Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi has been exhibiting contemporary Australian Aboriginal art since 1987. The Gallery represents the work of artists from the communities of Balgo Hills, Papunya, Utopia, Maningrida, Haasts Bluff, and the Tiwi Islands, as well as work by the most innovative city-based painters, photographers, video artists and installation artists such as Julie Gough, H. J. Wedge, Leah King-Smith, Christian Thompson and Michael Riley. The Gallery is also renowned for promoting the careers of lesser-known artists.
Samantha Pizzi assumed the reins at Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi following her mother Gabrielle's death over two years ago. Gabrielle Pizzi had represented indigenous artists both nationally and internationally since the early 1980s. Her daughter Samantha now runs the business and has maintained the gallery's respected standing in the indigenous and visual art communities.
The original gallery space had become something of an institution. It was at that space that Gabrielle Pizzi had brought the work of such artists as Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri and Emily Kam Kngwarraye to the notice of the world. And in an industry renowned for exploitation, it was a space renowned for its integrity.
Unlike some of the dealers who later exploited the boom in Aboriginal art, Pizzi was known for her integrity. She always worked with art advisers from community art centres, ensuring that artists were paid correctly and new artists supported.
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi has been exhibiting contemporary Australian Aboriginal art since 1983.The Gallery represents the work of artists from the communities of Balgo Hills, Papunya, Utopia, Maningrida, Haasts Bluff, and the Tiwi Islands, as well as work by the most innovative city-based painters, photographers, video artists and installation artists such as Julie Gough, H. J. Wedge, Leah King-Smith, Christian Thompson and Michael Riley. The Gallery is also renowned for promoting the careers of lesser-known artists.
Gabrielle Pizzi made it her life's mission to have Aboriginal art accepted as powerful contemporary art, bringing the dynamic works of artists including Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri and Emily Kam Kngwarray to world audiences, organising exhibitions from Venice to Bangalore, Moscow to Madrid, Kiev to Jerusalem.
Since 1990, Gabrielle Pizzi regularly curated exhibitions of Australian Aboriginal art internationally. These exhibitions have introduced artists such as Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, Narputta Nangala and Emily Kngwarreye, as well as artists from Maningrida, John Mawurndjul, James Iyuna and Jimmy An.gunguna.
These and other artists’ work were shown as part of the 1990 Venice Biennale, and also in Pitture e Sculture dell’Australia Aborigena at the Spazio Krizia in Milano, and the Museo Di Sant’Agostino di Architectura in Genova in 1994 and 1995. Gabrielle Pizzi curated the exhibition Aboriginal Paintings from the Desert which was toured to Moscow, St Petersburg, Kiev and Minsk in 1992 and 1993.
In 1996, in conjunction with Asialink, Gabrielle Pizzi exhibited Voices of the Earth, an exhibition of contemporary Australian Aboriginal paintings, photography and sculpture at the Jehangir Nicholson Museum of Modern Art in Mumbai and at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath in Bangalore, India, and at the Seoul Arts Centre, Seoul, Korea.
In 1997, Gabrielle Pizzi, in conjunction with Italian art critic Achille Bonito-Oliva, curated Metamorphosis, a highly successful exhibition of photography by Leah King-Smith and sculpture by the Maningrida artists John Mawurndjul, England Bangala, Jimmy An.gunguna and many others. The exhibition took place in the private garden of Palazzo Papadopoli, Venice, with images from Leah King-Smith’s ‘Patterns of Connection’ series as well as the exhibited sculptures, projected onto the facade of Palace. Metamorphosis was included in the Special Events program of the 1997 Venice Biennale. As part of the later section of the 1999 Venice Biennale, Gabrielle Pizzi curated Beyond Myth - Oltre Il Mito an exhibition of Australian Aboriginal video, photography and photographic projections.
In 2001, Gabrielle Pizzi, in conjunction once again with Achille Bonito Oliva, exhibited works from her Private Collection, at the Fondazione Palazzo Bricherasio, Torino, in the exhibition Aborigena. This exhibition travelled to the Museum of Aboriginal Art in Utrecht, The Netherlands in 2002 under the title Desert Art. The exhibition tour of Aborigena continued when it was shown at the Antiche Stanze di Santa Caterina in Prato, Italy in 2003.
Renamed Mythology & Reality, the exhibition has since toured to The Jerusalem Centre for the Performing Arts, Israel, in 2003, returning to Australia in 2004 for exhibitions at the SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney and Heidi Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne.
Samantha Pizzi has more recently shown The Gabrielle Pizzi Collection in Paris, and has plans to continue touring the Collection.
Gallery Hours: Tues – Friday 10.30 – 6pm Saturday 11.30 – 6pm
