Exhibitions can mark moments of change and offer opportunities to reflect. ONE LAST TIME was one such exhibition. Situated in the space recently vacated by Milani Gallery—relocated to smart new premises in Montague Road, West End—this pop-up exhibition was assembled by none other than seemingly retired Brisbane gallerist Peter Bellas. The irony was that Bellas Gallery had opened in this Woolloongabba gallery space in 2003—before Bellas teamed up with Josh Milani as Bellas Milani Gallery in the early 2000s, and well before the subsequent transition to the stand-alone Milani Gallery almost a decade ago.
Writing as one who remembers Peter Bellas launching Bellas Gallery at 499 Adelaide Street in February 1987, ONE LAST TIME read as part reminiscence or nostalgia, part acknowledgement of artist friendships, with a few additions from left field and a dash of humour. The first artist Bellas Gallery presented in 1987 was Peter Cripps, thereby announcing that his gallery would support post-conceptual practices. ONE LAST TIME included, in the back room, a small watercolour by Cripps from that inaugural exhibition, plus several gallery notices explaining the relationship of Cripps’s works to Melbourne composer and musician Percy Grainger. There was also a Courier-Mail review of 19 February 1987 by its art critic Phyllis Woolcock, titled ‘Gallery off to a fine start’.
Bellas Gallery had entered the Brisbane scene at a time of building energy and change. The year 1987 marked the end of the Joh Bjelke-Petersen era and the formation of the Fitzgerald Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct (1987–1989). Those entering ONE LAST TIME encountered a 3D work by Luke Roberts comprising a battered election poster of the former National Party Premier standing
Luke Roberts, Pope Alice + Einstein, 2018. Detail from photographic performance series, Pope Alice + Einstein. Performers Pope Alice and Peter Bellas. Courtesy the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane.
