Melbourne Art Fair Announces 2018 Gallery List and Artist Commission

Melbourne, Australia: Melbourne Art Fair’s 2018 edition will feature 40 leading galleries from Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, presenting a curated selection of some of the newest and most respected names in contemporary art. The Fair returns with a focus on solo shows and considered group presentations from both new and established galleries. Melbourne Art Fair is the flagship event of Melbourne Art Week, set to take place for the first time in the Southbank Arts Precinct and alongside the iconic Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), from Thursday 2 August to Sunday 5 August 2018 (Vernissage, Wednesday 1 August).

Recent and long-term participants return to Melbourne Art Fair in its new, highly selective format including important galleries Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery (Sydney), Sullivan+Strumpf (Sydney), Anna Schwartz Gallery (Melbourne), Darren Knight Gallery (Sydney), Sarah Cottier Gallery (Sydney), The Commercial (Sydney), Alcaston Gallery (Melbourne), Tolarno Galleries (Melbourne), Anna Pappas Gallery (Melbourne), Arts Project Australia (Melbourne), Australian Galleries (Melbourne), Dominik Mersch Gallery (Sydney), GAGPROJECTS (Adelaide), Gallery 9 (Sydney), Hugo Michell Gallery (Adelaide), Jan Murphy Gallery (Brisbane), Martin Browne Contemporary (Sydney), Michael Reid Sydney + Berlin (Sydney/Berlin), Niagara Galleries (Melbourne), Bartley + Company Art (Wellington), OLSEN (Sydney) , PAULNACHE (Gisborne), Sanderson Contemporary Art (Auckland), Scott Livesey Galleries (Melbourne), Charles Nodrum Gallery (Melbourne), Sophie Gannon Gallery (Melbourne), Tim Melville (Auckland), Two Rooms (Auckland) and William Mora Galleries (Melbourne).

Melbourne Art Fair also welcomes five galleries returning after a multi-fair break including Kalli Rolfe Contemporary Art (Melbourne), Michael Lett (Auckland), Neon Parc (Melbourne), Sutton Gallery (Melbourne) and Vivien Anderson Gallery (Melbourne), and seven first-time exhibitors, Andrew Baker Art Dealer (Brisbane), Bowerbank Ninow (Auckland), Fine Arts Sydney (Sydney), Nicholas Thompson Gallery (Melbourne), STATION (Melbourne), The Drawing Room (Manilla) and Tristian Koenig (Melbourne).  

Galleries, the main show sector, will present new and established galleries exhibiting a diverse range of artists and curatorial themes through both solo presentations and group shows of closely related works. Accent presents emerging artists of any age for discovery by the Australasian art world with single projects only. Time, a new proposal-based platform, will showcase five works of time-based media, including moving image, sound and performance art, presented across five locations around the city and the Southbank Arts Precinct, the new home of Melbourne Art Fair.

Melbourne Art Foundation CEO and Fair Director Maree Di Pasquale, says “We are delighted to return with our 15th edition, focusing on the fundamentals of supporting contemporary art and living artists. We are very excited and humbled by the reception we have received by the industry and Melbourne’s cultural institutions. Melbourne Art Fair will play a core role in reaffirming the city’s position as a commercial hub and centre for cultural accomplishment.”

Di Pasquale continues, “The quality of galleries and affiliated programs, including the Melbourne Art Foundation 2018 Commission and Melbourne Art Week Keynote, are a testament to the Fair’s identity and strength as a leading showcase in the region.”

Commissioned by Bendigo Art Gallery in partnership with the Melbourne Art Foundation and supported by Artwork Transport, the Melbourne Art Foundation 2018 Commission has been awarded to prominent Melbourne-based artist Ronnie van Hout. Commissioned for the first time in partnership with a regional Victorian institution, the ambitious large-scale work will be unveiled at Melbourne Art Fair before moving to its permanent home at Bendigo Art Gallery. Ronnie van Hout is represented by exhibiting galleries, STATION (Melbourne) and Darren Knight Gallery (Sydney).  

Karen Quinlan, Director of Bendigo Art Gallery, said:  "We are thrilled to work with the Melbourne Art Foundation on the 2018 Commission, and delighted that the selected artist is Ronnie van Hout. Given his sculptural works are known for their social narrative and drama, this commission will undoubtedly set the tone for the anticipated 2018 Melbourne Art Fair.  It will also be a most welcome addition to the Bendigo Art Gallery collection after Melbourne Art Week.  We look forward to working closely with Ronnie to realise his ideas for this new work."

Forming part of Melbourne Art Week, Melbourne Art Foundation announces Philip Tinari, Director of Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing, as the Melbourne Art Week Keynote speaker, presented on Tuesday 31 July, 6.30pm at Deakin Edge, Fed Square, Melbourne in association with the University of Melbourne and 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, supported by Fed Square. Prior to joining UCCA, Tinari launched LEAP, an internationally distributed, bilingual magazine of contemporary art. He is a contributing editor of Artforum and was founding editor of that magazine's Chinese edition in 2007. Widely regarded as an authority on China’s contemporary art scene, he was co-curator, with Alexandra Munroe and Hou Hanru, of the 2017 exhibition “Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World” at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Charles Justin, Melbourne Art Foundation Chair, says “As a not for profit organisation, Melbourne Art Foundation's commitment extends beyond the Melbourne Art Fair, to a wider program of talks, performances, awards and experiences which foster the awareness of contemporary art commercially, culturally and socially.

