The gallery was founded in 1978 by Melbourne painter and photographer Wes Placek. He was joined in the early 80's by his partner Sophie Nowicka a textile designer and artist, who assisted in administration of the gallery and in curatorial selection of exhibitions.
Location
When it opened, the gallery occupied the top floor of a 1920s shopfront in the main street at 127 Buckley St., near the railway station in the working-class suburb Essendon. In 1987 the Gallery was relocated, closer to Melbourne CBD and amongst a growing number of other galleries. Though it also showed other media, it was among contemporary specialist photography galleries The Photographers' Gallery, Brummels and Church Street that revived the medium as an art form. The new space, with four times the floor area, was in a former warehouse in North Fitzroy at 150 Park Street on the corner of Best Street, opposite a linear park created from the Inner Circle Railway Line which had closed in 1981.
Reception
A range of exhibitions included emerging artists and those well recognised nationally and internationally. While located in Essendon, in the opinion of The Age newspaper art reviewer Beatrice Faust, Placek's exhibitions "accumulated a lot of critical capital," as it "showed small collections of consistently good and sometimes excellent work," including Robert Mapplethorpe's 1983 photogravure suite 'Flowers', and also Bettina Rheims. However, in her 1987 review, just after the relocation, Faust feared the extra space would affect the quality of the work shown, though favourable reviews continued. It signifies the impact of the Gallery, that founder Placek was himself included, among many of the past exhibitors at Artists Space, in the landmark survey show and publication of photography of the 1970s and 1980s, The Thousand Mile Stare.
Closure
Artists Space Gallery closed in 1990.
Exhibitions included
1984: Ryszard Otręba, prints
1986, October 11–November 9: Sol Weiner
1986, November 17–December 14: Displaced Objects - Works by Chris Barry
1987, to August 30: Lauren McIntyre
1987, from Nov 4: "Just Wot”, an exhibition of visual poetry. Incl. Mimmo Cozzolino, Norma Pearce, Anthony Figallo, Julie Clarke-Powell
1987, to 31 December: Urban Structures, Janina Green, Lita Los Angeles, Bernice McPherson, Craig McGee, Wes Placek.
1988, to 29 Feb: Michael Caddy, Di Clark, Ann Slater
