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Art Leven - formerly Cooee Art

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Art Leven - formerly Cooee Art

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New gallery location - Woolloomooloo

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

Art Leven Redfern
17 Thurlow Street
Redfern NSW 2016

23/10/2026

INSIDE THE NOVEMBER AUCTION | A FIRST LOOK

Join Art Leven Director Mirri Leven and Specialist Emma Lenyszyn as they introduce highlights from our forthcoming First Nations Fine Art Auction.

Bringing together 102 carefully selected works, the auction features significant paintings by Sally Gabori, Emily Kame Kngwarreye and John Mawurndjul, alongside a compelling photographic work by Michael Cook and an exceptional early twentieth-century Jawun basket from North Queensland.

From remarkable provenance and important collecting histories to rare works by some of Australia's most celebrated First Nations artists, this short film offers a closer look at the collection ahead of the exhibition opening.

FIRST NATIONS FINE ART AUCTION
Tuesday 17 November 2026 | 7 pm AEDT

EXHIBITION OPENING
Thursday 12 November | 6 pm

PUBLIC VIEWING
12–17 November | Daily, 10 am–6 pm

Art Leven | 104 Cathedral Street, Woolloomooloo, Sydney

https://artleven.com/auctions/ -auctions

22/10/2026

Congratulations to Naomi Hobson, recipient of the 2026 Art Leven First Nations Art Award at the Paddington Art Prize!

A Southern Kaantju and Umpila artist from Coen, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Naomi was selected for her extraordinary painting Yincha – Where Water Gathers, 2026.

We were immediately drawn to the work's vibrant colour, energy and depth, and the powerful connection to Country expressed through its many layers.

As Naomi so beautifully describes in her own words:

“My relationship to Country is in the heart of my practice... This Country is alive, rich in biodiversity and colour... There is life here, my people are present here.”

“This Country was never empty, it held my people.”

We are delighted to recognise Naomi's exceptional practice through this award and congratulate all the finalists in this year's Paddington Art Prize.

Naomi Hobson
Yincha – Where Water Gathers, 2026
Synthetic polymer on linen
160 × 140 cm

https://app.artgalleria.com/folio/artworks/2537337?p=4dedc515-fa5b-4318-9c13-54814b55d741

05/10/2026

PROVENANCE ISN'T ALWAYS A
STRAIGHT LINE
by Mirri Leven

Recently, a number of artworks have found their way back through our doors, sometimes many years after I last saw them. Unwrapping these works again, remembering where they have been and the people who have lived with them, has had me reflecting on the life of an artwork and the many lives it becomes part of along the way.

I believe that we are never really the owners of an artwork. For a time, we simply have the privilege of living with it, caring for it and becoming part of its story.

An artwork has a life that extends far beyond any one person who might live with it. It carries the story given to it by the artist, but as it moves through the world it gathers its own history as well. It lives in different homes, hangs on different walls, witnesses families grow and change, is talked about over dinner tables, packed carefully into crates, moved across cities and countries, inherited, gifted, sold and loved again.

We become part of its story, rather than it becoming simply part of our property.

Each work carries Country, culture, history and stories that existed long before any of us encountered the painting and will continue long after it leaves our hands. The idea that we could ever truly "own" them has never felt quite right to me. For a time, we have the privilege of caring for them.

At the gallery, the time a work spends in our care can sometimes be relatively short, but it is incredibly intimate.

read full essay:

https://artleven.com/provenance-isnt-always-a-straight-line/?mc_cid=7f017fa063&mc_eid=b9e206c720

02/09/2026

Sydney Contemporary Art Fair | Booth C10 | Sydney Contemporary

Now On View

2-6 September 2026

29/08/2026

Sydney Contemporary Art Fair | Booth C10 | Sydney Contemporary
Samson Bonson in conjunction with Maningrida Arts & Culture

Samson Bonson is a Gurrgoni sculptor from western Arnhem Land who was taught by renowned artist Crusoe Kurddal. Best known for his finely carved lorrkon (hollow log) sculptures, Bonson’s work is distinguished by intricate pointillist decoration and exceptional craftsmanship.

