Melbourne Art Fair Wins Over Abdul Abdullah With Solo Booths

Gallerists described a relaxed atmosphere and an enthusiastic audience at the opening of the fair's 17th edition.

Melbourne Art Fair's ongoing focus on mostly solo booth presentations was a noted highlight of the fair when it opened its doors to VIPs yesterday.

At the booth of the newly rebranded Ames Yavuz (formerly Yavuz Gallery), artist Abdul Abdullah said, 'this year [Melbourne Art Fair] is very slick and it feels very curated... there are so many one- or two-person shows, which is quite nice.'

'It's a great way for me as an artist to see other art very quickly,' he added, having travelled to the fair from Bangkok, where the Australian artist is now based.

Sixty galleries are presenting at Melbourne Art Fair this year, up from 53 in 2022. Previously biennial, the fair switched to an annual model this year citing a strong local market.

Brunswick gallery Daine Singer presented a solo show of manipulated fashion magazine images by Melbourne artist Zoë Croggon. The gallery's Jane Rhodes hyped up Croggon, saying she is 'doing something so incredibly original and beautiful.'

Jack Willet, director of 1301SW in South Melbourne, noted the high overall standard of presentation of this year's fair, saying, 'There are some real gems.'

'The galleries feel like they've levelled up a bit,' he added. 'It's nice to see a few sparser presentations too; they're really focused.'

The requirement that galleries present solo booths has been loosened somewhat this year, but Willet noted that group presentations enabled visitors to see the synergies between multiple artists.

'I like when you get to see how artists feed off each other, in a booth, or in any exhibition,' he said.

Willet was subsequently interrupted by a fairgoer captivated by Jonny Niesche's ethereal colour field paintings on voile. Much to his disappointment, both had sold in the last half-hour.

Presenting at the fair for the first time, Woolloomooloo art space Firstdraft showed five artists from their 2023 programme as part of the PROJECT ROOMS section dedicated to non-profits.

'I think it's very important to understand that in the landscape of the arts scene in Australia there are spaces like ours that promote emerging artists,' said Firstdraft's programme manager Giulia Giorgi.

In the afternoon, a large area within the convention centre was taken over by some dozen dancers for an expansive, hour-long contemporary dance performance—a re-envisioned, architecturally site-responsive work titled NEWRETRO from Lucy Guerin Inc. dance company.

The performance was surrounded by other newly commissioned works for the fair's BEYOND programme of large-scale sculptures, including a mega brass antennae (Future Eclipse (transmission), 2023) hanging overhead by Aotearoa New Zealand artist Dane Mitchell, made in collaboration with musician Keiji Hano. The sculpture is paired with an abstract soundscape titled Future Eclipse (broadcast) (2023).

Close by were a deconstructed figurative sculpture by Sanné Mestrom, a series of honey-comb paper structures by Louise Paramor, and a curved neon work by Jazz Money that read 'SMALL SPECTACULAR MOMENTS', a good description of this year's intimate but energised Melbourne Art Fair. —[O]