8 things to see at Melbourne Art Fair 2024
Interior designer and Melbourne Art Fair ambassador Tamsin Johnson selects her must-see works.
Melbourne Art Fair returns for its 17th edition this week, kicking off four days of contemporary art, ideas and events. Running from 22-25 February 2024, the art fair will be held at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) and will feature over 100 artists from over 60 of Australasia’s leading galleries and Indigenous art centres. Spanning disciplines across moving images, installations, and conversations, this year’s event promises to be wide in scope and vision.
With more than 50 events on the schedule, this year’s theme of ‘ketherba/together’ also features two new major commissions, including Julie Rrap’s SOMOS (Standing On My Own Shoulders) sculpture. To celebrate this annual event, we’ve asked Melbourne Art Fair ambassador Tamsin Johnson to select a few of her must-see works. The Sydney-based interior designer and antique dealer is a passionate collector of art and argues that, “Art plays a central role in our inspiration and design process.”
“It has a pivotal place in every individual interior. Rarely a space will feel complete without the addition of art,” she adds. “I’m always so excited for Melbourne Art Fair and to see some of the best works from contemporary artists working in Australia and around the world right now. It’s an incredible atmosphere, so it goes without saying that I’m thrilled it’s become an annual event.”
Keep reading to see a snapshot of Tamsin’s must-see artworks at this year’s Melbourne Art Fair:
1. Bill Henson
“Bill Henson is an internationally renowned Australian artist who uses photography to capture the human condition in visual form. Henson is a personal favourite — I adore his rich cinematic dreamscapes that fill any space with mood and drama. A stunning example of his practice, presented by 1301SW/Starkwhite.”
2. Jonny Niesche
“Jonny Niesche’s iridescent colour works to optically charge any space with a transformative beauty that is captivating for the viewer. The glowing neon tones and soft pastels that emerge from a blurred rectangular centre are mesmerising. I can’t wait to get lost in Jonny’s voile canvases at Melbourne Art Fair this year, also showing with 1301SW/Starkwhite.”
3. Howard Arkley
“An absolute gem. This is the last canvas Howard Arkley ever painted, and on show to the public for the first time (ever) at Melbourne Art Fair this week with Kalli Rolfe Contemporary Art. One of Australia’s most celebrated artists, Arkley has inspired a generation of artists with his stylised airbrushed paintings of suburbia that are devoid of the artist’s hand. This is a significant work from an iconic Australian artist — a must-see.”
4. Dane Lovett
“I just adore the hand of Dave Lovett and his paintings of the familiar. From flowers to music and popular culture, his still-life paintings with restrictive colour palettes are the most elegant observations of everyday life. This is a standout work from the artist with new canvas on show at the fair with Station gallery.”
5. Edwina McLennan
“Edwina McLennan’s work is a new discovery. Presented by Brisbane space, The Renshaws, McLennan’s work is positioned at the intersection of textiles, painting, consumerism, and digital culture. Originally trained in fashion design at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, McLennan deconstructs imagery of mass consumption, sourced largely from fashion magazines. Employing a combination of handmade, mechanical, and digital processes, her works take the form of reconstructed Surrealist landscapes, occupying a liminal space between the natural and digital worlds and serving as a commentary on the impact of consumerism upon identity construction.”
6. Gregory Hodge
“Gregory Hodge is an Australian artist based in Paris. His paintings oscillate between abstraction and figuration, layering personal source material with painterly gestural marks and obscured motifs of foliage, interiors and architecture. Often monumental in scale, Hodge is a strong addition to any collection and interior.”
7. Ali Tahayori
“Combining fractured mirrors with text and imagery, Ali Tahayori’s works draw on ancient Iranian philosophies about light and mirrors to create kaleidoscopic experiences; moments of both revelation and concealment hint at the conflicted nature of his identity. Melbourne commercial gallery, This Is No Fantasy presents a solo show of Tahayori’s work at the fair.”
8. Abdul Abdullah
“Abdul Abdullah’s works intersect between popular culture, contemporary conflicts and personal experience, renegotiating histories to create space for alternative possibilities and new conversations. Abdullah represents a new face of emerging artists from the Asia-Pacific region and his work will be an absolute highlight at Melbourne Art Fair, showing with Singapore/Sydney space, Yavuz Gallery.”
Melbourne Art Fair runs from 22-25 February, 2024 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, 2A Clarendon St, South Wharf. Visit melbourneartfair.com.au to buy tickets.
This story first appeared on Vogue.com.au