Over the past 19 years, it’s impossible to pick a single favourite exhibition at Artereal Gallery, as each one has been a unique journey with its own story, challenges, and triumphs. However, there are a few that stand out not just for their exceptional execution, but for their ambition, innovation, and the way they pushed the boundaries of what art exhibitions can be. These exhibitions were bold in concept and execution, often defying expectations and breaking new ground. They represent moments when we, as a gallery, embraced the unusual, the experimental, and the transformative, creating spaces where both artists and audiences could truly experience something extraordinary. Here, the Artereal team reflects on a collection of memorable shows that left an indelible mark on us all.

Luisa Catanzaro – Founder and Director.
Most Memorable Shows: Ken + Julia Yonetani

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Hard as it is to narrow it down, the two exhibitions we presented with Ken + Julia Yonetani in 2011 and 2012 stand out as truly extraordinary moments. In 2011, Ken + Julia sat down with us and shared their vision for a series of sculptures made entirely from pure Murray River salt. At that stage, they had only just begun experimenting with this rare and unconventional medium, but we were immediately captivated by their concept. The resulting exhibition, Still Life: The Food Bowl, was nothing short of alchemical. The intricacy and sheer scale of the world they built from salt was breathtaking—an illuminated vision of fragility and environmental urgency. That month, over 4,000 visitors passed through the gallery, and it got to the point where I considered making T-shirts that read: Yes, it really is made from salt and nothing else. No, you can’t lick it. This body of work went on to receive international acclaim, touring major institutions worldwide. That it all began at Artereal is something I will always take immense pride in.

This was followed by Crystal Palace, the exhibition that launched the Yonetanis’ uranium chandeliers onto the world stage. Stepping into the pitch-black gallery, illuminated only by the eerie green glow of uranium-infused chandeliers, was nothing short of transformative. It was a moment of pure metamorphosis—the gallery space itself seemed to dissolve into something otherworldly.

Perhaps what makes these exhibitions so meaningful to me is that we were there at their inception. We witnessed the spark of an idea, the painstaking experimentation, and the eventual manifestation of artworks that would go on to leave an indelible mark. We stood at the coalface of their creative process, watching Ken + Julia Yonetani cement their international reputation for ambitious, large-scale, and conceptually daring works—art that unearths history, politics, and contemporary crises to create something that truly resonates and makes you think.

“What makes these exhibitions so meaningful to me is that we were there at their inception. We witnessed the spark of an idea, the painstaking experimentation, and the eventual manifestation of artworks that would go on to leave an indelible mark”

– Luisa Catanzaro

Rhianna Melhem – Associate Director.
Most Memorable Shows: Jason Wing and Ebony Russell

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It feels almost impossible to choose a standout or memorable show from the hundreds I’ve worked on during my time at Artereal. But if I had to narrow it down to two, my choices would be Jason Wing’s Battleground exhibition and Ebony Russell’s solo show Sad Birthday.

Jason Wing’s exhibition was the first show slated for our reopening after the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. It opened in June 2020 and was initially meant to present a new Captain James Crook work alongside a series of shields that had previously debuted at the National Gallery of Australia as part of Defying Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial in 2017. This alone would have made for a powerful exhibition. But the day before installation, Jason sent me a message asking if he could also bring in new works he’d created in response to the Black Lives Matter march in Sydney that weekend.

Jason arrived for install with five new works—a series of steel shields, similar to the earlier works from the Triennale—emblazoned with powerful political statements that not only stopped you in your tracks but forced you to reflect. I remember being completely floored by how prescient and timely these new works were, realizing that never again would an exhibition so perfectly capture a pivotal moment in history as it was unfolding. Several of these works sold to important collections, with two heading to the National Gallery of Victoria. It was a series I know will live on and continue to spark important conversations.

As for Ebony Russell’s show, the particular body of work sticks in my mind for a different reason. I remember watching Ebony develop and refine her now-iconic piped porcelain technique leading up to her solo show, feeling an overwhelming sense of excitement. I knew I was witnessing someone truly exceptional, creating work that would not only lay the foundation for a lasting legacy but also define her as an artist of note. Ebony has proven me right, over and over again—most recently winning the international 2025 Brookfield Properties Craft Award and having her work acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, one of the most iconic and influential museums in the world.

“I remember being completely floored by how prescient and timely these new works were, realizing that never again would an exhibition so perfectly capture a pivotal moment in history as it was unfolding.” 

– Rhianna Melhem

Barbara Dowse – Curator.
Most Memorable Shows: Hayden Fowler and the 10 Year Anniversary series

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We were 10 in 2016! The 10 Year Anniversary two-part group show X/1and X/2, surveyed and celebrated the art and artists of the gallery’s first decade. it is significant for what it reveals of the Artereal ethos, aspirations and organic evolution since 2006 when collector Luisa Cantanzaro realised a long-held ambition to establish a gallery.

The anniversary shows unveil an emphasis on innovation and experimentation in materials and techniques, in conversations around identity, spirituality, environmental impacts, the phenomenon of light, the power of paint and the politics of gender that continue through the decade, presented in media ranging across performance, photo-media, sculpture, painting, printmaking, fibre art and installation by our wide diversity of artists. A prescient pink neon sculpture, Here – I Am, commissioned from Noula Diamantopoulos for the anniversary exhibitions, signalled both our sense of arrival and the cryptic philosophical conundrum: ”here – I  am / I  am – here / am – I  here”.

Among the solo shows that resonate from the Artereal years is artist-activist Hayden Fowler’s exhibition Captive Born in 2021.  It is a crie-de-coeur for the plight and collapse of ecosystems and the rapid rate of extinction of so many at-risk animal species. A lament, seeking to reawaken our innate human connection with animals and respect for habitat and indigenous knowledge systems. A plea that is central to Hayden’s life and artistic practice.

The artist blacked out the gallery with laboriously layered black-painted paper paste-ups, covering the street frontage and announcing the exhibition title scrawled in bleeding white paint. Within the dimmed gallery interior, Hayden Fowler’s video, Captive Born screened, depicting a lone Dingo. An eerie acid-orange light leaks through a dirty sky-light, illuminating the barren space where the Dingo stands, paces and sleeps; confined within a neglected zoo exhibit reminiscent of the 1933 footage of the last living Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger) in the Hobart Zoo. Petrified forests are memorialised in She-Oak. A totemic blasted, blackened stump emits weak, stuttering vaporous whisps. Wall mounted blankets as artefacts of ritual and mantles of comfort, over-stitched with lyrics from protest artist Anohni’s climate-change anthem ‘4 degrees’ extend the environmental messaging. Despite the grim reality, the elegiac exhibition is infused, aesthetically and philosophically with a sense of transcendence of spirit, of resistance and enlightenment.

After 19 years, Artereal Gallery closed in March 2025. This article is part of the gallery’s ‘On Reflection’ series of essays.