Working closely with Victoria's cultural organisations, public institutions, satellite art fairs, independent art spaces and commercial galleries, Melbourne Art Week brings together the commercial, social, cultural and environmental threads that underpin and sustain Melbourne's vibrant art scene.”

Melbourne Art Foundation is also working closely with over 30 cultural organisations across Victoria in the staging of Melbourne Art Week; a week of exhibitions, events, talks and performances during the first week of August. The week will include programming from Learning Partner, University of Melbourne, and supporting partners, ACCA, The Australian Ballet, Arts Centre Melbourne, ACMI, NGV, Buxton Contemporary, Chunky Move, Gertrude Contemporary, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Heide Museum of Modern Art, CCP, Melbourne Recital Centre, Koorie Heritage Trust, MUMA, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Ten Cubed, Linden New Art, Justin Art House Museum, Phillip Adams BalletLab, Spring 1883 and more.

Melbourne Art Week is supported by major partners the Victorian State Government through Creative Victoria and the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

Owned and presented by the Melbourne Art Foundation, a not for profit organisation established in 2003, Melbourne Art Week will run from 30 July to 5 August 2018 and Melbourne Art Fair from 2-5 August 2018 with the Collector First View and highly anticipated opening night Vernissage on 1 August 2018. Melbourne Art Week Program announced in the coming months. For further details please visit http://melbourneartfair.com.au.

About Melbourne Art Foundation

Melbourne Art Foundation is a not for profit organisation established in 2003 to promote contemporary art and living Australian artists.  Melbourne Art Foundation produces the biennial Melbourne Art Week, and flagship events Melbourne Art Fair and the Awards for the Visual Arts.

Melbourne Art Foundation sponsors a range of programs during Melbourne Art Week for the benefit of living artists, to facilitate public discussion and develop new audiences for contemporary art. They include major commissions, project rooms featuring emerging and independent artists and art spaces, public talks, collector programs, guided tours and the celebrated opening night; Vernissage.

About Melbourne Art Fair

Melbourne Art Fair is the flagship event of Melbourne Art Week, taking place for the first time within the Southbank Arts Precinct and alongside ACCA. Showcasing a curated selection of 40 galleries, the Fair will present some of the newest and most respected artists from Australia, New Zealand and the region.

Beginning in 1988, Melbourne Art Fair was founded by galleries from Australia, and has fired the enthusiasm of discerning collectors and an informed public for 30 years. Over its extensive history, the Fair has been instrumental in stimulating critical and commercial attention for galleries and their artists, presenting a rich and diverse cross-section of the region’s visual art scene.

Melbourne Art Fair 2018 is set to welcome over 20,000 visitors over 5-days, from Thursday 2 August to Sunday 5 August (Vernissage Wednesday 1 August). For further information, please visit melbourneartfair.com.au.

About Philip Tinari

Philip Tinari is Director of UCCA, Beijing. Since coming to UCCA in 2011, he has led its transformation from a founder-driven private museum into China’s leading independent institution of contemporary art, culminating in 2017 with a restructuring that has brought UCCA into the patronage of a new group of trustees. During Tinari's tenure, UCCA has mounted more than seventy exhibitions and a wide range of public programs, bringing artistic voices established and emerging, Chinese and international, to a growing audience of nearly a million visitors each year.

Prior to joining UCCA, Tinari launched LEAP, an internationally distributed, bilingual magazine of contemporary art published by the Modern Media Group, in 2009. He is a contributing editor of Artforum, and was founding editor of that magazine's Chinese edition in 2007. Widely regarded as an authority on China’s contemporary art scene, he was co-curator, with Alexandra Munroe and Hou Hanru, of the 2017 exhibition “Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World” at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. In 2016 he was named a fellow of the Public Intellectuals Program of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. Fluent in Mandarin and resident in Beijing since 2001, Tinari holds degrees from Duke and Harvard, and is currently completing a doctorate in art history at Oxford.

Melbourne Art Fair Event Details

Melbourne Art Fair runs from Thursday 2 August to Sunday 5 August 2018 (Vernissage, Wednesday 1 August) in the Southbank Arts Precinct alongside ACCA, 111 Sturt Street Southbank VIC | melbourneartfair.com.au

Collector First View

Wednesday  1 August, 2pm-5pm

Vernissage

Wednesday  1 August, 5pm-9pm

Public Opening

Thursday  2 August, 10am-5pm

Friday   3 August, 10am-5pm

Friday (Up Late)  3 August, 5pm-9pm

Saturday  4 August, 10am-6pm

Sunday   5 August, 11am-4pm

Melbourne Art Week Keynote at Deakin Edge, Fed Square, Melbourne

Tuesday  31 July, 6.30pm