Explore And Collect With Pascale Gomes-McNabb

With a bold take on design, Interior Designer and Director of PGMD and Fair Ambassador Pascale Gomes-McNabb is influenced by the exploration of architecture, art, travel, food, nature and culture.

An ex-restaurateur, she has created some of Australia’s most respected, award-winning establishments including, Cumulus Inc., Cutler & Co (her own places) and for others; Penfolds’ Magill Estate Restaurant and Stokehouse among others.

Melbourne Art Fair spoke with Pascale about her most anticipated artists;

Arts Project Australia (Naarm/Melbourne), Booth H5
Anthony Romagnano 

I love these works by Anthony Romagnano – they are punchy and humorous! There is an abstract cartoon quality to his work yet the images are highly stylised. The saturated colouration deployed is sophisticated and fun, as are the subjects depicted. 

Anthony Romagnano, Untitled, 2019, pencil on paper, 37.5cm x 56cm. Courtesy the artist and Arts Project Australia.

Tolarno Galleries (Naarm/Melbourne), Booth D4
Wanapati Yunupinju

I saw Wanapati Yunupinju’s work at the Melbourne Art Fair in 2022 and sometime at the Art Gallery of NSW. The level of detail within the works is exquisite. The juxtaposition of his engraving by hand his ancestral Gumatj clan diamond design on found objects is incredible.  

Wanapati Yunupiŋu, Gumatj fire Gurtha Wanapati metal, 2023 Mixed media 91 x 60.5 cm. Courtesy the artist and Tolarno Galleries.

MARS Gallery (Naarm/Melbourne), Booth E2
Dani McKenzie

There is a lush, seductive yet a pensive quality to these works. Created by the warm colours and (precise yet ever so slightly louche) painting style, they depict everyday almost mundane, innocent scenes of life’s goings on. 

Dani McKenzie, Working The Pass, 2024, Oil and acrylic on board, 63 x 55 x 5 cm. Courtesy the artist and MARS Gallery.

THIS IS NO FANTASY (Naarm/Melbourne), Booth C4
Ali Tahayori

The reuse of mirror that has evolved into a craft and the inclusion of images from another place and time, create a seductive hybridisation and melding of elements and layers of culture, material, history and meanings. That represent to me the idea that we interpret life in a myriad of ways. 

Ali Tahayori, Untitled 17 (Archive of Longing), 2023, archival photograph printed on glass, hand-cut glass, silicone, on aluminium di-bond, 85cm x 104cm x 2cm. Courtesy the artist and THIS IS NO FANTASY.

Melbourne Art Fair takes place 22 – 25 February at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Secure tickets here.