Sydney Contemporary 2023 launches and announces winner of inaugural MA Art Prize

Sydney Contemporary, in partnership with MA Financial Group, opens to the public today, showcasing its largest fair to date while also announcing emerging Indigenous artist Corban Clause Williams as the inaugural winner of the acquisitive $10,000 MA Art Prize.

Presented at Carriageworks from 7th – 10th September 2023, the fair hosts an expansive program of art, performance, talks, food and drink, featuring the work of more than 500 artists and 96 galleries.

The 2023 Sydney Contemporary program presents a range of engaging activities and events. Alongside the best of Australian, Indigenous, and international art on display, curated programs of Installation Contemporary, Performance Contemporary, Talk Contemporary and Create Contemporary run throughout the Fair.

Since its foundation in 2013, Sydney Contemporary has established itself as Australasia’s premier art fair, regularly attracting over 25,000 visitors at each edition and recording more than AU$100million in art sales since its launch.

Sydney Contemporary Founder and Co-Owner Tim Etchells advised “Sydney Contemporary has grown from strength to strength each year, generating the largest concentration of art sales annually in Australia. In its seventh edition, the Fair is showcasing more galleries and artists than ever before, exhibiting groundbreaking works from around the world. We’re looking forward to welcoming collectors and art lovers from across the region to Carriageworks this week to enjoy this year’s program that’s not to be missed.”

Inaugural winner of the acquisitive $10,000 MA Art Prize, Corban Clause Williams, is a Manyjilyjarra artist from the Pilbara region whose work is informed by time he has spent on Country at Kaalpa, a desert water site that features in traditional stories. His artworks contribute to ongoing dialogues about untold narratives of remote Australian life, bringing contemporary experience of ancestral Country to life on canvas.

Sydney Contemporary is supported by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency Destination NSW.

Sydney Contemporary Opening Hours
Thursday 7th September: 11am – 5pm
Thursday 7th September Art Night: 5.30pm – 9pm
Friday 8th September: 11am – 8pm
Saturday 9th September: 11am – 6pm
Sunday 10th September: 11am – 5pm

Tickets to Sydney Contemporary are available to purchase online 

2023 Gallery Booth highlights include:

•Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery premieres vivid new bark paintings and larrakitj by celebrated Yolgnu artist Dhambit Munuŋgurr, with her distinct marks and palettes of cobalt blue echoing depictions of the sky and sea.

•Galleria Continua presents works by the widely acclaimed British artist Sir Antony Gormley, showing in Sydney for the first time since 2010, and continuing his investigation into the relationship of the human body to space. The solo presentation features Gormley’s four-part work Wrestling with Modernism alongside a series of blockworks, floorworks and standing pieces.

•Justin Miller Art exhibits a 4.8-metre-long waterfall painting by acclaimed Japanese artist Hiroshi Senju, priced at USD $650,000, alongside three works by the master of Pop Art, Andy Warhol and a curated selection of important Australian art designed in collaboration with Blainey North.

•OLSEN Gallery presents a survey of painted abstraction, comprised of large-scale and never-before-seen artworks by notable early and mid-career Australian artists Sophie Cape, Marisa Purcell, Charlie Sheard and Matt Bromhead.

•1301 SW | STARKWHITE is presenting a curated exhibition of leading contemporary artists from around the world including: Gene A’Hern, Billy Apple, Rebecca Baumann, Whitney Bedford, Tim Bučković, Petra Cortright, Mikala Dwyer, Gerold Miller, Robert Moreland, Jonny Niesche, Anselm Reyle, Jessica Stockholder and Michael Zavros.

•Sullivan+Strumpf showcases a group presentation by leading artists Marion Abraham, Tony Albert, Glenn Barkley, Yvette Coppersmith, Daniel Crooks, Lynda Draper, Greg Hodge, Joanna Lamb, Michael Lindeman, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Alex Seton, Michael Zavros, and the first new work by Julia Gutman since winning the Archibald Prize 2023.

•Utopia Art Sydney will exhibit new paintings by Papunya Tula artists George Tjungurrayi and Yukulti Napangati and a major work by Emily Kame Kngwarreye priced at $1million.

Installation Contemporary will feature the work of 13 artists from across Australia, Canada and New Zealand, including:

•Abdul-Rahman Abdullah presents Dead Horse, a sculptural work that speaks to the poetics and potency of a still life. Singular in its representation yet abundant in its evocations, the work speaks to the many aspects attached to the horse as a cultural phenomenon, resonant paradoxically with presence and loss. Presented by Moore Contemporary.

•Alex Seton presents a recent work created for the cells of The Lock-Up, Newcastle, this time inhabiting the contrasting environment of Carriageworks. Trying to Reinvent Themselves and Their Universe sees a series of chandeliers reminiscent of those found in the entranceways of clubs and RSLs of post-World War II Australia, exploring themes of memory and the passing of time. Presented by Sullivan+Strumpf.

