Come here to discover what you won't find in every other Australian gallery...
Experience Art Slowly
Art deserves time.
After many years of large exhibition openings, 19 Karen has embraced a more personal way of experiencing and collecting art.
Visitors are welcome to explore the gallery during normal opening hours in a relaxed environment, allowing the work to be seen without the distraction of a crowded event.
Collectors may also arrange a private viewing with Gallery Director Terri Lew, including outside normal gallery hours.
Whether you are an experienced collector, searching for a particular work, or purchasing contemporary art for the first time, we are happy to help you explore the collection at your own pace.
No pressure. No rush. Just time with the art.
19 Karen Contemporary Artspace
19 Karen Avenue, Mermaid Beach, Queensland, 4218
We’re Open: Tuesday to Thursday: 9am – 4pm | Friday and Saturday: 9am – 1pm
Email: info@19karen.com.au
Phone: (07) 5554 5019
18 YEARS OF DISCOVERY
Since opening its doors in 2008, 19 Karen Contemporary Artspace has built a distinctive reputation for discovering and presenting exceptional contemporary artists from Australia and around the world.
Located in Mermaid Beach on Queensland’s Gold Coast, our expansive gallery brings together emerging, mid-career and established artists whose work is selected for its originality, individuality and ability to engage, challenge and endure.
At 19 Karen, we believe collecting art is deeply personal. It begins with a connection – to an artwork, an artist and the story behind the work.
For 18 years, 19 Karen has looked beyond trends and geographical boundaries to discover artists with something original to say.
Our exhibition history stretches from the Gold Coast to an international community of artists and collectors, with a program encompassing contemporary painting, sculpture and mixed media across abstraction, figurative art, expressionism, surrealism, urban and pop-influenced practices.
Some artists have been with the gallery for many years. Others are new discoveries whose careers we are excited to follow.
What connects them is simple: We believe in the work.
Meet Gallery Director Terri Lew.
Founded in 2008 by collector and Gallery Director Terri Lew, 19 Karen was born from her long-held passion for art and instinct for discovering exceptional talent. After selling her successful tourist magazines, Terri wasn’t ready to retire—she wanted to create a gallery where emerging Australian and international artists could be discovered, supported and given a platform to grow.
Rather than following established trends, Terri seeks out artists with a distinctive visual language, often representing them before wider recognition. Over the years, many artists introduced through 19 Karen have gone on to exhibit internationally, enter significant collections and build successful careers. Her instinct for talent and commitment to discovering what’s next remain at the heart of the gallery.
Terri Lew’s Approach to Collecting Art
Terri’s selection of art is deeply personal, reflecting her own tastes. She shares straightforward advice for art buyers:
“Buy art that you love. If you can’t walk away from it or if you are still thinking about it, it means that you have already committed to it emotionally. This is what art does to you. Buy art that reflects your taste, your mood and your personality. There are no guarantees that an artist will become successful and give you a return on your investment, but the joy you will receive from living with it is worth every dollar you spend.”
How did you start collecting art?
This is the first painting I ever bought 40 years ago…..
40 years ago (approx) I picked up my 2 young kids from school and on the way home I dropped by the Gold Coast City Gallery (now called HOTA) to see high school students annual exhibition called ‘ Energies’.
As I entered the gallery I was immediately drawn to this painting.
It is important to note that at the age of 35 with 2 young children, a mortgage and no savings in the bank to speak of, I could not afford to buy art and especially when my then husband was an artist – a good one I might add!
However, something happened to me that day. Each time I walked away from the painting to leave the gallery, I was drawn back to it. The person in the painting was following me with his eyes, just like the Mona Lisa did when I saw her at the Louvre. I just couldn’t walk away from the painting and after my third attempt, I had to ask a volunteer member of staff if the painting was for sale and if so how much would the artist accept for it…
The young man went to the back of the gallery, made a phone call and came back with the answer. Yes, the artist will sell the painting. She wants $150. I immediately agreed!
When it was time to collect the painting, I asked my then husband if he would help me pick up the painting and bring it home. He said “it was a piece of ****! “ and flatly refused to help me.
Little did he know how much more determined that made me!
At the time I had a roof rack on my Gemini (an Australian car no longer in production) I strapped this big painting to the roof of my car and drove in first gear all the way home on a windy day whilst holding the painting outside the window with one hand and the other hand was steering the wheel. Today, I would be booked for driving this way…
Needless to say that my husband was not happy when I arrived home with the painting – but the painting lasted longer than my marriage and it is proudly hanging in our packing room in the gallery.
That’s how I started my journey into collecting art…
Virtually view Terri’s Private Art collection: Here
Pictured above: 2024 Lester Prize Finalist Painting
‘Terri Lew’
Oil on canvas
150 x 95 cm
Proudly painted by Caitlyn Taylor
