Australian Artists

Collecting Australian art

SOHO Galleries represents established and emerging Australian artists working across painting, sculpture and large-scale works. The collection spans contemporary and classical traditions, with a focus on pieces that hold their own in residential and commercial interiors.

Supporting Australian artists

Buying original work puts money directly into the hands of the person who made it. For working artists, that's not a small thing. Gallery sales fund studio time, material costs, and the ability to keep working. The piece you take home is connected to what comes next in their practice.

Emerging Australian artists

Some of the most interesting work in the current Australian art market is coming from artists who are still early in their careers. Early acquisition has obvious appeal, but the more honest reason to look at emerging work is that it's often less safe. Artists who haven't settled into a recognisable style yet tend to take more risks. SOHO Galleries actively shows emerging talent alongside established names. Browse new work by style in contemporary Australian art. We'd rather have a conversation about the work than hand you a biography.

Large-scale works

Scale changes what a work does in a room. A large canvas read from across a space is a different experience from the same image at 30 centimetres. If you're working with a significant wall or an open-plan interior, it's worth considering works that were made with that kind of viewing distance in mind rather than scaling up a small composition. A work that fills two-thirds of a wall reads well; one that's slightly too small for the space tends to look like an afterthought. We're happy to advise on sizing before you commit, or browse our oversized paintings.

Art and interior design

Art doesn't need to match the room. It needs to hold its own in the room. Colour harmony matters less than weight, presence, and whether the piece can anchor the space or needs to be carried by it. Lighting is worth getting right: most residential lighting is too warm and too diffuse for showing art properly, and a focused, cooler source, even a single adjustable track light, will change what you see in a work significantly. Framing is finishing. A simple, well-made frame that steps back and lets the painting read is almost always the right choice.

Famous Australian artists

From Albert Namatjira and the Heidelberg School to Sidney Nolan, Charles Blackman, Brett Whiteley and Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Australian art has a rich lineage, and the painters and sculptors we represent still work within it. Read our full guide to famous Australian artists, including the women artists and sculptors who shaped the canon.

That lineage runs straight into the gallery. James Willebrant emerged from Sydney's National Art School in the early 1970s into the same scene as Brett Whiteley, and was encouraged by Charles Blackman to hold his first exhibition; we also hold Blackman's own limited-edition sculptural works. See also our guides to Australian female artists and Australian female sculptors.

Australian artists represented by SOHO Galleries

The names above mostly hang in public collections. What follows is the part we can speak to first-hand — the artists we actually show and sell, browsable by name above.

On the painting side: Conchita Carambano, whose textured abstraction has been refined across four decades; James Willebrant, five decades of the Australian eastern seaboard, with prints held in the NGV and the Art Gallery of NSW; Phil Stallard on the Hawkesbury and Sydney's waterways; Yosi Messiah, Peter Griffen, Michael Whitehead, Gino Campagnaro, Geoff Coleman, Alison Mitchell and Amanda Ketterer.

On the sculpture side: Sonia Payes, winner of the McClelland Achievement Prize, with permanent public work in Western Australia and a solo exhibition behind her at Shanghai's Urban Planning Exhibition Centre; David McCracken, exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea; Mela Cooke in bronze; Lucas Guilbert in carved timber; and Greg Johns in corten steel.

Buy contemporary Australian art in Sydney

Australian contemporary art in Sydney runs from major institutions like the Art Gallery of New South Wales down to small commercial galleries showing one or two artists at a time. SOHO Galleries sits in the middle of that range. We're not large enough to mount museum surveys, but we carry enough depth across painting and sculpture that most collectors find more than one artist worth following.

If you're new to buying Australian art in Sydney, start with a few artists rather than trying to take in the whole collection at once. Click through to a couple of pages, look at how a single artist's work changes across a few paintings or pieces, and see what holds your attention longer than the first glance. That's usually a better filter than price or size.

Our gallery in Woollahra, Sydney carries a rotating selection of the artists listed here. We try to keep the site up to date, but what's in the gallery isn't always online yet — call ahead if you're after a specific artist or piece and we'll let you know where to find it.

Australian Artists FAQ

What is Australian contemporary art? Painting, sculpture and mixed-media work by living and recent Australian artists, spanning figurative, abstract and Indigenous traditions. It's distinct from the historical "Australian art" of the colonial and Heidelberg School periods, though contemporary artists often work in dialogue with that history.

Who are the most famous Australian artists? Depends on the era. From the Heidelberg School: Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, Frederick McCubbin. Among modernists: Margaret Preston, Sidney Nolan, Russell Drysdale. Post-war and contemporary: Brett Whiteley, John Olsen, Charles Blackman. In Aboriginal art, Albert Namatjira and Emily Kame Kngwarreye are the names most often cited as founding figures.

Who are the most significant Aboriginal artists in Australian art history? Albert Namatjira, who founded the Hermannsburg School; Emily Kame Kngwarreye, whose Utopia-period canvases are among the most admired bodies of work in Australian art; Minnie Pwerle, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and Rover Thomas are the other names most often named alongside them.

Which Australian artists does SOHO Galleries represent? On the painting side, artists including Conchita Carambano, James Willebrant, Phil Stallard, Yosi Messiah and Gino Campagnaro. On the sculpture side, Sonia Payes, David McCracken, Mela Cooke, Lucas Guilbert and Greg Johns, among others. The full roster is browsable above by name.

Where can I buy original Australian art in Sydney? SOHO Galleries, in Woollahra, has been a Sydney destination for original Australian art and sculpture for more than 35 years, with pieces available online and through the gallery.

What is contemporary Australian art? Contemporary, in this context, usually means work made from the late 20th century onward — but the more useful boundary is generational rather than strict dates. It spans painting, sculpture and mixed media, and much of it engages with identity, place and landscape without settling into a single style.

Is abstract art different from contemporary art? Not a separate category — abstract is one approach within contemporary practice, distinguished by what it leaves out rather than what it depicts. It works through colour, form and composition instead of a recognisable subject.

Can I view or trial artwork before buying? Yes. Local (Sydney) home trials are available, and we'd rather you saw a piece in the room it's going into than decide from a listing. Gallery viewings can be arranged directly.

Last updated: 5 October 2026