Michael Reid: 2011 A Year In Review

Earlier this year I up and bought myself a serious watch as a self-congratulatory big ‘pat on the back’ for sailing through a challenging four-year global recession.

Maybe that was a tad hasty.

On reflection my frivolous, almost bacchanalian, watch splurge might nearly have triggered an international double-dip recession - or that could have been the Democrats and Republicans failing mid-year to agree on domestic debt restructuring? Whichever was the catalyst, mid to late 2011 turned out to be as awkward as the most challenging days of 2009. Thankfully all improved in late October and, taken as a whole, 2011 was a great success and here are the many reasons why (to read as a newsletter or PDF).

The gallery year started in February with a near sell-out Sarah Field exhibition. The major work – a banquet table of abundant foods made out of human hair - sold to a significant London collector. This exhibition was a major step up for the artist and, once installed, the gallery resembled Miss Havisham’s wedding feast in Great Expectations (although thankfully there was no all-consuming fire at the end).

In March Michael Reid at Elizabeth Bay was a supporting partner of Art Month Sydney 2011. This was not unexpected given that I was Art Month’s founder and one of its directors but nonetheless the gallery dug deep to be a financial supporter of this most worthwhile event.

Our exhibition during Art Month saw a significant creative collaboration between the artist John Young and furniture designer Khai Liew, entitled Empathy. A collaboration that, I am proud to say, will be born anew as plans are afoot for a significant interstate art museum exhibition in 2012 to replicate the gallery’s creativity! Co-authored by Khai Liew, John Young and Aaron Seeto an important catalogue was published in hardcopy and online to coincide with Empathy. This ongoing commitment to serious art reference publications was a 2011 hallmark. Joseph McGlennon accompanied his sell-out May photographic exhibition, Strange Voyage, with a beautiful, fully illustrated hardcopy catalogue including an essay by Mark Kimber, Studio Head of Photography and New Media at the University of South Australia.

Alongside exhibition catalogues the gallery worked with artists, editors and designers to tackle several art reference books. At my urging sculptor Stephen Hart, Louise Martin-Chew and Hendrik Kolenberg authored Spent Time: Stephen Hart Sculpture, Arthouse, 2011 (including Spent Time: The Work of Stephen Hart, DVD Alex Chomicz). My all things words right-hand person and co-author Emily Cloney, the artist Nathan Taylor and I have for the better part of this year been working on a large - almost panoramic - art book survey of Nathan’s work to be published by the gallery in late 2012. I posted out one hundred copies of Australian Art: Who, when, what and how much? (again co-authored by Emily Cloney) to major collectors who have purchased through the gallery. A copy of this book is now available direct from the printer and makes a very special Christmas present. Do please consider.

Emily and I will be embarking on a much-needed large format art reference book on Regina Wilson in 2012.

Not long after I had purchased my watch, Nellie and I went on a mid-April to mid-May Grand Tour of Singapore, Berlin and London. We attended a wedding (but not the wedding) in a small village in the north of England which was a magical experience and the whole month was a great deep breath of fun and learning. Maybe it’s the culture that I come from or maybe it was just inside my head but I had always believed that the best of art practice resided outside of Australia. Well, now I know that it does not. Coming back from overseas I realised that much of what the gallery does - from exhibitions to publications to communications - is world’s best practice. In fact, given the many ways by which my colleagues and I engage with our collectors, I believe that our gallery is a world leader in so many aspects of the art trade (although Agnew’s in London does have really nifty lights).

In 2011 my colleagues and I hosted a good half dozen private client dinners in the gallery (these and all our numerous art events can be found on the gallery Flickr page). I also hosted several Belle magazine Artist Dinners including an Art Month John Young & Khai Liew dinner at Martyn Cook Antiques, Marina Strocchi dinner in Sydney’s Mosman and a Jason Benjamin dinner in Brisbane. In early November Regina Wilson made a heroic trip down from Peppimenarti in the Northern Territory to host another highly important creative collaboration exhibition and dinner with the designers Koskela. Held off-site at the Yellow House in Sydney and co-hosted by JB Were it was one fantastic evening. Trust me: feed them and they do come. In terms of non-food related art education Andrew Frost’s A Bluffer’s Guide to Contemporary art in October was so enthusiastically received that another series of lectures on that subject is planned for 2012.

The vast majority of art events and exhibitions undertaken by Team Reid are naturally enough focused around the Sydney gallery. However, a standout art event of the year was the fully subscribed to overflowing Leo Schofield House & Garden Murrurundi day in late March. Leo is amazing. He is a deep well of knowledge and to co-present with him on the day was to experience a masterclass given by a great raconteur. It is a privilege to work with him.

