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Directed and managed by Mark Drew and Edward Woodley, founded in 2004 and located in sydney, china heights gallery sits on the 3rd story of a Surry Hills warehouse where, every friday night, a cacophony of creatives, art lovers, locals, hipsters and walk-ins mill around work from the likes of kill pixie, design is kinky, vice magazine and mr cartoon – often making their first forays – and purchases – in the world of art and design. These crazy kids could be going home with the monets and van goghs of the future, but for now, they just want to play with pretty things and each other – creating in their midst australia’s most cutting edge, independent artistic collective.
Mixed messages
“The type of art we show changes every six months or so. People come and go and the mood shifts. Most of them are people we know. They need to be like-minded, share a space with us, share a feeling,” Mark explains. “Until now there was no-one showing the kind of work that our friends created and that we were engaged in. China Heights is basically a big, blank room. We have no agenda. We show people who want to be shown.”
Inception, conception
Edward, China Heights/The Heights co-founder, was building architectural models at the time and had a studio space in The Heights. “A couple of hippies had a lease on the place for about a decade but got sick of living in a warehouse and moved out, leaving it to us. We had a rough idea of creating a gallery that didn’t focus on conceptual art. There was no gallery with a design edge, and the idea to create China Heights came to life,” Mark says.
Altogether now
The China Heights gallery space also incorporates The Heights studio, an innovative art space which houses seven individual creatives running their own companies in the mediums of fashion, fine art and design side by side. “A lot of artists had been working from home and, inspired by the weekly shows, wanted to be part of a collective rather than waking up every day and rolling over to the computer or sewing machine alone. They wanted a place where people would give them an opinion on their work, where they could actually go and interact with other artists,” Mark says.
Mark Drew
Holding an Advanced Diploma of Graphic Design, 28-year-old Mark Drew was stuck in financial services for five years before breaking free and establishing The Heights with friends Benji Phillips and Edward Woodley. “Being around other creatives daily and having the support of the studio means a lot,” he says. “Regardless of what’s on the gallery walls, there is always something happening here. New ideas spring up all the time in an environment like this. I’m surprised there aren’t more collectives like ours.”
Paul Davies
Twenty-seven-year-old COFA graduate, Paul Davies, is a painter whose work has been exhibited at the First Draft, Tim Olsen and Soho Galleries – and many more. “As soon as I started at The Heights my work improved. Being around like-minded people makes everything possible,” Paul says. “I heard a speech artist Mike Parr gave about the artist run space he founded in Sydney in the ‘70s. There were ten people involved but it gained international recognition within a year. The same thing is happening here.”
Edward Woodley
At just 28, co-founder Edward Woodley has exhibited his artwork in Tokyo, Indonesia, London and New Zealand and his work has been commissioned by everyone from Nike to Selleys. “Being part of an artistic community is vital to me for inspiration, motivation and support,” he says. “When working in a freelance environment, it is still beneficial to be in the framework of a group studio. I think the community aspect is very important – it’s a big step working for yourself, and being around other individuals doing the same thing helps keep the focus.”
William Harden
Twenty-one-year-old William Harden’s artwork, which he calls “Care Bears stuck in a blender with the animation from Kill Bill” is a fusion of painting and the biro artworks he’s been creating since he was a kid. Working at The Heights has allowed William to indulge his love of organised chaos. “I’ve got a destructive nature. Look at the photo. The studio looks like a bomb hit it. And maybe that’s why I like to paint, or as it sometimes feels I have to paint. Trashing stuff is justified by painting.”
Steve Christopherson
Aged 28, fashion designer Steve Christopherson runs his international labels Movement and Shadow (the clothing line he co-founded with Alex Mitchell and Cain Cherubin), from The Heights studio. “Shadow is a clothing and art based company that was created on one foundation; promotion and representation of Australian street artists to a world stage,” Steve explains. He says of working at The Heights, “there is a huge sense of protection, of making sure the community is not exploited and that the purities that attracted you to all this stay pure.”
Dena Pezzano
Calling herself “the token girl in the bunch”, at 33, fashion designer Dena Pezzano, currently working on her Cherry Soda collection for 2006/2007, has been a willing captive of The Heights studio for three years. Working at The Heights, “means I am constantly inspired by shapes, colours and attitudes. There is a certain energy you feed off from other artists. We are all a bit loopy and I love how everyone has their own type of mood throughout the day. I really couldn’t work in any other environment.”
Gareth Moody
A man of few words – and playfully nonsensical ones at that – 28-year-old jewellery and accessory designer, Gareth Moody, cut his fashion chops as a co-founder of Tsubi. His latest line of designs, Chronicles of Never, he says, “were tested on 36 baby white whales, 67 albino diamond pythons, 56 endangered primates, 94 orphan steeds and one fallen angel.” He describes working at The Heights studio as “Haunted trees and skeleton keys – regarded as an element, situated within the interstellar space of a galaxy. Not to be confused with Nazareth.”
Words Marta Jary
