Fast-Growing Australian Gallery Sullivan+Strumpf on Supporting Asia-Pacific Artists

In 2017, the Australian gallerists Ursula Sullivan and Joanna Strumpf gambled everything on Sullivan+Strumpf’s presentation at Art Basel Hong Kong. After putting every cent into their booth, they came face-to-face with the stakes when their credit card was declined while booking accommodations.

Yet the risk proved a savvy one. “It was a real turning point,” Sullivan said, recalling how their gamble paid off by the end of the fair, where they sold some “incredible” works by gallery artists Lindy Lee and Sam Leach. “It was just really a super successful fair, so we went from: ‘Oh my god, our credit card declined’ to: ‘Oh my god, we’re kings of the world’—we weren’t really kings of the world, but in our small Australian bubble, we were,” Sullivan said.

The moment illustrates the occasionally daring ambition that has characterized the gallery, originally founded in Sydney in 2005. Since their nerve-wracking success in Hong Kong, Sullivan and Strumpf have not slowed down, and their gallery has blossomed into an influential name in the Asia-Pacific region.

In 2022, they launched a new space in Melbourne, and earlier this year, they launched a studio space in Singapore. Looking ahead, the duo is gearing up for their inaugural appearance in the main galleries section at Frieze London this October, where they will present works by Lee, Gregory Hodge, and Naminapu Maymuru-White.

A bastion of Australia’s art market

Sullivan and Strumpf landed in Sydney independently, each arriving from Brisbane in 1996. They crossed paths for the first time when they both began working for the late Australian secondary-market dealer Eva Breuer. There, the two became fast friends—and collaborators. At first, the gallerists began purchasing contemporary art together and began to “develop trust, which is so incredibly important—on money and taste and your eye and talking about art,” according to Sullivan.

“We just loved contemporary art more than the other work that we were dealing in—and the secondary-market attitude is very different from the primary representing gallery attitude,” added Sullivan. In 2004, Sullivan and Strumpf made the leap to open their own gallery, named Sullivan+Strumpf, which kicked off its programming in 2005 with solo shows from some of Australia’s leading contemporary artists: Sydney Ball, Gemma Smith, and eX de Medici.

From the outset, the gallery has been a firm champion of contemporary art from Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Over the two decades since the gallery was founded, the domestic market has changed dramatically, Sullivan and Strumpf say. When they first started, the market was marked by a “cultural cringe,” according to the gallerists, defined as a reluctance for local collectors to be interested in local artists. This attitude, noted Sullivan, has since changed: “When we first started, [there was] this feeling of ‘I need to be collecting international art as a prestigious thing,’ and that cultural cringe about what we’re making as a country has certainly diminished,” she said.

The gallerists have never strayed from their belief in the art coming out of the country. “We see work all over the world, and Australian artists are definitely punching above their weight,” said Sullivan. And, according to Sullivan, this is currently being bolstered by a surging gallery scene.

“The actual support of contemporary galleries like us is beautiful and strong, and there’s real care and passion for artists,” Sullivan said.

An incubator for underrecognized talent

Sullivan+Strumpf built its reputation by actively believing in the artists from Australia and its region. The gallery has developed a reputation for nurturing underrecognized talent from both seasoned and mid-career artists alike. A prime example is the gallerists’ collaboration with Lee, a 70-year-old artist whose work explores her Australian upbringing and Chinese heritage.

After a period of stagnation in Lee’s career in the 2000s, Sullivan+Strumpf played a pivotal role in growing her presence in the art world. Alongside several solo shows and fair presentations, Lee was also the subject of a retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in 2020, and will unveil a $14 million sculptural commission at the National Gallery of Australia in October. “We were able to really reinvigorate her career and elevate her to the stature she deserves, which was truly wonderful,” the gallerists noted.

This commitment to artist support is also evident in the gallery’s promotion of ultra-contemporary artists like Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran. Born in Sri Lanka and based in Australia, Nithiyendran is known for his brightly painted, rough-edged sculptures that reimagine idolatry with a raw aesthetic. The gallery is currently mounting the artist’s solo exhibition in Sydney, titled “The Self Portrait and the Masks,” which will be on view until October 12th.

A new perspective

On June 2nd, Sullivan+Strumpf opened an intimate exhibition space in the heart of Singapore’s Kallang district—best known for its massive sporting event venues. This strategic move is part of the gallery’s effort to build connections with Southeast Asia. For instance, the venue’s first presentation featured a one-day showcase of works by Singapore-based artist Kanchana Gupta ahead of her solo exhibition at Sullivan+Strumpf in Sydney.

“It was about opening up our own perspective as a gallery because you can fall into that trap of becoming very isolated and looking at yourself all the time, rather than looking at yourself in the context of the whole world,” explained Sullivan. Having a presence in Singapore, noted the gallerists, “brings together a lot of disparate audiences into one place.”