Barangaroo House. Right:
Chiswick Gallery at the
Art Gallery of New South
Wales. Above: a Christian
Thompson artwork
hanging in Aria.For the space, Solomon collaborated with Sydney’s H&E
Architects, also responsible for the city’s Acne Studios retail store,
and shopping fixture The Intersection. She also regularly works with
George Livissianis, the interior architect behind local venues The
Apollo, Cho Cho San and The Dolphin. “I work with an amazing
team and some of Sydney’s best architects. You can have an amazing
idea, but unless you work in collaboration you can’t see it realised.”
In 2017, Justine Baker was appointed CEO of Solotel. The
group’s next major project will see the 80-year-old Abercrombie
Hotel in Sydney’s Chippendale restored to its former glory. Solomon
says she intends to retain its art deco feel, drawing inspiration from
the building’s existing features and past life as one of the area’s
preferred after-hours haunts. Word is three adjacent former terraced
houses are set to be transformed into a European-style wine bar.
For Solomon, her work doesn’t stop once the first glass is poured.
“I never stop going into our venues and making tweaks. Hospitality
is such a fashion- and trend-based industry now.” There’s an admi-
rable focus on local artists throughout the group’s portfolio, such
as abstract painter David Rankin (whose works are held in collec-
tions at both the National Gallery of Australia and the National
Gallery of Victoria), floral installation artist
Tracey Deep and ceramicist and Wynne Prize
finalist Alexandra Standen. “Art plays a huge
part in the space,” Solomon says reverently.
There’s also a presence from Indigenous artists
that goes beyond the token inclusions often
seen in such collections, including the late
Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori,
whose work hangs in Aria Brisbane, and promi-
nent Aboriginal artist Christian Thompson AO.
For Aria Sydney’s 2016 reopening, Solomon
acquired a trio of works by Thompson (Trinity
I,II andIIIfrom his 2014 series, Polari), in
which he dons a wig and appears to be smoking.
“It’s confronting and provocative,”
Solomon says, “but despite the conserv-
ative audience, I felt Aria could handle
it. It needed something to lift it out of
just being a dining space.”
She admits to losing sleep over
details that others would consider
trivial. “Your work is always on display,
so it’s not just your client critiquing it;
it’s every person who walks through
the door.” The silver lining to that, of course, is the ability to
provide young artists with a very public platform, something
Solomon considers a privilege. While searching for works to fill a
feature wall in the recently renovated Paddo Inn in Sydney, she
scrolled across artist Christiane Spangsberg on Instagram.
Solomon commissioned 10 original pieces from the Danish artist,
which now hang in harmony in the space. Then relatively
unknown, Spangsberg now regularly sells out shows in her native
Copenhagen, New York, London and Sydney. “When Christiane
came to town, I took her for lunch to show her the works and she
was just blown away,” Solomon says. “As well as being super
talented, she is lovely and so deserving of all her success.”
While she procures works by some of the country’s most cele-
brated artists, Solomon herself has a piece on display in Chiswick at
the Gallery — and, by proxy, the Art Gallery of NSW. In the lead-up
to its opening in 2014, Solomon had eschewed several works the
gallery had put forward for the in-house restaurant. Solomon had
her heart set on another work that she hoped would hang on the
restaurant’s leading wall, but received a call late one Friday night,
just days before the opening party, and was told that due to a near-
miss between an event caterer’s
tomato seed and a Brett Whiteley
painting, the gallery was reluctant
to hang a piece in the restaurant.
“I didn’t know what to do. I’m
just sitting there, hands in the air.”
After some deliberating, Solomon
decided to create a work to fit the
space herself. “I figured I could
make my own installation, so I
went around Sydney on the
Saturday morning buying mate-
rials.” She hung it herself, while
the builders worked around her to
finish the restaurant in time for
the opening party. It worked. “After a few
champagnes, Dad was going around telling
people his daughter’s art is hung in the Art
Gallery of New South Wales.”CULTURE
“I never stop going into
our venues and makingtweaks. Hospitality is
such a fashion- and trend-
based industry now.”- Anna Solomon
159 HARPERSBAZAAR.COM.AU April 2019