Sydney Contemporary is the Australiasian region's premier art fair, generating upwards of $20 million in sales each year, and bringing together hundreds of the regions collectors with 87 galleries.
Entering through the fair's doors is a large enough task to require a map – and a good sense of direction not clouded by the glasses of wine and champagne offered at a myriad of bars dotted between booths. With the works of so many artists – both emerging and established – to peruse, it's difficult to know where to start (and impossible to get to know them all).
To sharpen your knowledge of Australasian artists to know about in the contemporary arts space, we got acquainted with some of our favourites Sydney Contemporary artists showing at the 2024 fair. Below, each speaks candidly to their works on display, their practice, and what's fuelling their art fire right now.
1. Anna Mould (Praxis Artspace)
Is this your first time showing at Sydney Contemporary?
Yes, first time – I graduated from art school last year.
Tell us a bit about your piece/s on display…
This series of six works uses painting and embroidery to engage ideas and ideals of feminine representation in art. I’m interested in dichotomies and oppositions, often political in theme – in this case I’m exploring tensions between masculine and feminine-associated media and motifs.
Which other artist’s work are you most excited to see at this year’s fair?
I’m eager to see the work of two painter friends whose practices have each recently expanded greatly in scale, and it’s really working – Sean Crowley at Egg & Dart and Holly Greenwood at Olsen Gallery. Also the beautiful ceramic work of Susie Choi at Sabbia Gallery and Emily Kame Kngwarreye’s painting at Utopia Art.
What’s been fuelling / inspiring your practice lately?
Politics, always. There’s a lot to be angry about.
What are you working on at the moment that you’re most excited about?
I’m working toward a couple of solo shows in Sydney for next year and continuing to investigate what I can do with embroidery as a major component of my practice.
2. James Lieutenant (Jennings Kerr)
Is this your first time showing at Sydney Contemporary?
Yes, this is the first time showing at Sydney Contemporary, or at any art fair. It's an amazing opportunity. I'm very proud of this new body of work and am very pleased to be working with the Jennings Kerr team.
Tell us a bit about your piece/s on display…
The main body of work I'm showing at the fair is a set of six very large abstract paintings. These are made with many translucent layers of painted colour that build and move across the surface.
Which other artist’s work are you most excited to see at this year’s fair?
Mitch Cairns at The Commerical and Oliver Wagner and Suzie Idiens at VOID_MELBOURNE.
What’s been fuelling / inspiring your practice lately?
I've become interested in cinematic lighting, especially historic black-and-white films that have really rich, tonal depth. I always love reading and researching – I'm currently reading up on Frank Lloyd Wright’s stained glass windows, and a theory book about contemporary painting in the post-medium condition. I've also been thinking a lot about camera-less and experimental photography.
What are you working on at the moment that you’re most excited about?
I'm feeling really excited to keep exploring and thinking through tonal depth within painting. There's a lot to be teased out in the relationship this has to the photographic, even when working with the language of abstraction.
3. Emil Canita (MARS Gallery)
Content warning: the following contains sensitive topics related to child sexual abuse and trauma.
Is this your first time showing at Sydney Contemporary?
Yes! It’s a lot of firsts for me this year. My first solo exhibit at a commercial gallery (MARS Gallery), the first time I’m showing my work in Sydney, and the first time I’m showing at an art fair. I’m definitely popping my art cherry this year.
Tell us a bit about your piece/s on display…
This body of work is part of a series of work titled, At First I Was Afraid, which was shown at MARS Gallery early this year. They’re all portraits of the lovers, clients and fellow sex workers I met running a gloryhole in my work at the end of our COVID lockdown in Naarm/Melbourne. For a bit of context, I was sexually assaulted and abused a lot when I was a kid, and I’ve been going through a lot of Chronic-PTSD from the experience. During COVID, I was able to access some therapy, specifically one that treated PTSD called EMDR (Eye Movement De-sensitation and Reprocessing). One of its symptoms was getting these vivid dreams every night and one of those dreams consists of a gloryhole. Intuitively, I followed it and had a gloryhole set up in my home. When I asked my psychologist about it, he said that it makes a lot of sense why I would have one. He said, “This is great, ‘cause this is a great way for you to let strangers into your home and have sex safely.” I’ve grown and healed a lot from this experience and I wanted to honour and acknowledge all these men who’ve not only provided me with so much warmth, affection and helped me experience post-traumatic growth. It’s amazing how a tool once used to facilitate clandestine homosexual relationships, I’ve been able to use to help me heal from sexual trauma and funnily enough, also have COVID-safe sex with as suggested by the Centre for Disease Control.