Drawing on the ceremonial traditions
of Arnhem Land, his sculptures honour ancestral knowledge while demonstrating a refined contemporary sculptural practice. Bonson’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is held in the collection of the British Museum.

28/08/2026

Sydney Contemporary Art Fair | Booth C10 | Sydney Contemporary
Emily Kame Kngwarreye (Kam Kngwarray)

Emily Kame Kngwarreye was a senior Anmatyerr artist from Alhalker in the Utopia region of Central Australia. After more than a decade working in batik, she began painting on canvas in the late 1980s, producing an extraordinary body of work over just eight years. Her practice evolved from intricate dotted compositions to the bold, gestural paintings of her final years, reflecting a lifetime of cultural knowledge and an enduring connection to her Country.

Kngwarreye described her paintings as “whole lot”- an all-encompassing expression of Dreaming, native plants, animals and the interconnected cycles of the natural world. Her work bridges cultural knowledge and contemporary abstraction, establishing her as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century.

27/08/2026

Sydney Contemporary Art Fair | Booth C10 | Sydney Contemporary
Carol Puruntatameri in conjunction with Munupi Aboriginal Arts

Carol Puruntatameri is a Tiwi artist from Pirlangimpi on Melville Island. Her practice is grounded in Tiwi cultural knowledge, drawing on family stories, ceremony and ancestral traditions passed down through generations. Working across bark, canvas and found objects, she combines natural ochres with a confident contemporary visual language.

Yipali and Purrukupali tells one of the central creation stories of the Tiwi people. The story explains the origins of death and the Pukumani (mourning) ceremony, one of the most significant cultural traditions of the Tiwi Islands.

26/08/2026

Sydney Contemporary Art Fair | Booth C10 | Sydney Contemporary
Bugai Whyoulter in conjunction with Martumili Artists

Bugai Whyoulter is a senior Kartujarra
custodian of the lands around Kunawarritji (Canning Stock Route Well 33). Raised travelling, hunting and learning on Country across the Karlamilyi (Rudall River) region and
the Canning Stock Route, her deep
cultural knowledge continues to shape
her practice.

Encouraged to paint by renowned artists Nora Nungabar and Nora Wompi, Bugai has developed a distinctive visual language celebrated for its mastery of colour, gesture and atmosphere. Her paintings evoke the vast landscapes of the Western Desert through nuanced fields of colour and expressive brushwork.

25/08/2026

FINAL WEEK | EMILY EBBS — FÉTH FÍADA

Final week to experience Féth Fíada, Emily Ebbs’ latest exhibition at Art Leven.

Drawing on ideas of mist, landscape, memory and transformation, Ebbs works across acrylic, oil, charcoal, ash and natural pigments to create paintings where process is as significant as the finished work.

To mark the final day of the exhibition, join us in the gallery for an Artist in Conversation with Emily Ebbs, as we explore the ideas behind Féth Fíada, her materials and the processes that shape her practice.

ARTIST IN CONVERSATION
Saturday 22 August
Art Leven
104 Cathedral Street, Woolloomooloo

Féth Fíada continues until Saturday 22 August.

Come by this week, spend some time with the exhibition, and join us for the conversation on Saturday.

01/08/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us on Thursday evening for the opening of Féth Fíada by Emily Ebbs.

It was wonderful to see the gallery filled with so many familiar and new faces as we celebrated a body of work that rewards slow looking and quiet reflection.

The exhibition continues until 22 August, so if you joined us on opening night but didn't quite get the chance to linger with the paintings-or if you couldn't make it at all-we'd love to welcome you to the gallery. Féth Fíada is an exhibition that reveals itself over time, inviting a quieter encounter with each visit.

Art Leven, Gadigal Country
104 Cathedral Street, Woolloomooloo
Tuesday–Saturday | 10am–5pm

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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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