Yen Magazine
Yen Magazine 2006
Directed and managed by Mark Drew and Edward Woodley, founded in 2004 and located in Sydney, China Heights Gallery sits on the 3rd story of a Surry Hills warehouse where, every Friday night, a cacophony of creatives, art lovers, locals, hipsters and walk-ins mill around work from the likes of Kill Pixie, Design is Kinky, Vice Magazine and Mr Cartoon – often making their first forays – and purchases – in the world of art and design. These crazy kids could be going home with the Monet’s and van Gogh’s of the future but for now, they just want to play with pretty things and each other – creating in their midst Australia’s most cutting edge, independent artistic collective.
Twenty seven year old COFA Graduate, Paul Davies, is a painter whose work has been exhibited at the First Draft, Tim Olsen and Soho Galleries – and many more. “As soon as I started at The Heights my work improved. Being around like-minded people makes everything possible,” Paul says. “I heard a speech artist Mike Parr gave about the artist run space he founded in Sydney in the 70’s. There were ten people involved but it gained international recognition within a year. The same thing is happening here.”
Yen Magazine Issue 24 Aug/Sept 06 p93
Friday Heights, The Chronicles of a super art collective - Marta Jary