Which other artist’s work are you most excited to see at this year’s fair?
Atong Atem with MARS Gallery, Alfred Lowe with Sabbia Gallery, David McDiarmid with Neon Parc, and Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran from Sullivan & Strumpf. Please go experience their brilliant works.
What’s been fuelling / inspiring your practice lately?
Listening to my clients and lovers’ stories fuels and inspires my practice. These men have been so generous with me by allowing me to capture and share their experiences. I think the fact that a lot of these stories we barely hear about, but also a lot of these men have never stepped inside a gallery before, I really wanted to shift that – culturally and institutionally. Our lives are a work of art, and their stories are a work of art.
What are you working on at the moment that you’re most excited about?
As part of my day job, I support a lot of people living with HIV. I’m also a person living with the virus, and I take this medication that eliminates the effects of HIV and also stops the transmission of the virus. People living with HIV on effective treatment are the safest people that you can have sex with, and I don’t think a lot of people know that. We can now live long, normal lives and have children and be surgeons and work in the military and aviation. Roles that weren’t given to people like me in the past. I’m currently working on a body of work that will hopefully educate more people about what it actually means now to live with this virus. A lot of this have changed since the 80s. Make sure to follow me at @babydilfx on Instagram and MARS Gallery if you’d like to see more of my work and get an update on my upcoming show.
4. Amber Hearn (Curatorial+Co.)
Is this your first time showing at Sydney Contemporary?
Yes! It’s my first time at Sydney Contemporary.
Tell us a bit about your piece/s on display…
My collection is titled My Body Makes Way For You. The works are self portraits presented as landscapes that delve into themes of pregnancy, birth and motherhood. They are an ode to the recent birth of my daughter.
Which other artist’s work are you most excited to see at this year’s fair?
I’m absolutely in love with Teelah George’s work from Neon Parc. Also Zoe Grey from James Makin Gallery, and Virginia Leonard from Gow Langsford Gallery.
What’s been fuelling / inspiring your practice lately?
I’m deeply influenced by the natural environments that I inhabit. Currently living in the Blue Mountains, I find myself immersed daily in the natural beauty that surrounds me. My work integrates mountains, water and landscapes with self portrait reflections of personal narratives, which encompass my bodily experiences – most recently the pregnancy and birth of my daughter. I also find the daily changes of motherhood continually challenge me; being challenged actually inspires me to find new breakthroughs in creativity and productivity.
What are you working on at the moment that you’re most excited about?
My collection at Sydney Contemporary is solely paintings, however, I also love making small sculptures, sewing and using video. I’m excited about diving into a few mediums other than paint for a little bit. I find that working with new materials and different mediums helps to refresh me and keep my practice moving in forward motion.
5. Kansas Smeaton (COMA)
Is this your first time showing at Sydney Contemporary?
I had two works with COMA in last year's fair so this is my second time showing.
Tell us a bit about your piece/s on display…
The works on display are continuations of my exploration into desire, which will continue to be an overarching theme, whilst also introducing new concepts regarding Greek mythology. I am using the archetype of the goddess Artemis (mythological paintings were a common tool for artists of the 17th and 18th centuries) and the two works on display mark the transition from my last body of work to the new, which will be shown in June 2025. There is a focus on precise symbolism, the introduction of animals and landscapes and an exploration into Jungian ideas around the self and the shadow self, as well as my usual employ of gender play, powerful subjects and eroticism.
Which other artist’s work are you most excited to see at this year’s fair?
I'm super excited to show alongside everyone at the COMA booth, it's such an honour to be in such great company. I'm also excited to see works from Adele Warner and Jamie North.
What’s been fuelling / inspiring your practice lately?
I listen to podcasts for about 10 hours every day while I paint haha... I'm a big history fan and I get a lot of inspiration from listening to interviews with Historians, particularly those in mythology, archeology and sex history. I also recently bought this book called Every painting in the Louvre which is, exactly as it sounds, an image catalogue of every single painting in the Louvre. It's an amazing resource for any painter.
What are you working on at the moment that you’re most excited about?
Every new work I start is my new favourite thing! It's such an exciting feeling to successfully transcribe an idea from your head to the canvas... and the first layers of my works are always so quick and gestural, which is a lot of fun. Also I'm excited for my June solo, because the works are not only going to be bigger but they'll also be shown in the new COMA space.
6. Marion Abraham (Sullivan & Strumpf)
Is this your first time showing at Sydney Contemporary?
This is my second time at SC. It’s lovely to be back (I showed there last year for the first time and was blown away by the art I encountered!).
