Traveler, there are no paths. Paths are made by walking.
~Australian Aboriginal Proverb

In the act of perception there are accordingly these two things, the mind engaged in a certain act, and the thing called the tree which is not mental. ~Samuel Alexander

Byron Bay, Australia – For their inaugural exhibition in Australia, Tripoli Gallery is pleased to present Love Ranch in collaboration with Justin Crawford. For Love Ranch, the gallery founder Tripoli Patterson, has curated an extensive group show bringing together 21 artists from the USA, Puerto Rico, and Australia. This exhibition strives to foster an increased dialogue between artists in New York and beyond, with artists and collectors in Australia. Justin Crawford is a polymath of sorts with a focus on painting, photography, surfing, developing environments, and his millinery company called FallenBROKENStreet he runs with his partner Diva Cory. Crawford’s paintings echo his interests and personality, presenting representational figures, life mantras through his recognizable font, and objects in uncertain situations.

Tripoli Gallery, founded in 2009, is a staple on Long Island’s East End. A hub for global contemporary artists as well as those long established within the 20th Century, artists exhibited include Ashley Bickerton, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Mary Heilmann, Keith Sonnier, Katherine Bernhardt, Ross Bleckner to name a few. The Gallery has always had a connection to the sea which is part of its connection to Australia. Tripoli Patterson is an avid surfer who first visited Australia in 2003 while competing in the World Qualifying Series. It was during this trip when he learned that his father, with the direction of his friend Willem de Kooning, played a key role in encouraging James Mollison, then director of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra (1973), in the controversial acquisition of a Jackson Pollock painting for 1.2 million titled, Blue Poles, (Number 11), 1952. Today it is considered as one of the most important paintings by Pollock valued at over 400 Million. Mr. Patterson was also responsible for adding the largest collection of Pre-Columbian art in Australia to the Permanent Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria where it is currently, and permanently on view.

Co-collaborator Justin Crawford is the son of the legendary photographer Peter Crawford and has always been passionate about art. In 2017, he created ‘A SPOT OF GENIUS,’ a gallery in the middle of Byron Bay town, in an old beach shack. The gallery represented authentic culture and community that needed to be showcased. Artists exhibited included Jack Irvine, Ozzy Wrong, Brodie Jackson, Peter Crawford, and Luke Tafee. Justin Crawford and Tripoli Patterson were introduced by their mutual friend, collector of the gallery, and 8x World Surfing Champion Stephanie Gilmore. Justin began exhibiting his work with Tripoli Gallery in 2019. Following the growing popularity and pace of Byron Bay, quantified by the pandemic (a feeling very similar to that of the Hamptons), Justin began envisioning a new gallery location in the nearby Industrial Estate, one that mimicked the times of marvel Street Byron —this exhibition launches fallenBROKENstreet Gallery.

Love Ranch, is derived from an oil painting of the same name, Love Ranch (2013), by artist Jonathan Beer who is from New Orleans, Louisiana. The artists in the exhibition examine the often overlooked area where nature encounters mysticism. This takes various forms from painting (figurative and abstraction) to sculpture (wood, clay, aluminum, plastic or hemp) to tapestries (hand sewn and cut cloths, and vintage rugs), practiced by artists who created works for this exhibition, to Connie Fox, who painted Yellow Rainbow in 1973.

Byron Bay sits in the region known as Arakwal Country, a place of vast resources that stretches along the coast, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane, and has a rich indigenous history that dates back some 20,000 years. “Because of the abundance, we were not nomadic—we had villages and houses built,” says Aunty Lois, a Nyangbul Bundjalung Elder. Originally known as ‘Cavanbah’ or meeting place, Byron Bay is Australia’s easternmost point that was believed to lead to the spirit world and is charged by the volcanic rock below. It was the site of numerous spiritual tea tree lakes, sacred to the indigenous Bundjalung women who would come here to give birth and wash in the medicinal waters. Today, it is a buzzing cultural hub and a destination for tourists and locals alike. The concept of an exhibition in the contemporary framework is a meeting place. It allows for discussion (agreeing or disagreeing), contemplation, inspiration, and can contribute a particular level of sacredness to everyday visual culture.

The exhibition and gallery plan to honor the land and nearby sea through a select group of contemporary artists who explore personal histories and the metaphysical. The shoreline is something that is in constant flux —an area for recreation, sport, migration, and resources. Waves lap the sand, emerging and disappearing with the current, something artists have drawn from for centuries. Whether this inspiration results in visual whimsy or melancholic reflection, the artworks in Love Ranch traverse space through a conceptual portal offering the opportunity to travel with feet firmly planted on the ground.

~ Katy Hamer

For press inquiries or further information, please contact info@tripoligallery.comor call 631.377.3715