Founding Art Matters in 2025, Australian designer, artist and brand strategist Anna Gowers is devoted to artists, art lovers, and the creative life. She was also our incredible MC for our BRAVE Exhibition Opening Night, and now takes the time to share her thoughts and reflections on the contrasting spaces of the art world.

Art Matters e xplores ways to connect people with art, celebrating discovery, dialogue, and art evangelism. The Art Matters newsletter features a varied selection of art stories, exhibitions and events, ideas, artist features, plus behind-the-scenes updates. 

Art Matters — Edition No. 9

Soon after spending four full days wandering the cavernous halls of the Melbourne Art Fair, I found myself in a very different setting…standing up as MC at the opening of the Unearthed and Brave exhibitions at Art to Art Gallery in my local ‘hood.

In many ways, the two experiences were worlds apart.

The Melbourne Art Fair is a vast operation. Dozens of galleries representing emerging, mid-career and established artists, and thousands of visitors moving through a huge space over several action-packed days. It’s energetic, ambitious and international in outlook.

Art to Art, on the other hand, is proudly something else. It’s an unapologetically retail gallery. With big front windows, and prominently located on a busy local street, it is intentionally designed so people can walk in, browse, fall in love with art, and take it home. The space and the people invite us into experiencing art in a way that feels accessible and welcoming.

Attending these events back-to-back made me reflect on the way these things are sometimes framed as if they sit on opposite sides of an invisible divide. One for the “serious” art and artists, the other for “emerging” art and artists.

Both approaches have value and have their place. Both create opportunities for artists to show their work, connect with audiences and find collectors, just in different ways and for different communities.

Not every artist who exhibits in a commercial gallery or museum will go on to have a full-time career as an artist. And the same is true of artists showing in more retail-oriented spaces. And sometimes they move between both worlds, and other spaces too. But what both contexts do is mark a moment in time when an artist is making work, putting it into the world, and finding an audience.

I think the art world is most vibrant when it’s expansive. There is room for art fairs, commercial galleries, retail galleries, artist-run spaces, pop-ups and self-represented artists. They all play a role in bringing creativity into the world and making art visible in different ways. I’m here for all of it.

I can also see a subtle shift happening in the way value is assigned to art. Traditionally, much of the authority sat with institutions, galleries, curators and critics. Of course those voices matter. Knowledge, depth and discernment are vital. But there is also a role for the individual viewer or collector in deciding what resonates with them and what they value.

That shift doesn’t diminish expertise; if anything, it encourages people to develop their own thoughts, to look closely, ask questions, learn, and build a personal relationship with art.

The entire art ecosystem depends on many kinds of support. When art is ‘defunded’, both publicly and in our own personal choices, the impact reaches far beyond artists themselves. A society that doesn’t value art and creativity risks prioritising stagnation, or perhaps even destruction, over the act of making and imagining something new.

Even the language we use matters. When support for the arts is framed as “grants”, it can sound like we are somehow doing artists a favour. In reality, it is an investment. In culture, imagination and the creative life of a society.

That’s why in this newsletter I often include a wide range of exhibitions and art experiences, from museum shows featuring the work of acclaimed artists, through to markets, local exhibitions and community art classes. Each plays a role in supporting creativity and helping people encounter art in different ways.

Because the more opportunities we create for artists to develop their practice, and the more opportunities people have to experience the joy of art, the richer our society, and our lives, become.

Anna ❌

Art Matter's Anna Gowers, Art to Art Artist Ambassador Tina Bennett, and Art to Art Gallery Director Philippa Demase at the BRAVE Exhibition Opening Night