Tell us a bit about your piece/s on display…
The works I have on display at SC this year – Delight, Cherished and Baby Boy 1&2 – are small oil paintings on boards. Cherished is a quiet work that depicts two sisters sitting as giants in a landscape at twilight. Often my work interrogates historical depictions of young women in bucolic settings, which was a theme popularised, romanticised and fetishised in mass-produced paintings by artists like Bouguereau in the 19th century (paintings that were in my local museum). Delight is a return to the female nude, a subject I haven't painted for a few years. I wanted it to be the embodiment of how I felt in my own skin, something physical, menacing, free and mortal. Baby Boy 1&2 are intimate, tentative love poems to the men that have shaped my life for better or worse so far. I often paint men in vulnerable, exposed and idealised positions. I think it’s a way for me to reflect upon why I form relationships with men. Perhaps they are an attempt to balance my raging fury at toxic patriarchy with an unlikely visual language of love and care.
Which other artist’s work are you most excited to see at this year’s fair?
Jackson Farley. The work every kingdom was born to die pt. II blew me away. It is the sort of gorgeous chaos that I could look at for hours and hours.
What’s been fuelling / inspiring your practice lately?
I got completely lost in a world of panoramic landscape painting recently. I’d come up with these scenes of people performing tasks, loving each other tenderly, burning cars, transcending time and space and it felt so real. I’d paint, step back and then wonder where this scene was from and why I needed to create it. Ultimately I think I have been self-soothing through paint. The brutalities of the world have been pushing me into anxious spirals, depressive doom-scrolling as well as positive political activism, so in parallel with all those things I use painting to comfort and support my inner-self. I like dialled-up emotions, I like awe and cliché. At the moment I am fuelled by a desire to challenge myself to depict joy. To use that joy as an act of resistance.
What are you working on at the moment that you’re most excited about?
My solo show Joyride begins on 17 October, with an opening celebration on 23 October, at Sullivan+Strumpf gallery in Sydney. I am so excited to share new works, including a landscape panorama. It’s my most ambitious painting series to date, 11 metres of unbridled, bucolic bliss.
7. Evi O (Saint Cloche Gallery)
Is this your first time showing at Sydney Contemporary?
It is my third time. The first time was in 2019, and was my first-ever debut solo. FANTASIA was very memorable. Whilst it is the third this year, it’s my first time in the main section!
Tell us a bit about your piece/s on display…
They’re from my new sculptural body of work SUPERNOVA. These pieces are folded aluminiums coated with ultra-gloss, saturated automotive paint, reflecting lights to create colourful shadows. Think butterflies, caterpillars and many nature influences, the magic of metamorphosis and the mystery of beauty.
Which other artist’s work are you most excited to see at this year’s fair?
This is a very difficult question, as everyone brings their best and freshest to the fair. But I guess we can start with Lisa Roet’s 20m Skywalker Gibbon, looking for love that will welcome all visitors into Carriageworks.
What’s been fuelling / inspiring your practice lately?
The idea that chaos is natural and that order is a human’s desire.
What are you working on at the moment that you’re most excited about?
In the art department: the next evolution of SUPERNOVA and introducing these new works interstate and overseas. In the design department: I just finished the internet artist Cao Fei’s monograph – don’t miss her big retrospective this November at Sydney Modern.
8. Holly Greenwood (Olsen Gallery)
Is this your first time showing at Sydney Contemporary?
It’s my first time showing with Olsen Gallery at the fair, but I’ve previously exhibited with James Makin Gallery over the years.
Tell us a bit about your piece/s on display?
Creating The Carousel has been a slow process and definitely my most ambitious painting yet. Collecting so many different memories and experiences from pubs and bars all over the world. Beginning with a bar that loops around. Highlighting the chaos, yet the calm, that ‘the bar’ can signify. People coming and going, leaving their ghostly figures behind. Fascinated by people and how they hold themselves in this world, either on their own or with each other. The Carousel is a homage to humans in all their shapes and forms. Constantly moving, not entirely sure where they are going but there for the ride.
Which other artist’s work are you most excited to see at this year’s fair?
Anna Mould, a multidisciplinary artist showing at Praxis Artspace, is definitely one to watch! Anna’s work juxtaposes the traditionally-masculine medium of painting with traditionally-feminine embroidery practices.
What’s been fuelling / inspiring your practice lately?
I’m inspired by observing human interactions in public spaces. Honing in on a hand or a blouse, refining my mark making. Attempting to capture feeling and mood in a concise way. The beauty of painting is that it’s always evolving.
What are you working on at the moment that you’re most excited about?
