commonspace

commonspace brings together a carefully selected group of contemporary artists with distinctive and considered practices.

Through exhibitions, collaborations and special projects, the program creates a space for dialogue between different ways of seeing, making and understanding.

Developed as part of Art Leven’s broader exhibition program, commonspace complements the gallery’s longstanding commitment to First Nations art by presenting artists whose work contributes to wider cultural and creative conversations.

The program consists in large part of two pillars:

Special projects such as “Country x Country”, where we ran a week-long workshop, planned around a two-person exhbition featuring long-time represented artist Kitty Simon Napanangka and Sydney painter Neil Ernest Tomkins, who accompanied us to the extremely remote Warlpiri community in Lajamanu.

The Art Leven Gallery Award as part of the The Paddington Art Prize. In addition to hosting the Paddington Art Prize in our Redfern gallery between 2022 and 2025, our director Mirri Leven awarded an artist to Art Leven Gallery Award – a $2,500 cash prize in addition to a solo exhibition as part of Art Leven’s program. Previous winners include Jay Staples & Stephen Brameld, Mignon Steele, and Emily Ebbs.

Featured Exhibitions

Emily Ebbs is a visual artist living and working on Gadigal land (Sydney), Australia. Her process-based practice explores stain as both material and metaphor, evoking the emotional residue of memory through the language of staining.

‘New Works By’ is a solo exhibition by Walyalup (Fremantle) artist duo Stephen Brameld and Jay Staples, recipients of the 2024 Art Leven award as part of the Paddington Art Prize. As self-taught artists practicing in painting, sculpture and video, Brameld and Staples simultaneously work on the same artwork until they reach a point of mutual recognition.

A new era of Cooee Art represents an exciting development for the gallery and for the wider art community in Australia. Although the gallery will remain focused on First Nations art, going forward as Art Leven, the gallery will exhibit non-Indigenous alongside First Nations artists, through specially curated individual projects.