Tomorrow night there is the opening of Cupco is God at the Damien Minton Gallery in Redfern. Over 50 new hand-made Ultra-Orthodox Dolls! Could be great, could be Barbies worst nightmare. One to check out. www.cupco.net

All I want is pop/street art, some inventive sculpture and contemporary pictures that tell me a story. I’m a philistine I’m sure, but I know what I like.

I made it around 22 Paddington Galleries on Saturday and I was rather disappointed that the general standard seemed to strive for traditionalist values. There was relatively little to shake up the senses which I was genuinely surprised by as I had expected that with an area as vibrant as Paddington I’d be spoilt for choice. Having said this, every gallery had something of interest, even if it was just the eccentric owner or the promise of future artists that would suit my palette, if you’ll excuse the pun. Perhaps it’s the volume of galleries that means they take what they’re given, the best of the bunch as far as they’re concerned. If this is so, then there’s a great opportunity to persuade some of these galleries to take a chance with something just a little bit different. I’d like them to take a leaf out of the MCA’s book and push things forward but at the same time sell affordable work that is accessible. It may sound like I’m just moaning or wanting my cake and eating it too but I’d seen enough pictures of birds and kangaroos to last a lifetime.

Personal favourites were the Blender Gallery for its lomo shop, the Stills Gallery for some really interesting photography, Sullivan & Strumpf as posted and the Sherman Galleries.

Beautifully created glass sculptures that remind me of Enid Blyton and carefree days. Constructed using toughened glass, shattered and re-built. There is a poignant story behind his thought process which you should discover for yourself. 

Sullivan & Strumf – 44 Gurner Street, Paddington 

http://www.ssfa.com.au/exhibitions/40/

This weekend I’ll be doing the rounds in Paddington to see what’s new within the proliferation of galleries in the area. Those highlighted in yellow have some interesting contemporary work on at the moment. The list includes:

Wagner Art Gallery

http://www.wagnerartgallery.com.au/

39 Gurner St Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9360 6069

Freeland Gallery

http://www.freelandgallery.com.au/

120 Glenmore Rd Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9360 2541

Andrew Crawford

http://www.andrewcrawford.com.au/

76 Glenmore Rd Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9358 3973

ArtCube Pty Ltd

180 Jersey Rd Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9327 2811

Australian Centre For Photography http://www.acp.org.au/

257 Oxford St Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9332 1455

Australian Galleries Pty Ltd

http://www.australiangalleries.com.au/

15 Roylston St Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9360 5177

Australian Galleries Works on Paper

http://www.australiangalleries.com.au/

24 Glenmore Rd Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9380 8744

Barry Stern Galleries Pty Ltd

19 Glenmore Rd Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9331 4676

Blender Gallery http://www.blender.com.au/about.htm

16 Elizabeth St Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9380 7080

Brian Moore Gallery Pty Ltd

294 Glenmore Rd Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9380 7100

Christopher Day Gallery

http://www.cdaygallery.com.au/

Cnr Elizabeth & Windsor Street Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9326 1952

Egan Gallery http://www.egangallery.com/

3a Glenmore Rd Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9361 0066

Gallery of Fools

3 Elizabeth St Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9360 7806

Harris Courtin Gallery

http://www.harriscourtingallery.com.au/

26 Glenmore Rd Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9368 7950

Kudos Gallery http://www.arc.unsw.edu.au/cofa/kudos/

6 Napier St Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9326 0034

Maree Mizon Galleries

http://www.mareemizongallery.com.au/exhibitionsrecent.asp

76 Glenmore Rd Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9358 5050

Mary Place Gallery

http://www.maryplacegallery.com.au/

12 Mary Pl Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9332 1875

Oxley9 Roslyn Gallery

 http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/

Soudan Lane (Off Hampden St) Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9331 1919

Paddington Contemporary

http://www.paddingtoncontemporary.com.au/

241 Glenmore Rd Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9331 1195

Painters & Collectors

37 Macdonald St Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9360 1872

Sherman Galleries

1 Hargrave St Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9360 5566

Sherman Galleries http://www.shermangalleries.com.au/

16-18 Goodhope St Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9331 1112

Stills Gallery http://www.stillsgallery.com.au/

36 Gosbell St Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9331 7775

Windsor Art Gallery

118b Windsor St Paddington NSW 2021
ph: (02) 9328 6013