Brett Whiteley Studio — Attraction in Sydney

Great ain't it? When you don't know much about the artist's work except that he is an Aust icon, vaguely recollect you don't quite like his art - what the memory bank trawls up. By chance, you follow your friends & then find that Brett's art is arresting - some a lot more than the others..

Just love these sort of encounters, especially when the eye & mind in the passage of time perceives differently.

Current exhibition (Sun 10 Sep visit) is focused on 10 years of his life between 1959 - 69. Appreciated this as first intro to Brett's work - it showcased enough to assimilate & ruminate without too much quantity.

Staff at entry desk was super helpful & welcoming. Saddened to hear his daughter Arkie who was in the 80s drama Prisoners died young from cancer.

A book on the coffee table upstairs caught my eye - Native Rose. On my recent first visit to Uluru & Kata Tjuta Nat Park - my eyes perceived the geo formations exactly as Brett has painted it!

The toilet is mod con nice. Very small gift shop with postcards, books & poster prints of artworks & gen info incl. Wendy Whiteley’s Secret Garden next to Sydney's Luna Park. We got the Light Rail from city George's St to a stop close by to this gallery - the home where artist & family lived...

The Brett Whiteley Studio was the workplace and home of Australian artist, Brett Whiteley (1939–92).

The artist bought the former warehouse in 1985 and converted it into a studio and exhibition space. He lived there from 1987 to 1992, the year he died in Thirroul.

The visitor is offered the unique opportunity to experience the atmosphere of the space – the studio with his unfinished paintings, art equipment and collections of reference books, and the graffiti wall covered with quotes and images.

The living area has memorabilia such as photographs, objects, postcards, furniture, his music collection and sketchbooks. The gallery has changing exhibitions of the artist’s works: paintings, drawings, sculpture and graphics borrowed from the Whiteley Estate, Art Gallery of New South Wales and private collections.

There is a small gallery shop with postcards, posters and other merchandise for sale. There is no cafe at the Studio, however visitors are welcome to return on the day after visiting the numerous cafes and...

Yesterday we visited the Brett Whiteley Studio in Surry Hills, which is currently showing Chapters 1959–1969. It’s all works made by Whiteley between the ages of 20 and 30, during an intensive period of travel and artistic experimentation. What I liked about this gallery was the way it was arranged. For me the pieces that spoke loudest emanated from Whiteley’s time in Fiji, and a 1968 collage called New York 1. I found the bath nudes too abstract. It’s a multimedia gallery where you can see both a wide range of his art, plus the place where Brett created it, lined with quotes and images he found inspiring. In the small gift shop you’ll find the book that inspired our secret garden visit....