Artists: Aaron Fell-Fracasso, Lee Bethel, Leonie Watson, India Mark, Nick Santoro, Christopher Zanko, Frank Nowlan, Gabrielle Adamik, Marie J. Engelsvold (DK), Sofi Lardner Häggström (SWE), Rebecka Bebben Andersson (SWE).

The Egg and Dart Gallery finds inspiration and provocation in being a gallery outside of the large cities that, historically, have been perceived as the most important centres of art. The gallery is located in Thirroul, a village on the coast between Sydney and Wollongong. The area has a distinct history that inflects the practices of artists that work in the area, but has also, historically, looked to the north for sustenance. However, this model of dependence is being thoroughly challenged.

Since at least the nineteen seventies, Australian artists have confronted the tyranny of the distance between them and the perceived centres of art in European and American cities, especially New York. This is a global pattern of “centre” and “periphery” that we have seen repeated at the national level. But, in our increasingly mobile and mediated contemporary world, it is no longer a useful distinction.

Contrary to the idea that artists must always (physically and/or conceptually) move towards the “centre”, the Egg and Dart Gallery is both a point of origin and a destination. It initiates projects that engage regionally, with Illawarra artists, nationally, with artists from other similarly “regional” areas, and internationally, including a productive relationship being forged with a number of Scandinavian artists since the arrival of our Swedish gallery manager.

The Egg and Dart Gallery blurs the distinctions between commercial gallery, artist-run space and artist collective. It is a focal point, a site for solo and group exhibitions, as well as a point of origin and a place of exchange for art and ideas. Its collaborations conceptualise distance, modes of communication and the creative potential of translation across time and space.

Banner image: Aaron Fell-Fracasso, Grundsund, 2016. Mixed media and collage on paper, 98.5 x 98 cm.

Gallery image credits:
Aaron Fell-Fracasso, Grundsund, 2016, mixed media and collage on paper, 98.5 x 98 cm

Frank Nowlan, The Fireman, 2014, oil on board, 91 x 61 cm

Gabrielle Adamik, Trophy for Idleness, 2015, glass and silicone, 65 x 24 x 24 cm

India Mark, Domestica (triptych), 2016, Oil on panel, 10 x 10 cm

Leonie Watson, 2016, Girl with a yellow, pink and blue earring, watercolour and coloured pencil on Arches paper, 75 x 56.5 cm

Nick Santoro, Shallow Kids: Klub Kids at Kudos,  2016, acrylic on board, 31 x 30.5 cm