The Archibald Comes To Coffs

Australia’s most prestigious art award, The Archibald Prize, arrives in Coffs Harbour on January 22nd on the final stage of its regional tour of the 2019 exhibition.

The Archibald Prize provides a snapshot of Australian culture, portraying significant Australian subjects from musicians and actors, to sporting heroes and authors. A drawcard for audiences, the prize has been awarded to many of Australia’s most renowned artists and demonstrates the evolving definitions of portraiture.

“Hosting the Archibald 2019 exhibition is a major achievement for Coffs Harbour, with this being the first time the whole exhibition has been exhibited in our community,” explains Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery’s, Cath Fogarty.

“Due to the limited size of the Gallery, some of the works won’t fit in the current space, so to ensure our culture-loving community can experience the entire exhibition, we’ve secured space at Culture Hub upstairs in Coffs Central, thanks to the generosity of Gowings.”

“In 2021 The Archibald Prize celebrates its centenary, coinciding with our own Regional Gallery’s 20 year anniversary. It heralds an exciting transition to the larger purpose-built gallery space planned for our city centre, as our current gallery is too small to accommodate many exhibitions.”

The exhibition will be officially opened by the Mayor Denise Knight, together with Miranda Carroll, Director of Public Engagement from Art Gallery of NSW. The 2019 award-winning artist Tony Costa, will also make a special appearance during the opening weekend.

Amongst the works are paintings of actor David Wenham by Tessa MacKay; former ballet dancer and director of Queensland Ballet, Li Cunxin by Jun Chen; Anh Do’s portait of the artist George Gittoes and media commentator Annabel Crabb by Jordan Richardson.

Giving the exhibition a fresh local flavour, are portraits by Coffs Coast’s next generation of artists who entered the Young Archie Competition 2019, to be displayed right alongside the famous Archibald finalists.

The Archibald Prize 2019 exhibition will be on show from January 23 to March 6 at both Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery and Culture Hub, Tuesdays to Saturdays 10am-4pm.

The Archibald Prize 2019 is an Art Gallery of NSW touring exhibition presented by ANZ.