Spray Booth

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 24mm · f/8.0 · 1.6s · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

A disused spray booth interior, walls heavily coated in peeling paint and industrial residue. Dust motes visible in ambient light filtering into the space. Surfaces throughout show layered build-up consistent with years of workshop use.

Edition

Open edition

Open edition
Printed to order, no fixed quantity. Each print is hand-signed by the photographer.

Limited edition
A fixed number of prints exist. Once sold, the edition closes permanently. Each print is individually numbered and signed.

$100.00 AUD

Colour

Signed, numbered, with COA. Made to order in 5 to 10 business days (unframed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.

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In situ

Spray Booth at Sundell Holden, black-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

Spray Booth at Sundell Holden, raw timber-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

Spray Booth at Sundell Holden, glass print displayed in situ on a wall.

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Spray Booth
Series: Sundell Holden
Catalogue: SHO-020
Process: Giclée
Captured: 8 November 2015
Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 1.6s s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 24 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 mm
Location: Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia
Authenticity: C2PA verified provenance →
Recognised by: Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards

02 LOCATION

Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

Inside the Smith Street workshop and service centre in Chatswood, a spray booth stands stripped and still. The walls are buried under peeling paint and layers of industrial residue, the kind of build-up that accumulates across years of vehicle finishing work. Dust motes drift through the ambient light, the only movement left in a space built around constant activity. Sundell Motors Pty Ltd held Holden dealer code 610 for Chatswood, NSW, and operated as part of a multi-branch network confirmed by ASIC company records to have included entities at both Chatswood and Pittwater. The Smith Street site was the mechanical and service arm of the operation, distinct from the earlier Pacific Highway showroom. The company was first registered with ASIC on 5 January 1967 as Sundell Motors Chatswood Pty Ltd, and four Sundell entities were consolidated under a single company name on 3 September 2018. Following closure and prior to demolition, the Smith Street building stood vacant and attracted layers of street art and graffiti. It was during this interstitial period that Brett Patman photographed the site in 2015. The spray booth recorded here shows walls still carrying the residue of their working life, paint flaking back in broad sheets, surfaces darkened with residue that no clean-up ever reached. General Motors announced the withdrawal of the Holden brand from Australia and New Zealand on 17 February 2020. Holden ceased trading entirely on 31 December 2020, leaving 185 dealers across the country to negotiate exit terms. The ACCC intervened in May 2020 after finding that dealers had been given inadequate time to assess compensation packages. A Senate inquiry reported in March 2021 that the withdrawal had exposed a clear imbalance in bargaining power between Holden and its dealer network. Willoughby City Council approved DA-2017/182 for a five-storey Woolworths development at 17 Smith Street in March 2021. The building was demolished around that time. The Woolworths Chatswood East supermarket opened on 26 October 2022. The spray booth no longer exists. This photograph is what remains of it.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Inside the Sundell Holden workshop and service centre on Smith Street, Chatswood, a disused spray booth sits silent beneath peeling paint and accumulated industrial residue. Sundell Motors Pty Ltd held Holden dealer code 610 for Chatswood, operating a multi-branch network across Sydney's North Shore. The Smith Street site functioned as the mechanical and service arm of that network, distinct from the Pacific Highway showroom operation. Dust motes drift through ambient light, marking a space that once kept Holdens roadworthy.

Brett Patman

The series

Sundell Holden

2015 · 23 photographs

Sundell Holden was the Chatswood East workshop and showroom of Sundell Motors Pty Ltd, on the corner of Smith and Gibbes Streets. Sundell Motors Chatswood Pty Ltd was registered with ASIC on 5 January 1967, and the company ran a Sydney North Shore Holden dealer network with sites at Chatswood, Top Ryde, West Ryde, Drummoyne, and Pittwater. The original Pacific Highway showroom, where a 1962 EJ Holden was sold new to Mr Alan Hamilton, was demolished in 1987 for the Zenith Centre. The Smith Street site continued as the network's main workshop. Four related Sundell entities consolidated into a single SUNDELL MOTORS PTY LTD on 3 September 2018, and operations wound down with the broader Holden franchise closure following Holden's national withdrawal in 2020. The Smith Street building stood empty for several years before being demolished for the Woolworths Chatswood East supermarket, which opened on the site in November 2022.

View all in this series →

05 SIZE GUIDE

Print sizes

The anatomy view shows what this finish is as a physical object: paper margin, mat band, frame depth, acrylic profile. The comparison strip shows how each size sits relative to the others at true scale. Click a size or a finish to update both.