by Noëlle Rathmell-Stiels
The 2024 Sydney Oceanic Art Fair at the Art Leven Gallery in Redfern was a great success thanks to a dynamic organising subcommittee under the leadership of Warwick Majcher. The opening gala was well attended and the fundraising auction with pieces donated by generous OAS members was conducted by Erwin Kok with the assistance of Alex Philips.
Geoff Carey gave a moving commentary about the piece he donated to the auction, a huge old drum from the Sepik. This was sold for a four-figure sum to Mirra Leven, and half of the proceeds will be used to launch the ‘Sepik Education Fund’, a trust fund set up by Geoff and Chris Boylan to pay the university costs of a nursing student from a remote Sepik River village, with which the pair have developed a strong relationship over many years. Anyone interested in helping Geoff and Chris make a difference can contact
[email protected].
Trading on the Sunday was lively and brisk, with just short of a hundred visitors, and a lot of pieces went out of the door. Even though two prominent stallholders were absent this year, the quality of some items on display was striking and sufficient to attract interstate interest and even a prominent international collector and dealer,
Mark Blackburn.
Coming just a month after the Parcours des Mondes in Paris, at which I counted no less than sixteen Australian visitors this year, the SOAF sales day saw less through traffic than last year: just like the week in Paris. But in both places, there seemed to be plenty of very enthusiastic attendees and active buyers, and all the current global uncertainties and anxieties have suppressed the enjoyment and appreciation of Oceanic art only a little, if at all.
