Maybe you're OK with bare walls and prefer to keep things minimalistic, or maybe that one Pulp Fiction poster you've had since university still has pride of place. Or maybe, it's time for you to channel your inner art connoisseur and buy some art for your home.
The trouble is, where to even begin? We can often feel intimidated when buying art, or worry that we can’t afford to invest in an original piece. But there’s a huge world of art out there, with something for every taste and budget.
Here's where to buy art in Melbourne, no matter the state of your wallet.
Type of art: Underground
Price range: $90-4,000
Outré Gallery specialises, in their own words, in “contemporary international pop, lowbrow, pop surrealism, modern folk and underground art”. With prices that range from “yes I could afford that” to “my car cost less than this”, it’s a great place for gifts for your more discerning (and deserving) friends. Some works are available unframed but most have framing included in the price (great if you want some art that's ready to hang on your wall).
Type of art: Based on the NGV's collection and exhibitions
Price range: $5-3,000
The NGV International plays host to one of the best design stores in the city, collaborating with artists, designers and makers to supply shoppers with interesting and contemporary products. If you love a certain work currently on show at the gallery, there's a good chance you'll be able to buy it as an art print to take home and frame, with some of the gallery's most famous works (for example, 'Collins Street 5 p.m.' by John Brack and 'Banquet of Cleopatra' by Giambattista Tiepolo).
Type of art: First Nations art
Price range: $200-20,000+
Following the successful launch of APY Galleries in Sydney and Adelaide, an APY gallery has made its way to Docklands. The art centre represents early-career artists of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, Coober Pedy and Adelaide.
The APYACC is a group of 11 Indigenous-owned and governed social enterprises that focuses on facilitating business initiatives and artistic collaborations to benefit the local communities. This latest gallery will deliver ethically sourced works that visitors can view and purchase.
APY Art Centre is located in Tom Thumb Lane, Docklands. The gallery welcomes visitors from 10am-5pm Tuesday-Friday and 10am-4pm Saturdays.
Type of art: First Nations Art
Price range: $100-100,000+
Mitchelton’s gallery of Aboriginal art displays the work of some of the most prolific Indigenous artists currently working today. Works on display are often on loan (and on sale) from 15 different art centres and communities across Australia, including the local Taungurung community.
This cavernous underground gallery space houses a huge selection of beautifully curated art, from the prolific Possum family, to artists like Jeannie Mills Pwerle and Yannima Tommy Watson. Prices range from the hundreds through to the hundred-thousands, such is the diverse selection and sizes of art on offer.
Type of art: Contemporary and First Nations Art
Price range: $800-10,000+
Flinders Lane Gallery nurtures the passion of both new and seasoned art lovers while also supporting emerging, mid-career and First Nations artists. The gallery sells works from a huge number of contemporary artists, and also offers a range of high calibre prints.
Both options are easily accessible online and the gallery has a digital service where they can virtually "try out" works in your home.
Type of art: Contemporary and design
Price range: $$$$
Tolarno prides itself on unearthing and nurturing young Australian artists. It has inhabited several spaces over the years but has found a fine home currently on the corner of Flinders Lane.
If you want to own a slice of someone who might be huge in the next few years – or a slice of someone who's already making waves – Tolarno might have what you need. Just remember you can't put a price on art.
Type of art: First Nations Art
Price range: $$$$
The Hubert Gallery of Art, set on Wurundjeri Country, can be found by descending down a dark, aesthetically pleasing staircase inside the swanky cellar door – but that's where the darkness ends. The light and bright space, flanked by an expansive, curved glass wall looking out onto the estate, is the perfect backdrop for a range of colourful and exciting works sourced from over 20 Australian Indigenous Communities.
Adam Knight and Gerry Ryan have overseen the curation of a range of excellent Indigenous art housed in the gallery – a passion of the pair, who also established the Gallery of Aboriginal Art at Mitchelton.
Type of art: All sorts
Price range: $100-10,000+
Bluethumb has really done the hard yards to demystify and democratise the process of buying art. The online-only gallery gathers together more than 15,000 artists and curates them in very user-friendly categories. Do you want abstract art? Done. Looking for illustration? Too easy.
If you find the process of buying art daunting, Bluethumb is for you. Pricing runs the full gamut too, with works suitable for most budgets.
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