It was set as a non-commercial gallery, free to the public but with no government funding or subsidies.
Sasha Grishin, senior art critic of The Canberra Times, reviewing the gallery's inaugural exhibition, compared it favourably with a contemporaneous exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery, saying that it "wins hands down on calibre and choice".
Grishin described Baker's "megalomaniac vision" of the gallery as studio space, publisher and major education centre as somewhat "unreal", but praised his success so far.
[2] Its inaugural exhibition in August 1987,[2] entitled Contemporary Art in Australia – A Review,[3] featured the work 67 artists, including of Vivienne Binns,[3] Fred Williams, Albert Tucker, Danila Vassilieff, Jan Senbergs, Ian Fairweather, Keith Looby, Robert Klippel, George Baldessin, John Brack, Davida Allen, Peter Booth,[2] and Paul Boston.
[2] In June–July 1988, the gallery featured an exhibition entitled Hilary Boscott: Anamnesis.