Artists Space Gallery

[3][4][5][6][7] He was joined in the early 80's by his partner Sophie Nowicka a textile designer and artist,[8] who assisted in administration of the gallery and in curatorial selection of exhibitions.

When it opened, the gallery occupied the top floor of a 1920s shopfront in the main street at 127 Buckley St., near the railway station in the working-class suburb Essendon.

A range of exhibitions included emerging artists and those well recognised nationally and internationally.

[11] While located in Essendon, in the opinion of The Age newspaper art reviewer Beatrice Faust, Placek's exhibitions "accumulated a lot of critical capital," as it "showed small collections of consistently good and sometimes excellent work,"[10] including Robert Mapplethorpe's 1983 photogravure suite 'Flowers', and also Bettina Rheims.

[15][16][17][18] It signifies the impact of the Gallery, that founder Placek was himself included, among many of the past exhibitors at Artists Space, in the landmark survey show[19] and publication[20] of photography of the 1970s and 1980s, The Thousand Mile Stare.