Australian Nicola Townsend's Nanpeidai apartment looks different from my last visit. The furniture is the same, but there is a subtle change in the atmosphere and light. Then I realize that it's the paintings. After a sell-out show of works from her native soil earlier this year, the independent curator is preparing for a second exhibition and so her home has once more become a temporary gallery to works from "Ten Australian Artists."

The walls are covered in works from artists that she has chosen to represent a cross section of contemporary Australian styles and themes. On one wall are quite seductive images from 29-year-old Jason Benjamin. His ethereal landscapes and still lifes are given an added appeal by their almost poetic titles. There is an otherworldly landscape dubbed "It took year to make this day" and an erotic yellow rose that he has named "A Fraction of the Sun."

Benjamin has just been approached by a London gallery, but he has been a longtime favorite of Townsend. She explains: "I try to choose the artists before they gain international acclaim -- so they are cheaper and it is great to feel you have bought something before it has become globally recognized."