On a Friday night, James Norman set out on an e-bike to visit seven art shows spaced over 15km, covering six suburbs in Melbourne. His journey was guided by a free calendar maintained by Charles Lai, who has been documenting the city's independent art openings for over a decade.
Lai's accessible calendar lists dozens of upcoming art openings, and he has become one of Melbourne's most active art chroniclers on Instagram. "I've been asked many times why I didn't try to monetise the calendar or seek to have galleries sponsor it," Lai says. "My intention has always been to remain independent so I can keep my own counsel."
From Thornbury to East Brunswick
The crawl began at MOM Gallery in Thornbury, located in a separate room behind Candy Cafe. The space featured ceramicist Jack Staley's show Earth 2 Earth, Ashes 2 Ashes, with Celtic-inspired insignia among the 50 ceramic items on display. Gallery owner Oscar O'Shea, also an artist and film-maker, explained that MOM features monthly solo or group shows and welcomes expressions of interest or walk-ins.
A 15-minute bike ride led to OK Violet gallery in East Brunswick, housed in a former postwar lending library renovated by owner Kirsten Perry. The opening was for South Australia artist Debbie Pryor's show Shadows as Witness, featuring ceramic framed drawings inspired by the SA coastline and the rocky landscapes of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Collingwood's Vibrant Scene
After a 20-minute ride, the crawl reached Cafe Gallery in Abbotsford, where three young gallery operators had set up a garbage bin with ice and cold beers on the street, selling them for $5 each. The opening was for emerging artist Oscar Elmes, whose work is made from bike tyres, a roll of toilet paper, glue tubes, and a tape measure, described as a "compulsive, chaotic" reaction to his wanderings around the city's edges.
At Jacky Winter Gallery in Collingwood, Victoria-based Japanese artist Yoko Georgiou opened her show Paper Binoculars, featuring tufted rugs shaped like sea creatures and sea anemones, with the largest inspired by an okapi. A highlight of the night was Everfresh Studio, where a dense crowd spilled onto the pavement for the opening of Melbourne street artists Abyss and Louis Moore, titled A DOG EAT DOG WORLD. Co-curator and artist Tom Civil said of the new space, "We hand-designed this new space with a view to keep its gritty, industrial soul."
Final Stops in Fitzroy and the City
The crawl continued to Outré Gallery in Fitzroy, a poster store celebrating local and international artists with monthly openings. The show featured Melbourne artist Greg Mount, whose work is inspired by 70s and 80s Americana, rendered in vivid cartoonish acrylics on panel.
The final stop was Hair Ari gallery in Melbourne, opposite the Queen Victoria Market. Curators Cristea Nian Zhao and Jincheng Deng have run the space for three years, helping predominantly Chinese artists get a foothold in Melbourne's scene. The opening was for Monash University PhD student Rosie Isaac, who placed prints on fridges using iron filings to demonstrate the scientific proof of magnetism, as a comment on unseen social forces.
Cycling back to St Kilda, Norman felt fully satiated by the art and the community around it. "The calendar allows me to stay in touch with the local art scene," Lai says. "Making it public is … my way of giving back."