•Nabilah Nordin presents Molten Slayer, a work created improvisationally at a monumental scale that challenges and expands the possibilities of formal abstraction, while gently referencing the heavy weight of classical figurative sculpture. The work is a collision of old and new, a voyage through multiple sculptural histories, mashing together 20th century modernist and brutalist architecture with clumpy, bodily shapes referential of classical Roman statues. The weight of these histories are supported by haphazard neon scaffolding, reminiscent of hazard lights signalling an imminent threat of collapse. Presented by Neon Parc.    

•Sarah Smuts-Kennedy presents Discharge, a work comprising six large drawings rigged from the ceiling in the form of a hexagon. Bridging Sarah’s drawing and sculptural practices, viewers are encouraged to lie beneath the work to experience its internal energy system. Presented by Laree Payne Gallery.

Performance Contemporary, co-curated by Samantha Watson-Wood and Katie Winten from Friends with Strangers, presents a diverse and dynamic program of experimental and ephemeral performance work including:

•Amala Groom presents her durational work RED TAPE, where Groom corporeally negotiates the bureaucracy of the imposition of third-dimensional reality on her spiritual and physical bodies by singing a song in Wiradyuri, wrapping herself in 44 rolls of red electrical tape and then jumping through a hoop. 

•Interdisciplinary artist Riana Head-Toussaint’s video work Animate Loading will be projected, alongside a live performance that incorporates bodycam, drone work, and surveillance-style cinematography, on Thursday night.

•Cook Island-Australian emerging artist Morgan Hogg will perform on Friday night, creating an expressive, costumed dance which takes the viewer on a journey through time and space, embracing the culture and places we come from and bringing them together in a shared space.

•Multidisciplinary artist and fierce trans woman Fetu Taku uses her extensive hip hop and vogue training to create work that pushes boundaries of the body and the space it inhabits. In a newly commissioned work taking place during Art Night, Fetu will fuse elements of her practice together into a piece that explores community, and equitable spaces for diverse bodies.

The Talk Contemporary program will have two strands this year, one focused on art curated by Samantha Watson- Wood from Friends with Strangers, and another on architecture and design curated by design editor and commentator Karen McCartney. Highlights include:

•Love, Sex and The Image

Art has always depicted objects of one's desires. This talk will explore ideas around the muse, the male gaze and objectification, queer celebration, desire, love, shock and pleasure, othering and adoration.  The panellists will endeavour to unpack the representation of our sexual identities, through the image.

Speakers include Emma Maye Gibson AKA Betty Grumble, Solomon Kramer, Dylan Mooney, and moderated by Samantha Watson-Wood.

•Art + Interiors: Matching the couch is not a requirement

An interior designer, gallerist and art advisor discuss how they approach specifying art for interior projects, how they engage clients, what are the frequently asked questions, and what have been some of the most successful outcomes.

Speakers include Martin Browne, Martin Browne Contemporary; Sarah-Jane Pyke, Arent & Pyke; Kym Elphinstone and moderated by Stephen Todd

•The Selfie and Questions of Identity

The Selfie and Questions of Identity: One of the first self-portraits was made by the Pharaoh Akhenaten’s chief sculptor Bak in 1365 BC, it is estimated that in 2023 over 93 million selfies are taken each day. This talk will explore how the form of self-portraiture / the selfie constantly moves through portrayal, subversion, exploration and straight narcissism. What purpose does the selfie serve and how has it affected our understanding of identity?

Speakers include Jack Ball, Jenny Watson, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran and moderated by Sarah Rees, Senior Curator at the Powerhouse Museum.

•From the Indigenous Voice to Futuristic AI

Editors of four of Australia’s major cultural publications will discuss how they are navigating current sensitive and topical issues in the Australian and global landscape. From the current national referendum on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, to a rising voice of a different kind – that of  generative AI – how are these editorial voices navigating the complexities of the contemporary world  and doing it with creative flair?

Speakers include Una Rey, Erin Vink, Becky Hemus and Alison Kubler, chaired by Katarina Kroslakova, Editor T Magazine

Presented by Eckersley's Art & Craft, the largest retailer of art, craft, and design supplies in Australia, the 2023 program of Create Contemporary introduces the Squiggla Making Space, encouraging adult visitors to rediscover the value of creativity in a fulfilled life, while families will experience joyful making time together using a wide range of tools and art supplies provided by Eckersley’s Art & Craft. Create Contemporary will additionally host artist-led workshops throughout the weekend, including a workshop with artist Marisa Purcell, where she will introduce audiences to her work and guide visitors in a creative project. Purcell is represented by OLSEN Gallery.