When engineer Luke Halpin decided local artists weren’t getting the support they needed from galleries, he made a drastic shift in his career and started up arts organisation Artlab.
“We started to hear stories of people who had artwork stored up in their garages or their sheds, waiting for exhibition space, or waiting until they had money to hire a space for a week,” he says.
He aims to rectify that with Occupy Pop-Up, his temporary gallery on William Street.
“We try to promote these local artists as much as possible,” he says, and he’s now got more than 300 pieces from 60 local artists on the walls.
Mr Halpin says he received great feedback from artists who sold works in the last auction he ran: “I’ve been telling people, if I could turn feedback into dollars we’d be millionaires by now.”
Going from engineer to art patron seems like a bit of a jolt but he says he always allowed a bit of art to filter into his science at his former job.
“I’d always been creative in my designs, which had led me into trouble in engineering: You’re supposed to follow the code!
“My superiors never enjoyed that at all.
“It was when I was financially stable enough to step away from engineering and start supporting local artists… I was told that I’d finally stepped into my box.”
The works are on show at 224a William Street until this weekend, when there’s a big auction of the pieces on Sunday October 13 at noon.
by DAVID BELL
Perth Voice Interactive 
Leave a comment