MELBOURNE.- Finkelstein Gallery, Australia’s only contemporary art gallery dedicated to women artists has opened in Melbourne with its inaugural group exhibition Finkelstein Gallery presents which runs from 29 August to 28 September 2019. Founded by respected art consultant and advocate Lisa Fehily, the gallery will present works from some of Australia’s most exciting emerging and established female artists including Cigdem Aydemir, Lisa Roet, Louise Paramour, Monika Behrens, Kate Rohde, Kate Baker, Deborah Kelly, Coady and international artists Kim Lieberman and Sonal Kontaria.

Inspired by the under representation of female artists in Australia’s institutional collections and the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington D.C campaign #Fivewomenartists, Lisa Fehily felt the time was right to open the gallery.

“After working with artists for many years, I have been witness to female artists being overlooked, not being put forward for important exhibitions and institutions predominantly considering male artists for collections,” Fehily comments.

This under representation is reflected in recent figures which indicate that Australian commercial galleries show 40% female artists and state museums show 34% female artists. The gallery aims to address this imbalance, building on the work of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. which, in 2016, asked people if they could name five women artists.

Finkelstein Gallery will focus on nurturing the careers and promoting the works of its eight Australian women artists and two international artists both in Australia and particularly internationally.

Fehily says, “I have selected an exclusive group of talented female artists, whose unique voices combine their incredible insight into contemporary society, life as a female, cultural and historical understanding, together with extraordinary skills with concepts and mediums as artists.”

The gallery represents artists from a range of disciplines including Cigdem Aydemir, a performance and video artist who was the 2013 recipient of the Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize and is renowned for her socially and politically engaging works. Emerging pop artist for the 21st century, Coady conveys the pulse of contemporary culture, addictions and habits of consumption, injecting playful humour and thinly veiled horror across painting, sculpture, video, performance, installation and text.

Established visual art Deborah Kelly explores lineages of representation, politics and history in public exchange across a range of media, with her works exhibited around Australia, and in the Biennales of Singapore, Sydney, Thessaloniki, Tarra Warra and Venice. Lisa Roet’s work explores the relationship between humans and primates through her bronze sculptures, charcoal drawings, film and photography, with recent large-scale public art projects exhibited at Beijing Design Week and Business of Design Week, Hong Kong.

International artists include London-based visual artist Sonal Kantaria whose practice encompasses themes of migration, settlement and subcultures and South African conceptual artist Kim Lieberman whose works explore the colonial world and cultural understanding.