When I heard that my former boss at Christie’s, one of the most capable, intelligent, energetically driven, thoughtful, kind, inappropriately loud and, at times, overbearing people in the Australian art world, had died, I immediately thought of Chairman Mao: ‘All men must die, but death can vary in its significance…’
Never has a truer phrase been uttered, by the homicidally flawed Great Helmsman. Sue Hewitt was most significant in her life, and her absence will be a profound loss to all who knew her and worked under her guidance. Sue was Old School, she was Government House Old School, and Sue was THE BOSS.
Michael Reid is a successful, hard-working, highly focused, of average height, fat, near of sight, follically challenged, dyslexic, meat-eating, art dealer who is ever so lightly brushed by high-functioning low-level autism. He has five art galleries – being two in Sydney, one in Berlin, Germany and others in Murrurundi, the Upper Hunter and in Berrima, the Southern Highlands of NSW. In addition to the physical spaces, there is an online platform Michael Reid CLAY. His galleries established the National Emerging Art Prize in 2020. Michael received an Order of Australia in January 2016 for his services to the art world and is just back from scouting for space to open a gallery, in Los Angeles.
