side on gallery
Grant - ‘side on’ as a contemporary gallery has been going for about three years. It was initiated by the guys who own this building - a film company called ‘side on’. After a year and a half it wasn’t that well known outside of a certain group of people. Then four of us came in under a new co-directorship. We are all young artists and we wanted to re-invigorate it and get it known to a wider audience. Tim - It started off with a very strong painting focus so when we came in we wanted to expand it to include installation, photography, film and interactive events.
Tim - We ask for proposals and if we like somebody’s work we will invite them to come and exhibit. I guess we are looking for someone that’s doing something different and isn’t just being complacent about art. Grant - We don’t have a blanket policy on who we exhibit. We try and show work that’s exploring new ways of communicating. T.U. Do you steer away from traditional work? Tim - Yes we do steer away from traditional ‘on the wall’ painting and photography. There are already plenty of places where you can go to show that kind of work. Grant - that doesn’t necessarily mean that we wouldn’t show straight painting or photography, we take each submission on it’s own merit. The good thing about having four directors is that you have four different inputs into the choosing process. I think people appreciate that we are unpredictable and not tied down to one house style. T.U. How does this place differ from the commercial galleries in Sydney? Tim - Well it’s an artist run space. There’s no pressure to sell. People are free to do installation work which is more often than not unsaleable. Also the gallery is non profit so anything we make goes back into the gallery.
Grant - Gradually, yes. It is our intention to push the space out into a more public forum. We’re very happy about the increasing coverage of what we are doing here. Most publications already have a spectrum of galleries that they cover so it’s hard to push yourself inside that spectrum but I think we are getting there. T.U. We spoke to an established and successful artist recently who said that anybody who is not getting exhibited is not getting exhibited because they are s**t. What so you think about that? Tim - (laughs) I think that’s an over confident statement from somebody who’s already made it and therefore doesn’t have the problem of needing to find a space. I mean, in NSW alone you have over five hundred art graduates each year. I think there is a lot of talent out there that doesn’t get a chance. T.U. What about the future for the side on gallery? Tim - We just want more people to know what we are doing, what we’re about, to visit the gallery and look up the website (see links - Ed). We want more people to be involved. side on gallery is situated at 176 Parramatta Rd., Sydney. Contactable at ph.(02) 9568 5048, Fax (02) 9564 5703, E-mail http://www.personal.usyd.edu.au/~gayre/sideon.html David Cotter
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