Spending about 40% of my time at Murrurundi I was able to view at my leisure Lucy Vader’s first solo exhibition which was a sell-out and then some. We sold all the works in the exhibition, those in the stockroom and an additional five paintings brought in by Lucy towards the end of the three-month exhibition run. It was a massive, highly successful effort all around.

Five years after it opened, Murrurundi has certainly gained success, traction and a life of its own. Strongly believing that it is the place where we intend to spend more of our time, Nellie and I purchased a house adjoining our property (and I now totally understand why countries invade their neighbours). We have extended the garden and intend eventually to demolish the recently acquired, butt-ugly house and to build a visiting artist’s studio.

About mid-year we started to represent the highly established contemporary artists and art stars Deborah Paauwe and Marian Drew. Imagine our pride when Marian Drew was exhibited at Photoquai, 3ème biennale des images du monde, at the Musée du quai Branly, Paris. My colleagues and I were so excited you’d have thought we’d taken Marian’s photographs ourselves.

The gallery now represents seventeen artists. My colleagues and I take the responsibilities of representation very seriously and we consider seventeen (or thereabouts) to be the upper limit in terms of the number of artists’ careers that we can micro-manage. I have no idea how some galleries have forty to sixty artists on their books but many do. I can only guess that the term ‘representation’ carries a significantly different meaning at my gallery than it does at many others.

There have been many artists’ personal bests in 2011. However the gallery has been privileged over the last six months to facilitate two highly significant family portraits undertaken by John Young, one of Australia’s leading contemporary painters and one of the very few artists who regularly exhibits overseas (in Germany, Hong Kong and China). The commissioning process is a very personal journey. John meets with the family to discuss their intentions and to gather up the aesthetic framework particular to their circumstances and family. Each Young painting combines the elements of Western and Eastern perspectives overlayed with material culture specific to the family - the objects they love and enjoy. In fact the artist and gallery are enjoying the process so much that we intend, over the next ten years, to gather back in his family portraits to exhibit as a specific body of work. This will be a most interesting exhibition.

Our bricks and mortar exhibitions at Elizabeth Bay, Murrurundi, Danks Street and elsewhere were complemented in 2011 with a number of highly curated online exhibitions. Small but concise offerings by artists such as Rammey Ramsey, Jason Benjamin, Adam Cullen (an important archive), Gregor Kregar, and a near sell-out showing of crochet phalli by Kirsten Fredericks made emails fun again. One online smash hit saw a client purchase the entire E. K. Young Collection of Central Australian Aboriginal Artefacts from the Zanesville Museum of Art, Ohio, USA. Online exhibitions work for me.

And so do secondary market resales. In 2011 the gallery was able to position a number of highly important paintings in art museums and private collections, both in and outside of Australia. These included two Arthur Streeton paintings, an early Charles Blackman oil self-portrait; a large David Larwill oil, a late 19th century Emmanuel Phillips Fox oil from his time in France, and an album of 19th century albumen paper prints of Aboriginal people. In addition we achieved a record price for a large Ben Quilty (originally sold by the gallery), plus the positioning of several other works by Quilty; a major eX de Medici found a new home and both a Ken Unsworth suspended stone sculpture and a Kylie Stillman installation made it into good collectors’ hands.

I am pleased to report that our Sydney-wide art transport service, launched in March, has been ‘run off our feet’ successful. As a result, in November the gallery welcomed on board Irishman Richard Fitzgerald - qualified house painter and semi-professional soccer player - to work on the art transport and art hanging side of gallery services. In addition to delivering artworks my colleague James Culkin rolled out a number of new services to collectors including art installation and the design of hanging systems, purpose-built plinths, plan drawers, armatures, shelving and art storage systems for home or business. We also create safe, customized crating and can assist with shipping to anywhere in the world. We work with interior designers and provide architectural advice on hanging and lighting.

In the parallel universe of click space in late 2011 we’ve updated our iPhone app - 38% of all our emails opened are done so on an iPhone. Not resting on our laurels we are right in the middle of developing possibly the first commercial gallery iPad App in Australia (due early Feb 2012). The Michael Reid iPad app will give anytime, anywhere access to works by some of the most important Australian contemporary artists of our time. You will be able to explore and learn about your favourite works and artists, refresh your memory of works you’ve already seen, watch videos and zoom in on images to indulge your inner curator.

The iPhone and iPad apps are designed to complement the gallery’s, comprehensive website, Flickr page (45,000 views), Facebook presence (1,400 friends), Twitter feed, email notices and specialist Art Tube video presentations. Michael Reid at Elizabeth Bay is committed to unlocking new ways for audiences to engage with artworks. Oh and our website is also in the process of being totally updated and split to accommodate our Sydney, Murrurundi and London (watch this space and australianartlondon.co.uk) art galleries.

