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Art Leven - formerly Cooee Art

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Art Leven - formerly Cooee Art

New gallery location - Woolloomooloo

Established in 1981. Gadigal / Sydney, Australia. Contemporary First Nations Gallery & Auctions.

Art Leven Redfern
17 Thurlow Street
Redfern NSW 2016

23/06/2026

The Utopia region lies on Anmatyerr and Alyawarr Country, approximately 250 kilometres north-east of Mparntwe (Alice Springs). Spread across 16 homelands, it is home to one of Australia's most significant painting traditions.

For generations, artists have drawn upon ancestral narratives, important places, seasonal knowledge and lived experience, creating works that speak to enduring relationships with place and the knowledge held within it.

The region has produced some of Australia's most celebrated artists, including Emily Kam Kngwarreye, whose influence continues to resonate across generations of painters today.

While each artist works in a distinctive manner, they remain connected through shared cultural knowledge and deep connections to their homelands. Together, these works offer insight into a tradition that is both profoundly ancient and deeply contemporary.

As senior artist Joyce Pitjara Jones explains:

"We're keeping our generations stronger, through knowledge on our land."

10/06/2026

Artist Spotlight | Lucky Morton Kngwarreye

Photo Credit | by Kayla Pettykook
Lucky, Audrey & Hazel

"We were living bush at Ngkwarlananim. No car. Walking to Amaroo with swags. I was carrying the billy can when I was a young girl."

Lucky Morton Kngwarreye's paintings are deeply rooted in memory, Country and the knowledge passed down through generations. Born in 1952, she grew up hunting tyape (witchetty grubs) and yerrampe (honey ants) with her family across Ngkwarlananim and Arnkawenyerr Country.

Like many of the senior Utopia women, Lucky first worked in batik before moving to canvas. Today she continues to paint Ilyarnayt, the flowering Acacia that grows throughout her Country, carrying forward stories she has painted for decades.

There is a wonderful directness to Lucky's work - paintings that speak not only of landscape, but of a life lived on and with Country.

Ilyarnayt | Now Showing at Art Leven | Link in Bio

07/06/2026

Artist Spotlight | Ruby Morton Kngwarreye

Photo Credit | Ngkwarlerlanem Country ©Kayla Pettykook

Born at Utopia in 1968, Ruby Morton Kngwarreye belongs to one of the region's most significant artistic families. She was among the original generation of Utopia women introduced to batik, later becoming part of the groundbreaking movement that transformed contemporary Aboriginal art in Australia.

Ruby paints the stories of her Country, Ngkwarlerlanem and Arnkawenyerr, depicting Ilyarnayt (Acacia), Yerramp (Honey Ant), Tharrkarr (Sweet Honey Grevillea) and the flowering desert landscape that surrounds her. Her work carries forward knowledge passed through generations while remaining deeply connected to the Country she calls home.

Ruby's work is held in the renowned Holmes à Court Collection and has been exhibited nationally and internationally for more than three decades.

Ilyarnayt | Now Showing at Art Leven | Link in Bio

05/06/2026

Artist Spotlight | Audrey Morton Kngwarreye

Born in 1954, Audrey Morton Kngwarreye grew up surrounded by art, culture and storytelling. The daughter of Mary Kemarre and Billy Stockman Pitjara Morton, she is part of a family whose contribution to the Utopia movement spans generations.

Audrey first worked in batik during the 1970s before joining the landmark Summer Project that introduced Utopia artists to acrylic painting on canvas. For more than four decades she has painted the stories of Ngkwarlerlanem and Arnkawenyerr, including Awelye, Tharrkarr and the flowering plants of her mother's Country.

There is a confidence and generosity in Audrey's work that comes from a lifetime spent painting, sharing and maintaining cultural knowledge.

Ilyarnayt | Now Showing at Art Leven | Link in Bio

02/06/2026

Tomorrow Night!!!

Join us for the opening of Ilyarnayt and help us welcome the artists to Sydney.

This special exhibition brings together sisters and close relatives from one of Utopia’s remarkable artistic families: Lucky Morton Kngwarreye, Ruby Kngwarreye Morton, Hazel Kngwarreye Morton, Audrey Kngwarreye Morton, Sarah Morton Kngwarreye and Janice Kngwarreye Clarke.

The artists are in town for the opening, making this a rare opportunity to meet them, hear their stories and experience these beautiful paintings in person.

Art Leven, 104 Cathedral Street, Woolloomooloo
Thursday 3 September
5–7pm

We would love to see you there.

FirstNationsArt ContemporaryArt SydneyArt ExhibitionOpening MeetTheArtists

21/05/2026

Last night’s auction achieved a 100% clearance rate by volume and 129% by value, with competitive bidding across the board from collectors around the country and internationally.

