How 4 nurses who said they couldn’t afford to buy art led to an amazing, and affordable, exhibition opening in Sydney this week

If you’re not a celebrity or crypto bro with money to burn on Bored Ape NFTs, or bananas taped to a wall, but would like to buy art, then an exhibition opening in Sydney this week is just for you.

James Erskine founded the Liverpool Street Gallery in East Sydney more than 20 years ago, exhibiting contemporary painting and sculpture by established and emerging artists, including Rick Amor, Kevin Connor and Cuban-born Enrique Martínez Celaya.

But when four young nurses wandered into his gallery after work, and explained that while they loved the works on the walls, they were beyond what they could afford, it got him thinking.

“The modern era has seen hype and promotion often take precedent over good art,” he explains, saying that buying it should be easy.

“You buy what you love, what you want on your wall, it’s not about fame or fashion,” Erskine said, also acknowledging that few can afford it amid current cost pressures.

So he had an idea, and the result is likely to have art fans queuing up outside Liverpool Street Gallery this Thursday, December 4, like teens at a Yo-Chi.

The show is called BLIND and features 200 works, many from well-known artists.

But there is no catalogue and no details on who the artists, who are anonymous. And they’re all for sale for $500.

“I wanted to put on a show that was affordable, the works anonymous, people could buy what caught their eye. So, the show ‘BLIND’ was born,” Erskine explains.

“BLIND gives the young, the student, the less affluent a chance to get an absolute gem that will bring joy and happiness each day. The buyer just takes the chosen work off the wall and goes home hopefully happier.”

If you think about the $500 price tag, within two years on your wall at home, the artwork costs you less than 70 cents a day – or one coffee a week.

Erskine has other rules too: line up for the show, which opens at 5pm on December 4, and the first person gets the first choice and so on. You can only buy one work – if another catches your eye, then it’s back to the end of the queue with fingers crossed. And art galleries, companies and institutional buyers are banned for the first three weeks of the show.

Even if you don’t find something you like, Erskine hopes people will enjoy “a nice glass of wine” and the chance to wish everyone Merry Christmas.