My first exhibition in Sydney during 1996 was held in an old former bank which had been converted into an art gallery space. It was a group show called “underemployed artists”. I remember being unsure as to how much I should price my work. I asked the gallery director who told me rather unhelpfully, “price them as high as you like” since by his reasoning if somebody likes the art enough they will buy it.

This gallery was what is known in the art world as an artist run space. Here the gallery director rents the space out to artists and often shows his/her own work, needless to say the life expectancy of artist run spaces in the cut throat real estate of inner city Sydney isn’t very long. If an artist run gallery lasts more than 3 years it is almost a veteran. So saying the gallery I was showing at didn’t last much longer. However the building remained, and over the years it became another well known artist run gallery, then a studio for various artists. Now 15 years later it has been converted into over priced inner city apartments, albeit with scarcely a shadow of its former bohemian past. I have mentioned this brief story since in a way it is a microcosm of what it is like to exist as an artist in Sydney. The constant struggle to find a gallery for emerging artists, the lack of studios and the exorbitant price of real-estate in the city due paradoxically in no small part to the bohemian allure of the area. Many artists and galleries now struggle to exist in the highly sought after properties of the inner city. So how can an artist survive in the yuppie renovator’s haven of the inner city ? Where are the galleries which might support an artists work ? How does an artist even get to exhibit work at a gallery. What if any are the alternatives to the gallery scene ? Which art supply shops are worth visiting ? How can an artist best navigate their way through the political games of the gallery scene ? Which art prizes are worth going in and what is the likelihood of success? How might an artist go about applying for government grants and scholarships. These are some of the things this blog will be exploring. Its not an easy road but as more than one artist has noted persistence can work wonders.