irwin Gallery.
For its opening exhibition, A Secondary Eye will present a solo presentation of Wangkajunga and Kukatja Elder and artist, Rover Thomas (1926-1998). A founding figure of what became known as the East Kimberley school of painting, Thomas was the inaugural First Nations artist to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale in 1990, alongside Trevor Nickolls.
De Deyne said, ‘Rover Thomas is undoubtedly a titan of the Australian art world, with few figures looming as large within the canon of Australian art. When the art market for Aboriginal art was forming around the early Sotheby’s sales in the 1990s it was the artworks by Rover, alongside Emily [Kame Kngwarreye] and the early Papunya boards, that were leading the way. We hope that this first solo presentation in Sydney in almost 20 years will bring a reinvigorated interest in Rover as an artist and the incredible figure he is within Australian art.’
Rover: Master of the Kimberley will feature works created from the 1980s and 1990s. Open at A Secondary Eye from 3 May to 14 June.
D’Lan Contemporary to open second space for First Nations art in New York
Australian gallery, D’Lan Contemporary, will open its latest space in New York with the inaugural exhibition, Yurlupirti – Forever Without End (eternal), a solo of Yulparitja/Mangala artist, Daniel Walbidi.
As with its Melbourne gallery, D’Lan Contemporary’s New York line-up is centred on promoting living and working Australian First Nations artists. The gallery first expanded to New York in May 2023 with a location on 81st Street that also launched with an exhibition of Walbidi’s works.
D’Lan Contemporary’s second New York space is on 73rd Street in the Upper East Side and in close proximity to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, while the first gallery will continue to operate by appointment for private sales of secondary market artworks.
Founder and Director, D’Lan Davidson wrote in a gallery post, ‘The opening of a new space in New York follows several years of strategic contemplation and growth for D’Lan Contemporary – in Australia and overseas – with the opening of a state-of-the-art exhibition space in Melbourne CBD and international collaborations and exhibitions with gallerists including Gagosian Hong Kong, Los Angeles, New York and Paris and, more recently, Ricco Maresca, New York.
‘As this dynamic segment of the Australian art market continues to capture the imagination of discerning audiences and collectors around the world, the opening of this space signals an ecological progression for us – and an opportunity to continue to engage and work with respected and like-minded gallerists, collectors, and communities alike to elevate and celebrate Australian First Nations art on a global stage.’
Walbidi’s second solo show with D’Lan Contemporary features 10 new paintings and highlights a transitional phase in his practice, delving into personal beliefs and cultural perspectives, as well as being on Country. Walbidi said in a media release shared with ArtsHub, ‘My ambition is not only to be a successful artist, but also to be someone who is able to make our culture known and understood and to give a different perspective of what land is to Aboriginal people. The laws of the land extend to New York. There is a long tradition through the Native American community, which I often think about…’
Yurlupirti – Forever Without End (eternal) will be on view from 26 April to 31 May with an artist talk and opening reception on 25 April, 6-8pm.
Sarah Scout Presents to reopen in Melbourne
Sarah Scout Presents will launch its new gallery space in Collingwood, Melbourne on 20 April with an exhibition of fresh works by Anna Finlayson, Simone Slee and Christian Thompson AO.
The gallery closed its previous space on Collins Street last year with plans to relocate to a new premise in Collingwood.
Sarah Scout Presents Director, Vikki McInnes tells ArtsHub, ‘It’s an exciting move for us away from the city (which has changed so significantly post-pandemic) and into a more creative context. It’s also a shift away from the intimate, domestically-scaled spaces we’ve prioritised over the past 15 years and into a larger more industrial space where we can present more ambitiously scaled work.’
Sarah Scout Presents’ new space is situated in the old PBS building alongside five other creative businesses: Agency Projects, BAR Studio, Whale Amsterdam, Useful Objects and Daniel Brustman interior design studio. The building will also be a hub for Melbourne Design Week this year.
MARS x Hill Smith Art Advisory pop-up in Adelaide
Melbourne’s MARS Gallery has joined forces with Hill Smith Art Advisory in Adelaide to present a pop-up exhibition at Immersive Light and Art from 17-20 April.
In bringing what the Gallery calls ‘a little piece of the Melbourne art scene to South Australia’, the exhibition features works by MARS’s roster of artists including Atong Atem, Damien Shen, Scotty So, Kasia Tons, Ellis Moseley, Jason Sims, Penelope Davis, Stephen Haley, Datsun Tran, Matthew Quick, Yanni Floros, Richard Maurovic and more. The artworks span video, installation, photography, sculptural and text-based works.
Assistant Director of Artistic Programs at the Art Gallery of South Australia, Dr Lisa Slade, will open the exhibition on 17 April 6-8pm.
Yavuz Gallery becomes Ames Yavuz
Earlier in the year, Singapore and Sydney-based Yavuz Gallery announced its rebrand as Ames Yavuz to acknowledge both Can Yavuz and Glen Ames in the development of the gallery.
Yavuz established the Gallery in Singapore in 2010, and then expanded to Sydney in 2019 as the first commercial art gallery from Asia with a permanent space in Australia.
Ames joined the gallery in 2022 as CEO, charged with the mission of expanding the Gallery into Europe and the Asia Pacific.
Since the announcement of rebranded Ames Yavuz, the Gallery has made appearances with its fresh outlook at Melbourne Art Fair and, most recently, Art Basel Hong Kong, presenting the works of Alvin Ong, Curtis Talwst Santiago, Abdul Abdullah, Vincent Namatjira OAM, Brook Andrew – who joined the gallery stable in March this year – and more.
Ames Yavuz also hosted a special solo presentation of Thai artist Pinaree Sanpitak as part of Art Basel Hong Kong’s special curated section, Kabinett. An extensive body of work by Sanpitak has also been recently acquired by Museum MACAN in Jakarta, Indonesia.
