Gallery and art consultancy Curatorial+Co is making moves, with the announcement that their physical gallery space is shifting from its Redfern location to a new home in Woolloomooloo. Situated at 80 William Street in the heart of the Sydney city arts district, the new gallery space opens to the public on Thursday, May 4, with exhibitions from landscape painter Susie Dureau and ceramicist Aleisa Miksad continuing its focus on elevating emerging and mid-career artists.
The major inaugural exhibition Fathoms (May 3-20) presents work from Susie Dureau’s collection, inspired by the ocean and building on her existing body of work, which focuses on clouds and mountains. Dureau’s practice draws upon 15th century European oil painting techniques, primarily on linen and working wherever possible with pure pigments, linseed oil and solvent. In Dureau’s paintings, motifs of waves, clouds and rocks float through space, challenging historical representation of the landscape by presenting familiar motifs in curious ways.
Coinciding with Dureau’s exhibition, Curatorial+Co presents Ritual Madness, featuring new sculptures from emerging ceramicist Aleisa Miksad, taking inspiration from classical ceramics of the Greeks and Etruscans. These ancient forms are reimagined in writhing coils and spiked collars, creating a juxtaposition between ancient and modern ceramics. Evoking early coil pots, a traditional method of building ceramic vessels (made by building up the sides of pots with successive ropes of clay in a circular pattern), Miksad coil-builds her vessels from stoneware and porcelain clay bodies. The meticulous process of coiling these works allows space for exploration and exaggeration of the form as the piece develops.
Surrounded by galleries including Chalk Horse, COMA, Jericho Contemporary and King Street Gallery on William and a short walk from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, this move cements Curatorial+Co as a key player in Sydney’s contemporary art scene. The gallery features an expansive 150-square-metre exhibition space, measuring five metres in height, alongside an additional 150-square-metre storage and office space. Fronted by 17 metres of glass, the gallery invites passers-by to view Curatorial+Co’s eclectic and ever-changing range of works, with displays evolving each week to showcase a variety of new artists.
"It’s incredible to see how far we’ve come since I first started Curatorial+Co. from my dining room just seven years ago," founder and director, Sophie Vander said.
"Thanks to the team of brilliant women and the talented artists we work with, we have succeeded in establishing an accessible space where artists and art collectors can connect. We were delighted to be approached by the Terrace Tower Group to put down roots in Woolloomooloo among such a vibrant contemporary art scene."
In the months following the opening, exhibitions will include works from artists including Morgan Stokes, Katrina O’Brien, Ingrid Daniell and Belinda Street.