Outré Gallery

Every time I have been to Sydney I visit this amazing gallery /​store. I am a pop surrealist and contemporary art fan, so this is like heaven in a store for me. If you like any of the sort of art within Juxtapoz magazine you will love this place.
So, the cool thing is that most of their stock signed and numbered prints. So, that means that a lot of their stock is affordable. Also, you know that you are supporting the artist in purchasing them. But, if you are wanting the real deal, you can also buy original artworks when they have them.
Who is featured in this amazing fantastic wonderful store? A couple of my faves: Mark Ryden, Jeff Sotto, Audrey Kawasaki, Chris Reccardi, and Femke Hiemstra. So awesome!
If you are interested in buying a print, you will be pleased to know that the prices include the frames. Some of them are pretty cool, the others are a little more plain. But, they generally suit the image.
If you are into art books as well, you will find a fine collection here as well. I saw a fab edition of the Garbage Pail Kids.
This is easily one of my fave stores in Sydney.

I adore Outré Gallery, they showcase alternative artists and my very favorite artist — Shag. It’s 60s hipster tiki style art, and my walls are covered with prints and paintings from this place.
They have a gallery in both Sydney and Melbourne (and Perth), and their staff are super helpful and sweet. I’m a huge fan of this gallery, and found them more than 10 years ago online before I moved to Australia.
Even if you don’t buy anything, go to the gallery and just have a look; I’d guess most people walk out smiling.

Outré is a dangerous place.
Jammed floor-​to-​ceiling with the most insane modern, street, lowbrow, kitsch and retro artwork from luminaries like James Jean and international superstar Shag, this place scratches itches I didn’t know I had.
It’s like a candy shop for adults that stocks visual crack, a Wonka-​like wonderland of cool shit that makes you want pretty much everything you lay eyes on.
Go in here. Regularly. Feast your eyes. Just, you know, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

This counter-​culture mecca is almost too avant-​garde for Surry Hills.
Just off of Oxford and Crown, this two-​story gallery hosts an always rotating blend of kooky and cool local and regional artists that specialize in surreal images, cartoons, and, well, those are all of the, um, art words I know, but yeah! The pieces they have there are rockin!
It’s bright and welcoming inside and the staff are super keen to offer suggestions and show you their favorite pieces. They also have a fantastic and diverse book selection, ranging from tattoo art to Day of the Dead kitsch, Be on the lookout for their upcoming events too, as Outré hosts exhibitions and gallery visits!

Awesome gallery showcasing works by Mark Ryden, kozyndan, and many others.
If surrealism, nature themes, and/​or cartoons are your thing, that Outré is the place for you.

If there’s one thing Melbourne has over Sydney, it has to be coffee (sorry Sydney-​siders, I only say it because it’s true. Alas, I wish it wasn’t so).
But we Sydney-​siders do love our art. So we were excited to learn about a Melbourne born concept — ‘Black Coffee’, combining coffee with art.
Now, this is not your Italian style latte or cappuccino type coffee, this is black coffee — in their words ‘Black Coffee serves black, brewed coffee wherever and whenever possible. No milk, no sugar, no espresso and no bullshit’. That sounds pretty serious.
From 19 — 22 April 2012, the Black Coffee concept will arrive at Outré Gallery’s Crown Street window. In their words ‘Serving the finest offerings from Sydney and Melbourne’s finest specialty roasters, Black Coffee brew by hand using pour-​over, aeropress, syphon and any other apparatus they deem worthy on the day’. We like the sound of that.
Outré is Australia’s original alternative gallery, showcasing pop, lowbrow and underground works. So why not come along and experience this unique coffee concept for yourself, whilst also gaining a little culture in the process.

From the moment you pass this store on the street you can’t help but be mesmerised by the freaky tiki cups and assortment of kooky ceramic wares by prominent low brow artists like mark ryden in the window display.
Outré Gallery has to be one of my favourite art galleries. It’s like a combination of a toy store, art gallery and street art palace all in one. When you’re in the store you even get that feeling like you’re in a cool back alleyway somewhere admiring the walls. I often feel like a kid in a candy store here, except for wanting colourful, chewy, gummi bears I want to scoop out colourful, detailed, illustrations by kozy n dan artworks or the surreal, playful images by James Jean. Only problem is that most of the beautifully framed prints in the store start at around $ 300 (which isn’t bad for a sweet piece of art you’ll love), but if you’re like me and still find it hard to pay the rent you can also find some reasonably priced vinyl figurines and books from $ 15 and up.
Also if you’re ever down in Melbourne, check out their store (the 1^st store) on elizabeth street. Its a bit bigger, has some different pieces and the people working are happy characters too that almost seem like they’ve been ripped off the walls.

The Outregallery describes themselves as a counter culture art salon, book merchant, I would describe them as the craziest, coolest and brightest gallery in Sydney.
Outregallery offers four exhibitions of original works each year and in general these exhibitions are sellouts. In between they offer a mind massaging array of Lithographs, Screenprints and Giclees from mainly international artists including the fantastic Yoshimoto Nara from Japan (the guy who draws, paints & sculpts the creepy little girls, many of whom have smoking addictions) they also stock oversized Yoshimoto Nara «Too young to die» ashtrays (almost worth taking up smoking for). Mark Ryden is another feature artist worth noting with his own images of strange large eyed little girls. Matte Stephens work is another name to look for with complex and colourful city-​scapes and cute well dressed cartoonesque kittys.
The works on sale are numbered and signed by their respective artists and for the calibre of the artists and the works offered the prices are surprisingly affordable.
Even if you are not looking to adorn your walls, if you are nearby you must venture to Outré Gallery, across the two levels, you could fill your mind for hours with the vibrant and innovative imagery in Outré’s selection, personally I could spend hours just staring at the imagination within the layers of «Takadanobaba on Acid» by Kozyndan.