Steven Alderton works at the intersection of art, collecting and contemporary culture. He is at the forefront of locating new work from Aboriginal art centres and premium international art that rarely reaches the market.

Steven works closely with artists, art centres, collectors, institutions and foundations across the Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States, sourcing and selling Australian Aboriginal and international art, placing it into significant public and private collections.

Steven takes Australian Aboriginal art to international art fairs and collections because this is where modernism's real questions were being answered. Abstraction in Europe and America set out to strip the picture of illusion and arrive at pure form, and it got there by subtraction, emptying the canvas of the world. Aboriginal painting reached the flat field, the all-over surface and the mark repeated into infinity from the opposite direction, carrying the whole of the world with it: law, kin, water, Country, and the ground itself seen from above. It is abstraction that never lost its subject, and that is the more complete achievement. Steven works with artists and art centres to make it happen, featuring both primary and secondary market work.

He firmly believes Australian Aboriginal art has a strong and relevant relationship with international artists, such as;

• Emily Kam Kngwarray: Claude Monet, Agnes Martin, Joan Mitchell, Cy Twombly, Brice Marden, Helen Frankenthaler.

• Tiger Palpatja: Hans Hofmann, Sam Francis, Howard Hodgkin, Philip Guston, Per Kirkeby.

• Nyunmiti Burton: Bridget Riley, Yayoi Kusama, Alma Thomas, Anni Albers, Agnes Martin.

• Gaypalani Wanambi: El Anatsui, Jack Whitten, Julie Mehretu, Danh Vo, Theaster Gates.

He builds collections strategically, writing the collection strategies and policies that guide both private and public holdings. Every work he offers carries a documented provenance chain from the artist to the wall.

Behind that are 30 years leading art institutions, including as CEO of the National Art School and Deputy Director of the Australian Museum, where he managed the world's largest Pacific collection, and also works as a curator and museum planner.