I’m excited about working on a larger scale and the freedom that it brings. Hoping to go on some overseas residencies in the near future to expand the possibilities of my practice. Looking forward to my solo show with Olsen Gallery in 2025!
9. Alfred Lowe (Sabbia Gallery)
Is this your first time showing at Sydney Contemporary?
No – I showed in Sydney Contemporary in 2022 with Sabbia Gallery. This is my first time showing such a large complete body of work.
Tell us a bit about your piece/s on display…
The pieces are called All dressed up. They are an exploration on what it means to present yourself to the world and hold a presence in a room. They also explore the influences that shape who we are. For me, these works are shaped by the environment I grew up in, the mountains of Central Australia, the divided politics of race, and the beauty and extravagance of the queer world.
Which other artist’s work are you most excited to see at this year’s fair?
Emil Canita, Jacquie Meng, Mechelle Bounpraseuth and my fellow Sabbia artists Liam Fleming, Susie Choi and Mel Douglas.
What’s been fuelling / inspiring your practice lately?
I’m really in love with the practice of hand building at the moment. It’s fuelled my obsession with creating large works. I’ve also been inspired this week by so many of my fellow artists and friends. I think this year SC is especially bold and I can’t wait to return to the studio in Adelaide.
What are you working on at the moment that you’re most excited about?
I’m working on my first overseas show later in the year. It’s interesting thinking about how a U.S. audience will respond to contemporary First Nations art. There’s a lot to think about and it’s an exciting challenge.
10. Mechelle Bounpraseuth (Chalk Horse)
Is this your first time showing at Sydney Contemporary?
This is my fourth time showing at Sydney Contemporary. My first year at Sydney Contemporary was with National Art School as one of a few selected graduates. The following years have been with my representing gallery Chalk Horse. It’s a big financial commitment for any gallery to be at Sydney Contemporary so I’m ever appreciative of my gallery for the labour and care they put into presenting my work.
Tell us a bit about your piece/s on display…
I have six ceramic works on display which sit on a bright orange circular plinth. They’re an extension of previous works I created about my family and my experiences growing up as a child of migrant parents. I started with a body of work called My Parents Come from Lao, the Land of Condiments. Every Bottle, Every Jar Reminds Me of Them. My work has expanded into what I lovingly refer to as “my fuck you pots”. Culturally, socially, and within religious and educational institutions, I grew up being told that I was limited by my sex, that I shouldn’t be loud or take up space, and that I physically couldn’t create big work. Hence the name. I channel my internalised rage, and the energy of my mother, sister, and ancestors, who embody resilience and determination, and pour that into my work. My big and brightly coloured sculptural works take up space in an overt way but are at the same time homely and welcoming.
Which other artist’s work are you most excited to see at this year’s fair?
I’m drawn to objects, particularly ceramics. As a maker, I love seeing what people do with clay and how it's displayed. The amount of artwork on display at the fair is immense and can be overwhelming, so I find myself looking for the work of friends since I find the familiar comforting. It's exciting to see what they’ve been working on and show my support. This year I made a beeline for the works of Alfred Lowe and my studio mates Glenn Barkley and Susie Choi.
What’s been fuelling / inspiring your practice lately?
My mother was my connection to my ancestors and Lao culture. I remember listening to her sing Lao songs, tell stories about her childhood and how her love for her unborn children gave her and my father the courage to cross the Mekong River for a better life. My practice is fueled by my desire to remain connected to my culture and reclaim what was taken from me in losing my mother. I honour and value the past and present histories of myself and my family as a cultural legacy for my child. My daughter is a constant source of inspiration and has been coming to the studio with me since she was 3 months old. In the early days of motherhood, we would go to my studio and I would create in between breastfeeding, napping, and going to the park together. One of my favourite works was made while I rocked her in her baby bouncer with one foot while my hands worked away. Becoming a mother changed my practice. I had less time and energy because I had this divinely beautiful baby in my life and all I wanted was to be with her or sleep. The time I had for my practice became more focused, precious, and driven. I think it’s important for my child to see me working hard towards my own hopes and dreams. I lost my mother while on the cusp of being a mother. To feel such an immense loss while being blessed with immense love filled me with grief that changed me as a person.
What are you working on at the moment that you’re most excited about?
I’m just excited to be in the studio, it's like a second home. For a long time I worked on my kitchen table at home so it’s a dream come true to have a space filled with light, a big kiln, and thoughtful and caring studio mates. I’m working on a few things at the moment. I’ll be showing with Chalk Horse at Melbourne Art Fair next year as well as some international art fairs. I also have some exciting institutional opportunities and a solo show with my gallery coming up.