So lets talk briefly about London. I believe that now- even amidst much turmoil and uncertainty- is an opportune time to establish a gallery space in London, for the permanent representation of Australian artists. The key to this endeavour is that the representation must be permanent and real time- a specialist on the end of the telephone and in the gallery- to speak with collectors and art museums professionals about Australian art.

I have had a number of meetings, with a former colleague Lucy Parsons (nee Meakin), about coming on board in London to establish and run the space. A more detailed biography for Lucy can be found at my website, already under Services…. European Contacts or alternatively lucymeakin.com

The London space would work with a select group of Australian contemporary artists- those whose practice would be of great interest to European and Australian expat collectors and art museums. The London space would represent and exhibit a select number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and or communities. The key to this mix of representation is highly selected, museum quality artworks hung and rotated amidst curated exhibitions. Planning for the gallery is well underway and we expect a soft opening of the space towards the mid to end of 2012

In August and September the spectre of Greece defaulting came to haunt the world, including the Australian economy, leading to roller coaster stock prices and a slump in consumer confidence. Faced with what I could not control, I did what I always do at that time of year and spent a week at the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, flitting between two friends’ boats - I make very good ballast. From boating to polo: in September Team Reid sponsored a string of ponies for the Scone Spring Polo Cup. Our team came third. Although not tired, I became exceedingly emotional. The Fickr photos are a must. The second half of the year also allowed me the opportunity to spend time in my role as deputy chair of the Foundation of the Historic Houses Trust.

During November I hosted two Peter MacCullum Cancer centre art tours of Sculpture by the Sea in Sydney and our annual art bus tour of studios and private collections in Melbourne.

Whilst I was on a seemingly endless jolly my colleagues Nicola Townsend, Rebecca Richards and James Culkin – possibly fleeing me - shot across to the August Auckland Art Fair. The gallery will be exhibiting a number of important contemporary New Zealand artists in 2012 (Marc Blake & Robert McLeod) and, in addition to our alliance partnership with Webb’s, New Zealand’s premier auction house, we have consolidated some significant New Zealand relationships during 2011.

After five years my aunt Jill Reid is stepping back from the management of the Murrurundi gallery. Jill and the team have taken an empty space and turned Murrurundi into one of the most important commercial galleries in rural and regional Australia. Bruce Tindale was recently the manager of the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery where, since 2007, he has overseen the development of its conservation room and collection storage facility. He has a background in public arts administration having been the Administrator for the Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney; Assistant Director, Tamworth City Gallery; Director at Moree Plains Gallery; and Manager of Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre. Bruce has worked closely in developing the public collections in these facilities and maintains a strong interest in regional arts development. He has been a member of the Regional and Public Galleries NSW board since 2004 and in 2009 was appointed to the Committee on Taxation Incentives for the Arts, Cultural Gifts Program in Canberra. Bruce will take up his position at Murrurundi in early January

As I have always said, ‘Never waste a good recession’. It has been a very good year indeed.

I would like to end this missive with a mention of the most important of all people. I would very much like to thank my colleagues Wally Caruana (Caruana & Reid Fine Art), Emily Cloney (Publications), James Culkin (Built Environment), Richard Fitzgerald (Art Transport), Nellie Dawes (Director); Rebecca Richards (Gallery Manager), Jill Reid (Murrurundi), Nicky Townsend (who calls me The Freak) and our 2011 graduate intern Charles Henyon. My colleagues are the best in the business - of that there can be absolutely no doubt - and their focus, hard work and dedication in showcasing the best in Australian art is without peer.

And for the record, the watch was a Rolex Submariner and it is not the stainless steel version.

Exhibitions

Deck the Halls!, a selection of artworks from Michael Reid at Elizabeth Bay, all capable of being purchased online for your convenience.

Wilson Parking Station on Ward Street is the closest parking station to the Gallery.

Street Map of Elizabeth Bay gallery

Adam Lester: New Works, on view at Michael Reid at Murrurundi until the end of February 2012, all capable of being purchase online for your convenience

The gallery Michael Reid at Elizabeth Bay will be closed 21st December & reopening 1st February 2012

The gallery Michael Reid at Murrurundi will remain open Friday till Sunday over January- excluding Public Holidays

Publications

Australian Art: Who, when, what and how much? 2011 by Emily Cloney & Michael Reid hardcopy now available direct from the printer- this would make a very special Christmas present (as you can not buy it else where) 200 books sold in November alone!

How to Buy & Sell Art - greatly revised and updated edition, 2008 by Michael Reid The art world can be an intimidating one for the experienced buyer let alone the aspiring collector. With this highly-regarded and witty handbook on the world of collecting, Michael Reid arms buyers with a no-nonsense, informative map to the issues surrounding the buying and selling of art.

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For more information visit michaelreid.com.au or call +61 2 8353 3500

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