The Gallery
The gallery at fortyfivedownstairs had a distinguished history as a beautiful contemporary art space, much loved by Melbourne artists and audiences. For its new life (and name), we devised the philanthropic model of a curated space for hire which would charge a subsidised rent and no commission.
Since opening in 2002, the gallery has hosted up to 40 exhibitions a year, with over 700 exhibitions, and literally thousands of artists having the opportunity to exhibit their work in one of the most appealing spaces in Melbourne. The very first exhibition by Tim Jones sold a spectacular number of his exquisite small woodblock prints and set a precedent for sales which we always hope to continue.
Here are 45 images from our archives that capture the breadth of work presented at fortyfivedownstairs over the years.
'Ghost Town 4' by John Cullinane, included in the artist's 2004 exhibition
'flowers' (made out of sea shells) by Gay Hawkes, included in the artist's 2006 exhibition 'New Works'
'Plottings 2' by Ian Roberts, included in the artist's 2006 exhibition 'Plottings - Images before the shore'
'The Raconteur' by Gavin Brown, included in the artist's 2007 exhibition 'Behind the Curtain'
'Swarm' from Megan Evans' 2009 exhibition 'The Fall'
'Dog on Swan Street' by Cathy Drummond, included in the artist's 2009 exhibition
'Heavenly City 1' by Yang Yongliang, included in Mikala Tai's 2009 curated exhibition 'On the Quiet Water - Solo Exhibition of Yang Yongliang'
Install image of Pip Stokes' 2010 exhibition 'A Shrine for Orpheus'
'Untitled (Bushfire)' by Tamirat Gebremariam, included in the artist's 2010 exhibition 'Crossing Between Cultures'
'Solemnity Raven' by Anita Mertzlin, included in the artist's 2011 exhibition 'Skin Deep'
'saturdaytwentyeight2010' by Trevor Mein, included in the artist's 2011 exhibition 'Cumulus'
Install image of the 2011 Victorian Indigenous Art Award exhibition
'No U Turn Bridge Road' by James Yuncken, included in the artist's 2012 exhibition 'Walk to Work'
'3.' by Michael Pearce, included in the artist's 2013 exhibition 'Unwrapped Hong Kong'
'De Las Manos', included in Yunuen Pérez and Sissy M. Reyes' 2013 exhibition 'Mex-tli, Mexican Goddesses'
'The Neighbours' by Stephen Nova, included in the artist's 2013 exhibition 'The Architectural Uncanny'
'Mother and Child' by Judy Holding, included in the artist's 2013 exhibition 'Connections II', curated by Isabella Holding
Robert Lee Davis' 'C17', included in the artist's 2014 exhibition 'Then, Now and Everything Inbetween'
Image from Kate Durham's 2014 exhibition 'The Decorated Self'
Angela Cavalieri's 2015 exhibition 'Canzone - Music as Storytelling', featuring large scale prints based on the music of Monteverdi
Self portrait by Robyn Rich, included in the artist's 2016 Artist in Residency exhibition
'The Abandoned Ballroom' by Kip Scott, included in the artist's 2016 exhibition 'Abandoned India'
'Last Days' by David Mackie, included in the artist's 2016 exhibition 'Disfiguration - Sculptures from Italy'
'Street Art Flavour' by Jessica Kease, one of the winners of the 2017 Emerging Artist Award
Install image of Philip Faulks' 2017 exhibition 'Paper Pusher'
'Cate Blanchett' by Janita Ryan, included in the artist's 2017 exhibition 'Imaging the Filmic Gloriana - The Mask of Elizabeth'
'Adrift' by David Frazer, included in the artist's 2017 exhibition 'Happy Hour'
'High Country' by Terry Swann, included in the artist's 2017 exhibition 'Journeys Through Landscape'
Install image of Mike Nichols' 2018 exhibition 'Bird As Totem'
Install image of Andrew Scollo's 2018 exhibition 'Maximum Minimal'
'Bridges from One World' by Marco Luccio, included in the artist's 2018 exhibition 'Manhattan Dreaming'
Install image of Robbie Harmsworth's 2019 exhibition 'On Beauty'
Install image of Fiona Colin's 2019 exhibition 'I’m not a Robot'
'Something Special' by Marisa Wu, winner of the 2019 Emerging Artist Award
Install image of Rowan Chanen's 2019 exhibition 'A Dangerous Smile'
Install image of Michelangelo Russo's 2019 exhibition 'CARTONI containers contained'
'Early Morning Balwyn' by Penelope Metcalf, included in the artist's 2019 exhibition 'Since You’ve Been Gone'
'Shop Talk' by Alex Zubryn, included in the artist's 2019 exhibition of the same name
The opening of the 2019 SMALL exhibition
Install image of Jan Learmonth's 2020 exhibition 'Between Horizons'
Install image of Madeleine Joy Dawes' 2021 exhibition 'all most some none'
Install image of Janno's 2021 exhibition 'Making Nonsense'
'Willamstown front yard' by James Grant, included in the artist's 2021 exhibition 'Retreat'
Install image of the 2021 Emerging Artist Award exhibition, including one of the winners on the far left - 'We have food at home' by Jacklyn Foster
Install image of the 2021 King & Wood Mallesons Contemporary First Nations Art Award exhibition