13 January 2011 was a sad day in the world of underground Sydney art. This was the date that Absolut Stairwell Gallery threw its goodbye bash in the three-level stairwell between Sugarmill and Kit & Kaboodle in downtown Kings Cross. But six months and one name-change later, Ketel One Stairwell Gallery is reclaiming the narrow space and restoring it to all its boozy, 24-hour glory. 

Last night Ketel One affirmed the long-standing relationship between art and alcohol with the re-launch of a space dedicated to showcasing the works of young Australian artists.  As part of the initiative ‘Dead Space Living Artists’, Stairwell was one of three projects that aimed to convert neglected spaces around the city into pockets of cultural goodness. Using the well-trodden stairwell as a gallery space answers two problems created by conventional art galleries: They’re often elitist, and they’re only open at certain times. Not so with the open-24-hours walls of Stairwell, where you can stumble throughh with a cocktail in hand at any hour of the night.

The constant flurry of well-shod feet makes Stairwell Gallery prime real estate for hungry young artists. In the past works gracing the walls have ranged from photography by Hobo Gestapo to street art by The Movement and Arnie Arnold, and have been curated by Pedestrian Group, the COFA (College of Fine Arts) kids and — most notably — street art collective StupidKrap, who’s founder Ben Frost is one of Australia’s most offensively brilliant exports.

First up on the walls this time around is photographer Stef Mitchell, who has recently returned to Sydney after spending 18 months in New York interning for Annie Leibovitz, the legendary portrait photographer famed for snapping a picture of a naked John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrapped around each other. There’s a similar romantic grittiness and to Mitchell’s own photographs that proves she spent those 18 months doing more than just bar-hopping around the Lower East Side (though she obviously had her fair share of nights out, with one of them including shoving a Ketel One bottle into a hot dog bun and covering it in mustard and ketchup). Mitchell is now prepping for a return to New York to work with fashion’s most controversial photographer, Terry Richardson. Say what you will about him, but there’s no denying that the man rumoured to have a taste for tampon tea is a strangely fitting association for this anything-but-conventional art space.

Just like the original Stairwell Gallery, each month will feature works by a different artist. So next time you’re in the neighbourhood, venture up the stairs and transform your night out into a creative journey. Just try not to linger too long — it is, after all, still a stairwell.