Fiona McIntosh: Industry Eye

“From day one I was hooked. The first lecture on the first day of my first year of a Fine Arts BA at ANU was on Jan van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Portrait 1434 (National Gallery, London).“

It was an exuberant performance by Dr Sasha Grishin, as well as calculated move on his part, to grab and hold the attention of young and impressionable students. It worked.

What captivated me was not only the extraordinarily rendered and composed image, but the symbols, stories and secrets inherent in the work. That an artwork could connect with me across centuries and say so much about a time, place and culture was a revelation. It is this fascination and delight that continues to shape my passion for the visual arts.

To turn this interest into a career path led me to post-grad study, starting with the Post Graduate Diploma in Gallery Management at the then COFA (now UNSW Art+Design), then onto a Masters of Arts Administration. Connections made and networks developed in turn led to the multifaceted approach that is exhibition management and touring exhibitions. Budgets, time frames and demands were as tight (and at times as hair-raising) then as they are now, but I relished the experience of working behind the scenes. Handling and installing works provided greater insights into the artist’s intentions.

As assistant to the 1988 Biennale of Sydney’s Artistic Director Nick Waterlow I was set to work with Hermann Nitsch to co-ordinate his action painting installation at Pier 2/3. It was memorable, and not just because the Vice-Squad turned up as we opened. Co-ordinating the many threads that brought together the elegant and ambitious exhibition Caravaggio: Darkness and Light at AGNSW was a privilege. Trucking an exhibition from National Gallery of Australia through the NT, the first time any of its collection was shown in non-gallery venues, was a fabulous adventure. I was trucker, installer, conservator, PR machine and educator all in one (though with an able assistant to help lift the crates). And the travel to remote Indigenous art centres in the East Kimberley and Northern Territory to meet artists and experience their Country remains a highlight.

What all that gave me was an insight into the diversity, richness and calibre of the Australian art scene.

Since stepping aside from the public sector and setting up in a private capacity, I have found an opportunity to connect my professional life in art institutions with the artists, the gallerists and the collectors who make up the not-so-small-world of the contemporary art market.

My consulting business embraces private advising – working with clients to acquire works; commentating, via bespoke art tours, events and my blog; and philanthropy, the ultimate gesture in the belief in the value of art and supporting artists and organisations in practical and tangible ways.

The thrill of co-ordinating larger scale projects and collaborating with specialists in the industry - installers, couriers, framers, fabricators and conservators, to resolve challenging problems that artworks can elicit, is still there. It takes an experienced and highly-skilled team to get a large work several floors up in a CBD building, and great satisfaction and much relief all round when it is installed safe and sound.

But whatever the form my intertwining roles take, what motivates me is to develop opportunities to share knowledge and enthusiasm for art and encourage an appreciation of its relevance to our daily lives.

In this COVID time, looking beyond the day-to-day news feed is essential. We need art more than ever, to escape the tedium of flattening the curve and fear of the unknown. Art has the capacity to inspire. It reminds us of the resilience, strength and hope inherent in the human spirit and offers a positive way forward.