It’s about five minutes before the doors open. Massive queue. It’s Sydney Contemporary, the annual art fair held at Carriageworks and the artist in the sight-line of every serious collector is Yolngu artist Dhambit Munungurr. When the doors finally open, a herd of stylishly clad, mostly polite, elephants are unleashed.By the time I got to the Roslyn Oxley booth back in 2023, thousands and thousands of dollars of the cerulean blue work of this Indigenous artist had a red sticker by its side. Sold. Sold. Sold. I’m not even in the ballpark for buying the work – but nothing like observing an art frenzy. Yes, there’s been a four-year decline in turnover but a record numbers of visitors. And The Art Baseland UBS Art Market Report 2026 found that by the end of last year, art sales were recovering but not yet returned to their 2022 peak.Crowds at last year’s Sydney Contemporary Art Fair.Art fairs are the place to be if you want to see almost every contemporary Australian artist at the same time. No need to spend every Saturday going gallery to gallery. No need to bother with the pointlessness of trying to buy art online where everything seems shinier than it really is.This year, the fair’s tenth, there are more than 100 gallerists, mainly from Australia, a handful from elsewhere. And never mind the gallerists. There are more than 500 artists from all over the nation. The ones who normally exhibit only in Melbourne, only in Adelaide, Brisbane and beyond.For the first time, Sydney Contemporary will do what international art fairs have done for yonks – a two-hour block for VIPs to get first look, before anyone else. What does it take to get an invitation? Nominations from galleries and a long-standing commitment to spending on the visual arts. Zoe Paulsen, in her third year as fair director, says the organisers responded to feedback from both galleries and collectors. “They indicated we needed a shorter window, more considered conversations around significant works, before the fair becomes quite busy.”Busy is one word for it. Elbows out might be another way of putting it.I’ve watched Karina Harris and Neil Hobbs collecting for a few years now. They have a massive private collection, more than 1000 works in their Canberra home and Sydney apartment, an overflow in storage. They run the Canberra Biennial. And they are all business when they arrive at any art event. “If we like it, we buy it,” says Hobbs. Straight away.Collectors Neil Hobbs and Karina Harris are regulars at the art fair.Sitthixay DitthavongWhy does it matter to be first in the queue? “If you’re keen on somebody’s work in particular, this might be the only chance you’re going to get. We’ll do a quick whip around at midday so you don’t get stuck talking to people. Then when all the crowds come in, you can go back in and relax a little,” says Harris.And last year, they did exactly that. The work of much-mourned Indigenous artist and award-winning poet Lionel Fogarty, who died earlier this year, flew off the walls of Darren Knight’s booth. The very earliest purchasers that day of a giant work by Fogarty? Hobbs and Harris. They bought the 2.4-metre by 1.5-metre work Connoisseur.But not everyone wants to buy what’s on immediately on offer.Nikita Le Messurier, 35, used to fly into Sydney from St Kilda in time for the fair. Now she’s moved from Melbourne to Woolloomooloo – and she’s not even looking for something special. More like someone special – each year, Le Messurier has committed to commissioning a portrait of herself. Art fairs are where she scouts new talent to add to her list of whom she might commission. So far, it’s been Harrie McKay, Tom Polo, Guido Maestri, Eliza Gosse, Marion Abraham.I ask her if she’s a narcissist. Le Messurier’s unfazed. “It’s more about being part of the process with the artist so like, I’ll give them full rein. I’ll say this is the budget, do whatever you want, but I’m your subject. You can see how different artists perceive differently and what their process is like, and you get to know them over the next year and be part of that portrait experience,” she says. “Sometimes these fairs are about finding new artists who I might want to experience that project with.”Isn’t it a bit wild trying to get the hang of what you’re seeing in a rush? Alex Burchmore, senior lecturer in curatorial studies at the Australian National University, confesses he wouldn’t enjoy it. “But a lot of the collectors who go probably like getting swept up in the hustle and bustle, the excitement.Collector Nikita Le Messurier, who seeks out artists at the fair for a portrait of herself every year.And on the day, as Burchmore puts it, there’s a certain level of salesmanship. The owners are there. The artists are there. Party time. “They’re talking up their works, showing people how they relate to other works and collectors get excited about what they perceive to be new trends or up-and-coming.”So should the only people who go to this frenzy of activity be seasoned collectors? Burchmore says “no”. Sure, the first look might be aimed at the loaded and the learned, but he says fairs are a good place to get a snapshot of current contemporary art practice, a mix of established names and comers-up.Lauren and David Seeman flew up from Melbourne. When they arrive, they do a brisk whip around, ask gallerists to hold it for 10 minutes and then do an equally quick “yes, no”. They make decisions together – and that’s after years and years of visiting galleries, bringing their kids with them, looking at everything.Do they have their eye on something special? Turns out there is another secret way for high-profile collectors to nab their purchases. They ask their favourite galleries to send an early catalogue. “We might even buy it before the preview for VIPs,” says Lauren Seeman.But this time they do have their eye on a work by Kathy Temin, the Melbourne soft sculptor, whose work they saw on a studio visit earlier this year.Now, where to buy when you don’t have 10 grand to drop? The Australian Print Workshop has works from major artists for well under $1000 – you can look on their website now. But you will get to see them in real life at the fair, well after the First Look and VIP day.Damien Minton Presents brings rock posters among others each year. You will find some bargains.And for a long-term view, check out the area of the fair called Futures, where you will see up-and-coming gallerists, including fan fave Nasha Gallery, home of Amelia Skelton, winner of this year’s NSW Visual Arts Fellowship (emerging) and extremely groovy yet inexpensive Marrickville-based LAILA.Sydney Contemporary at Carriageworks, September 3-6. sydneycontemporary.com.au