Kate Galea
From the buzzing studios of Central Saint Martins and University of Reading in the early 00’s, to her current home in colourful Redfern, Kate Galea’s journey back to the paintbrush is a story of rediscovery and joy. After twenty years away from the canvas, Kate dove headfirst into creating again just 18 months ago and she hasn’t looked back. Her works shimmer with shifting cityscapes, vibrant edges, and a rhythm that feels alive, almost musical. Colour isn’t just a visual choice for Kate it’s a force, a character, a pulse.
Kate’s practice is playful yet sharp. She doesn’t plan, she leaps. She tapes, peels, and somewhere in the magic of that process a painting is born. Her world is bold, imperfect, and dynamic and she wants you to step inside and find something new each time you look.
Luke Mannion
British born and now Sydney based, Luke works with oil paint and oil sticks, layering gesture and detail to capture the beauty of queer domestic life. His paintings explore intimacy, home, and identity through a palette that blends masculine and feminine tonesfluid, vibrant, and alive.
For Luke, making art feels like meditation. Daily rituals a morning coffee, an afternoon tea, quiet moments at home with his partner flow into his canvases. Ultramarine Blue is his constant colour crush, bringing calm to his energetic compositions.
Some works feel like memories too personal to let go of, yet Luke shares them so others can connect whether through a spark of familiarity or the curiosity of a new perspective. Influenced most by queer domestic life itself, his art is playful, tender, and unapologetically joyful (with a soundtrack he insists would be “something gay and happy”).
From acrylic beginnings to the rich textures of oil, his practice has evolved through happy accidents, always embracing fluidity and change. What’s next? More collaborations and worlds to build always celebrating the extraordinary within the everyday.