Four Underground Bondi Art Galleries

words by niall roeder

The hidden gems are often your best bet. Not always, but a lot of the time the secret bars, hidden cafes, mysterious eateries and whatnot are more fun because you smugly know that not everyone is in the loop. In this case, I’m referring to the lesser-known art galleries of Bondi.

You might have heard of them, you might not – either way, they regularly have tremendous art on display so a visit or revisit could and should be in order.

Le Petit Bateau
An art collective? At this time of year? In this part of the country? Localised entirely within a Waverley backyard? Yes, that is exactly what Le Petit Bateau is and yes, you can see it. Forgive the Simpsons’ Aurora Borealis reference, but when I found out there was an underground creative co-op run by Anne-Sophie Ridelaire, a curator from Paris, and her husband Gaetano Russo, an Italian boat designer, I was delightedly taken aback. Based in Sydney, France and Italy, the group brings a Euro-touch to the Eastern suburbs, consistently putting on exhibitions, workshops, installations, screenings and performances. Don’t even look at what’s currently showing, just go.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BL3DOExDEhD/?hl=en

Art Moment Gallery
This Curlewis Street gallery aims to bring cultural diversity to the Sydney art scene by promoting both uniquely Aussie and talented international artists. At the moment, Art Moment is showing Beauty in Everyday Objects – a series of mixed media wall pieces by the gallery founder, Inna Moshkovich. Despite the hard to read website, the gallery is worth a look.

Blule
Clementine is a French illustrator living in Sydney that goes by the self-described superhero mask-name of Blule. Her Curlewis Street studio doubles as a gallery for her hundreds of action-dreamer watercolour paintings. Whether you’re a fan of the Purple One or not, definitely check out the Prince collection.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BR7akkNBb1j/?taken-by=doodleblule

Art Atrium
The Art Atrium is about exceptional contemporary Australian, Asian and Aboriginal art. That’s their bag, baby. They have a big crew of contributing artists, including Julie Poulson, Graham Toomey and Khue Nguyen, and they often organise exhibitions from various Aboriginal community art centres, like Tiwi Design from Bathurst Island and Lockhart River Art from North Queensland. This gallery is a little more formal that the previous, but one for the list nonetheless. Tip – check out Neil Taylor’s Cuba-inspired watercolours currently on display – especially if you’ve been lucky enough to go there.