Art collection

HOURS

Sunday – Thursday
10am – 4am
Friday – Saturday
10am – 6am

INQUIRIES
LOCATION

14 Anzac Avenue
Fairfield NSW 2165
Map & directions

Eclectic & accessible art collection

ARTFUL DIVERSION

 

We like to surprise our guests with new experiences – our regular pop-up dining events give people a taste of different cuisines – and we like to challenge them with art. Public art can be like a jolt, a sudden wonder. It’s about your brain being diverted, about everyday thoughts being laid aside, even for a moment. And then people start interacting with others through the art, questioning it, challenging it, marvelling at it.

CURATED EXPERIENCES

 

Our growing collection of paintings, sculptures, textiles, furniture, antiques, wearable art and collectables are sourced from a wide range of artists and artisans including: Senden Blackwood, Sydney Antique Centre, Coco Republic, James Salmond, Eco Outdoor and Garden Life. Each restaurant is its own mini gallery displaying works around a common theme while the hallways and common spaces of the Club have an ever-changing display of artworks.

‘Milieu’ – This black granite piece by Senden Blackwood presents us with two apparent halves to the idealised whole. Senden quotes Plato’s Symposium: “Love is born into every human being; it calls back the halves of our original nature together; it tries to make one out of two and heal the wound of human nature.”
Artist’s statement

SENDEN BLACKWOOD

 

Due to the nature of creating stone sculpture, I work on pieces sporadically. It’s exhausting work, physically and mentally, so I often work on a few different pieces simultaneously. If I’m not excited about throwing myself into the process, it can be rather unpleasant. Conversely, if I’ve burned myself out on a piece and laid it to rest for a time, I find I gravitate back to it when the time is right. The process seems to flow well and I do my best work when I’m in the right ‘headspace’. I rough out the shape with a diamond chainsaw, a nine inch angle grinder and countless blows with a hammer and chisel. Following this there are many weeks of reduction and refinement until the form is set. Then I start the laborious yet satisfying task of polishing. Although both aspects are challenging, I generally find the physical work preferable to the mental puzzle of trying to work out what to remove next. Some of my most precious moments are when I stop analysing and just enjoy the process, when all pain and tiredness washes away and it’s just the rock and me.

Portrait courtesy of Gavin Jackson Photography.

SIMPATICO

 

In 2017 Fairfield RSL commissioned photographer Daniel Noone and Coast to create Simpatico. A multimedia exhibition that highlights and celebrates the people we work with. We believe that our achievements, and what our Club is today, has been built on the relationships we have with these organisations, institutions, charities and individuals. A selection of photographs from the exhibition are shown below.