Top Picks by Aotearoa Art Fair Director, Sue Waymouth

As Fair Director of Aotearoa Art Fair and a collector herself, Sue Waymouth knows what catches her eye. From artists she has followed for years to new discoveries and works that bring back a personal memory, these are the pieces Sue will be making a beeline for at Sydney Contemporary.

Artists To See

Lee Bae
Top of my list is a sculpture by South Korean artist Lee Bae, showing with Gow Langsford. He has exhibited at Rockefeller Center and the Venice Biennale, and I would love to add such an internationally renowned artist to my collection. Bae is known primarily for his black works, often using charcoal, but it is his bronze sculptures I love the most.

Photo: Lee Bae, Brushstroke S1, 2025, Courtesy of Gow Langsford Gallery.

Yuki Kihara
Also on my list, showing with Gow Langsford, is Yuki Kihara (Japan, Sāmoa), who represented New Zealand at the Venice Biennale in 2022. I saw her work, which featured embroideries on pandanus mats, in the group exhibition In That Stone, In That Cyclone, In That Leaf at Gow Langsford last year, based around weather stories. Several institutions purchased these large-scale works, and I was pleased to see there are some smaller-scale works in a similar style at Sydney Contemporary.

Photo: Yuki Kihara, Woven Memories: Harold – Vanuata, 2026, Courtesy of Gow Langsford Gallery.

Donna Marcus
I recently discovered the Australian artist Donna Marcus through Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert. I spotted a work of Marcus’s in Sally’s home and admired it. The grid patterns reminded me of Agnes Martin, but I was surprised when I looked closely to find it was made out of discarded aluminium cake tins. Marcus’s work, made with familiar objects, evokes stories — this one reminded me of hours sitting in my grandmother’s kitchen watching her fill the cake tins!

Photo: Donna Marcus, Prairie, 2026 , Courtesy of Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert.

Cindy Leong
I have been keeping an eye on New Zealand-based artist Cindy Leong since she was at Elam art school. I was delighted to see that such a young artist is now represented by Fox Jensen McCrory Gallery. Her work references her Malaysian-Chinese heritage and sits at the intersection of abstract painting and Eastern philosophical thought. It is the texture of her paintings that resonates with me — with the repetition of the brushstrokes, they have a calming and meditative effect when you view them. She is definitely one to watch!

Photo: Cindy Leong, Everything and Nothing 2511, 2025, Courtesy of Fox Jensen McCrory Gallery.

Vita Cochran
Day01.Gallery is showing Vita Cochran’s exquisite hand-embroidered moth sculptures. Each one is incredibly intricate and fragile, made with layers of astonishing colours. As a group they would look amazing, but I would settle for just one of these beautiful pieces.

Photo: Vita Cochran, Courtesy of Day.01 Gallery.

Mia Boe
I have regretted not purchasing one of Mia Boe’s paintings at her early exhibition with Roslyn Oxley9, and I have been looking out for one ever since. I find her paintings intriguing, with their strikingly unique long-limbed figures surrounded by richly coloured landscapes. I loved her painting Drifting Cloud — her Archibald Prize portrait of musician Baker Boy — and for a young artist she is gaining a lot of recognition.

Photo: Mia Boe, School Night, 2026, Courtesy of Roslyn Oxley9.

Peter Robinson
Sutton Gallery is showing one of my favourite artists, Peter Robinson (Ngāi Tahu/Pākehā). Robinson is widely recognised as one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s leading contemporary artists, having exhibited extensively throughout New Zealand and internationally, including at the 49th Venice Biennale. Drawing has always been a key part of his practice, and I like his charcoal drawing Ki Roto Ki Wā, 2025, as it shows the physical process of his drawing, the play between order and disorder, as well as referencing his Māori ancestry with tiki-like forms.

Photo: Peter Robinson, Ki Roto Ki Waho, 2025, Courtesy of Sutton Gallery.

Bridget Stehli
The Nasha boys have a knack for spotting young emerging artists. They are showing the Australian painter Bridget Stehli. Her work can be challenging, as she borrows from B movies and pornography and satirises the dominant heterosexual gaze. I find them really amusing, and I have my eye on The Hold Out, which is painted incredibly well.

Photo: Bridget Stehl, The Holdout, 2025, Courtesy of Nasha Gallery.

Murray Fredericks
I couldn’t pick my top picks without including some photography, which forms the base of my art collection. I am interested in the incredible landscape images of Murray Fredericks who is showing with Michael Reid. They are taken in remote landscapes, and I like the way he changes our perception and reorganises this ephemeral landscape with the blazing fire.

Photo: Murray Fredericks, Blaze #22, Kangaroo Lake, Great Darling Anabranch, 2023, Courtesy of Michael Reid.

Installations

Billy Apple
I am looking forward to seeing one of New Zealand’s internationally acclaimed pop and conceptual artists, Billy Apple (1301SW | STARKWHITE), take over the front of Carriageworks. The work draws its title from Billy Apple®: The Artist Has to Live Like Everybody Else, his landmark 2015 survey exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. I will also be lining up for one of the Billy Apple posters, and for the talk by Mary Apple and curator José da Silva.

Alex Seton
I am also looking forward to seeing Alex Seton’s giant carved marble puffer jacket, A Person of Substance (Life Size), 2025, who shows with Sullivan and Strumpf. I saw this work in the making at his studio last year, and I couldn’t get over both the size of it and the incredible detail of the empty jacket.

Pommery Bar
And of course, I am looking forward to a glass of Pommery Champagne at the Pommery bar!