COMA unveils cutting-edge art space in 2025

COMA is set to redefine Sydney’s art landscape with the opening of its expansive new gallery in Marrickville on 31 January 2025. Located in a transformed 490-square-metre former coffee warehouse on Chapel Street, the innovative space will feature an expansive exhibition area, private viewing rooms, on-site storage, and a merchandise space. The gallery’s debut exhibition, Waiting for Lavender, will showcase major new works by New Mexico-based Australian artist Justin Williams.

Inspired by Los Angeles’ iconic warehouse galleries, this new venue exemplifies COMA’s commitment to bridging Australian art with the global stage. 

“This new gallery space allows us to deepen our commitment to showcasing significant contemporary art and to enrich the cultural landscape for audiences in Sydney,” said founder and director Sotiris Sotiriou. “We’re thrilled to inaugurate the space with a solo exhibition by Justin Williams – a fitting moment for an Australian artist who has captivated audiences overseas.”

Williams’ exhibition explores migration, belonging and the intersections of personal and collective histories. 

“The paintings in Waiting for Lavender are in many ways depictions of the act and the experience of transition,” said Williams. “For me this feels like more of a body of work that not only brings together both my own past and shared familial memories, but also my own sense of a loss of belonging… The recent birth of my daughter, Lavender, has changed the way I rationalise my place in a foreign land, and immediately injected something intensely familiar into life away from my homeland.”

Founded in 2016, COMA has grown from a project-based platform to an international leader, representing Australian and international artists such as Nick Modrzewski, Mia Middleton, Shan Turner-Carroll and Puuni Brown Nungarrayi. 

With its new space, COMA aims to elevate Australian art to global recognition.

Waiting for Lavender will run from 31 January to 22 February 2025.