Ovolo Hotels is set to partner with The Other Art Fair to support local emerging artists.

The Sydney-based event gives attendees the opportunity to meet and buy art direct from emerging artists that are hand-picked by a committee of art industry experts.

Ovolo founder and CEO Giresh Jhunjhnuwala says, “For Ovolo the alignment with The Other Art Fair was obvious – a majority of the artworks within Ovolo have been produced by local emerging artists some of whom have previously showcased their works at the event. It is therefore a natural partnership and progression to have the opportunity to support additional artists at a grassroots level.”

With a personal collection of over 200 pieces, Jhunjhnuwala acknowledges the lack of attention given to art curation and the cookie cutter approach adopted within the hospitality space, particularly in hotels.

He says, “I originally founded Ovolo because I travelled a lot for work and was really uninspired by all the stock standard hotel offerings in the market. I really wanted Ovolo to disrupt the concept of a traditional hotel and to bring the comfort of home into a stay experience. Art played a pivotal part in this in terms of bringing a unique personality to a hotel experience.”

As part of the partnership, Ovolo Hotels will host a 5m x 5m branded pop up lounge area at The Other Art Fair, featuring an interactive installation designed by Australian artist Tarli Bird. ‘Foot threads through Sydney’ will explore the connection between journey and discovery.

Bird says, “We have created an interactive print that explores journey and place with a large scale artistic map of the greater region of Sydney. Visitors will be encouraged to interact with the artwork by weaving a piece of thread through the map from the rough location point that they left to visit The Other Art Fair. Over the three days the two-dimensional print will turn into a three-dimensional sculptural form to communicate ideas of journey and place, the red thread will accumulate enough mass to reveal something significant.”

In addition to The Other Art Fair partnership, Ovolo Hotels will also showcase works by artist Cathy Ann Coady at its Ovolo 1888 hotel in Darling Harbour.

Jhunjhnuwala says, “From a private enterprise space I’m always looking to see what we can do to support up and coming artists. I would absolutely love to provide a space within our hotels for artists to showcase their works to the general public and hopefully this is something we can support in the near future.”