With more than 160 registered attendees, over 500 online viewers and 79 individual buyers participating throughout the evening, the sale reflected continued confidence in the strength of the First Nations art market and the enduring importance of works with exceptional provenance.

Bidding remained consistently strong across the entire catalogue, with buyers participating in-room, online, via absentee and telephone bidding throughout the night.

A standout result of the evening was Robert Campbell Jnr’s Shooting the Blacks, 1986, which achieved $100,000 including Buyer’s Premium after competitive bidding. The work, formerly in the collection of Dame Marie Bashir and Sir Nicholas Shehadie, was one of the most discussed pieces of the sale and reflects the continued recognition of Campbell Jnr’s importance within contemporary Australian art history.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this landmark auction and to the Bashir and Shehadie family for their generosity, support and trust throughout this process.

19/05/2026

Tonight is the night! Join us for the highly anticipated First Nations Fine Art Auction happening at 7pm

17/05/2026

Lot 6
ROBERT CAMPBELL JNR
1944 – 1993

Shooting the Blacks, 1986
Acrylic on canvas
91 x 120.5 cm; 94 x 123 cm (framed)
Estimate $30,000 – 50,000

PROVENANCE
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, New South Wales
The Collection of Dame Marie Bashir AD CVO and Sir Nicholas Shehadie AC OBE, Sydney, New South Wales

EXHIBITED
Robert Campbell Jnr, 8 April – 25 April 1987, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Cat No. 12
Robert Campbell Jnr: History Painter, April – May 2015, Artbank, Sydney, NSW

“I had the privilege of working closely with Robert Campbell Jnr as his gallerist, from his first exhibition in 1987 through to his last in 1991.

His paintings were grounded in his lived experience as an Aboriginal man and were always told with remarkable directness. At the time, the way Robert was painting was highly distinctive, his paintings really stood out.

This work, Shooting the Blacks (1987), is a great example of this. As its title suggests, it depicts a brutal reality of Australia’s colonial history, told through a visual language that is immediately recognisable and uniquely his own.” - Roslyn Oxley

Offered as part of our First Nations & Australian Fine Art Auction: Featuring the Collection of Dame Marie Bashir AD CVO & Sir Nicholas Shehadie AC OBE.

Auction Viewing
15–19 May | 10am–6pm
Art Leven
104 Cathedral Street, Woolloomooloo

Live Auction
Tuesday 19 May 2026 | 7pm
Artspace, The Gunnery, Woolloomooloo

13/05/2026

Lot 5
EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE (EMILY KAM KNGWARRAY)
c.1910 - 1996

Untitled (Awelye), 1994
acrylic on canvas, 38 x 31.5 cm

Estimate $40,000 – 60,000

PROVENANCE
Mulga Bore Artists (Rodney Gooch), NT
Utopia Art Sydney, NSW
The Collection of Dame Marie Bashir AD CVO & Sir Nicholas Shehadie AC OBE, Sydney

Offered as part of our First Nations & Australian Fine Art Auction: Featuring the Collection of Dame Marie Bashir AD CVO & Sir Nicholas Shehadie AC OBE.

Auction Viewing
15–19 May | 10am–6pm
Art Leven
104 Cathedral Street, Woolloomooloo

Live Auction
Tuesday 19 May 2026 | 7pm
Artspace, The Gunnery, Woolloomooloo

10/05/2026

AUCTION NIGHT
LIVE AND ONLINE

Tuesday 19 May 2026

Join us at Artspace, The Gunnery for the live presentation of our First Nations & Australian Fine Art Auction: Featuring the Collection of Dame Marie Bashir AD CVO & Sir Nicholas Shehadie AC OBE.

Spanning 115 lots, the auction brings together important works by leading First Nations and Australian artists including Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Rover Thomas, Arthur Boyd, Robert Campbell Jnr and Garry Shead, alongside a collection shaped through decades of meaningful relationships with artists and communities across the continent.

Tuesday 19 May 2026
Auction commences 7pm
Artspace, The Gunnery
43–51 Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo

Viewing daily at Art Leven, 104 Cathedral Street, Woolloomooloo until 19 May, 10am–6pm.

Bid in-room, online, via telephone or absentee bid.

Address

104 Cathedral Street Woolloomooloo
Sydney, NSW
2011

Opening Hours

Tuesday	10am - 5pm
Wednesday	10am - 5pm
Thursday	10am - 5pm
Friday	10am - 5pm
Saturday	10am - 5pm

Telephone

+61293009233

Website

http://www.artleven.com/

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