It is a privilege to be opening our new premises with an inaugural exhibition showcasing one of Australia’s most important artists, Rover Joolama Thomas.

Rover holds a significant place in the history of Australian art, and it has been a privilege to bring together this carefully curated selection of his artwork for this exhibition. This being the first solo presentation of Rover’s work held in Sydney since Rover Thomas: I Want To Paint at the Art Gallery of New South Wales twenty years ago, we felt it incumbent to show the strongest selection of works – even if not all works are for sale. To this end we are gratefully for the loans from the various private collections that have allowed for the inclusion of Mistake Creek, 1983; Kununurra Bridge, 1986 and Barramundi Dreaming, 1992.

Rover Thomas’ works are exceedingly rare, with estimates by academics indicating that he only produced around 500 paintings. From that small group of works, at least 100 paintings are found in public collections in Australia and beyond, making Rover Thomas the artist with perhaps the highest proportion of paintings in institutional collections in Australia – a clear indicator of the importance of his incredible oeuvre. The rarity of Rover Thomas’ work puts him in the league of artists such as Mark Rothko, who over the course of a longer career painter just over 800 works. Rover certainly felt an artistic connection to the American painter, and famously remarked to Wally Caruana upon seeing his work: “that bugger paints like me!”

We hope that this first solo presentation in Sydney in almost twenty years will bring a reinvigorated interest in Rover as an artist and the incredible figure he is within Australian art.

Download the exhibition catalogue here