A Fond Farewell to Ambush Gallery

words by josh ives

As the hymn-like Christmas tunes play their way through Sydney’s streets, they won’t be without the slightly bittersweet note of goodbye as we sayonara the highly successful but fleeting aMBUSH Gallery from our own Central Park Mall this summer.

Gone too soon, the 18-month venture led by owners Bill Dimas and John Wiltshire has certainly left its mark on Sydney’s art culture. Breathing new life into the genre, over the past year-and-a-half aMBUSH has boldly exhibited both local and international artists whilst curating a host of amazing events.

Their impressive stats boast almost 1 million visitors in attendance of over 200 projects curated and showcased by aMBUSH Gallery. This includes art exhibitions, launches, live music, creative conferences and featuring the best local and international talent, both established and upcoming – not bad for two guys who set up shop little more than a year ago, huh?

The boss @svenmarquardt at the artist talk before the opening of his debut Australian exhibition last Thursday titled 'Future's Past' – presented by @ambushgallery @gi_australien and @centralparkmall_ The exhibition will run until Sunday 5 June, 12-8pm daily. For an exhibition sales catalogue please email [email protected] #ambushgallery #goetheinstitut #centralparkmall_ #centralparksydney #chippendale #svenmarquardt #berghain #berghainberlin #berlin #headonphotofestival #sydney #photography #fineart #fineartphotography

A post shared by aMBUSH Gallery (@ambushgallery) on May 8, 2016 at 6:17pm PDT

Their mantra was simple: if its art, we’ll showcase it. This wide umbrella included contemporary art, digital media, fashion, object design, abstract illustration, photography, photojournalism and a whole boatload more.

They even established works outside the 4 walls of their gallery space, with public art projects such as Open in the Darling Quarter, which was so successful it will continue to be featured in the new year as part of Vivid 2017.

So it’s farewell for now, but not goodbye – for even though they have packed up their CBD home, aMBUSH Gallery will temporarily return to their original headquarters in Waterloo, where they will continue to innovate and inspire within the art community until the next chapter.

On behalf of QT Sydney, we would like to thank aMBUSH Gallery for the amazing work they have done in splashing a little colour to our little city. For without art and expression, we are devoid of humanity. Sometimes it’s nice to be reminded of the simpler things in life.

We are back this week at Hunter Street in Sydney's CBD with part two of the public art project featuring four more incredible artists – Shannon Crees @shannoncrees Brett Chan @brettchanyes (pictured) Regan Tamanui (Haha) @regantamanui and Aquaman @aquaman.art See them today Tuesday and tomorrow Wednesday from 11am to 2pm, then Thursday and Friday from 3-6pm. Photography by @billyzammit #ambushgallery #transportfornsw #hunterstreeturban #creativeplacemaking #placemaking #place #places #placestovisit #sydneyart #sydneyartist #streetart #urbanart #sydneycbd #sydney #hunterpops

A post shared by aMBUSH Gallery (@ambushgallery) on Jul 18, 2016 at 3:21pm PDT