COMA: A global gallery with local soul.

The current COMA outpost opened in January 2025, designed to give artists somewhere that “invited physical and conceptual expansion," Sotiriou says, allowing for bolder ideas and deeper engagement. It's a vision anchored in risk, curiosity, and confidence in the power of good art.

“We have a strong passion for showing great international artists for the first time in Australia,” Sotiriou explains. “And it’s an exciting time in this part of Sydney.” Marrickville’s creative scene is fertile ground, he says, with the gallery tapping into a local arts community, while collaborating with nearby small businesses and brands. The area’s working-class heritage and its transformation into one of Sydney’s most vibrant cultural precincts form a natural backdrop for what COMA sets out to do.

“We’ve stayed true to some of the original architecture,” Sotiriou adds, noting how the gallery’s space reflects the suburb’s industrial roots.  At almost 500sqm it makes a compelling initial impact as one of the largest commercial galleries in the city, while the team is participating in more international art fairs than ever, expanding its reach and profile beyond the physical.

That international perspective is reflected in the current exhibition, Physics of Uncertainty by Mexican artist José Dávila, his first solo presentation in Australia. Dávila’s work examines the subtle dynamics of balance, gravity, and fragility - forces that, as he describes, “resist predictability and control.” In the exhibition, sculptures made of steel, rock, and glass appear to teeter on the edge of collapse. The materials are selected not just for their physical properties, but for their symbolic weight.

“It came to me through a simple reflection, that gravity is one of the main forces for making matter circular,” Dávila says. In this body of work, the act of positioning one object against another becomes a study in vulnerability and transformation.

While Dávila resists prescribing a fixed interpretation, he hopes the exhibition “can activate the viewer’s imagination, emotions, or reflective capacities.” And the setting at COMA, with its stripped-back aesthetic and voluminous environment, allows the work to breathe. For Dávila, it felt like the right place and the right moment. He had been in dialogue with Sotiriou for several years, beginning around the time of his inclusion in the 2020 Biennale of Sydney, and this show became a continuation of that connection.

Back in Marrickville, COMA’s trajectory speaks to something broader unfolding in the Inner West. As new transport links create corridors between these precincts, and Sydney’s city fringe becomes even more connected, the area is evolving into a cultural hub of national and international relevance. Sotiriou notes parallels with the LA art scene: “Both are very collaborative and community-based. They welcome experimentation and ambition.”

It’s a unique backdrop for COMA to quietly push boundaries with thoughtful, high-calibre work - art that invites contemplation, not spectacle. “2025 is our most ambitious and expansive year to date,” Sotiriou says. With names including Kansas Smeaton, Teresa Baker, Oliver Wagner and Renée Estée on the horizon, that ambition is already unfolding.

In the meantime, the COMA team keeps Marrickville rituals in check, from the traditional to the modernistic. When this conversation with BresicWhitney turns to kindred local drawcards, "Marrickville Pork Roll” rates a mention in the same breath as the new café darling “Superfreak” - a quintessential Inner West exchange.

It’s a reminder that while COMA’s ambition is global, its heart lies in the local.

COMA gallery is located at 37 Chapel Street, Marrickville and online at www.comagallery.com.