“I never have to travel far to find something interesting to draw nor do I need to leave the confines of my own modest garden to find an atmospheric landscape.
I populate this world with the characters who inhabit my drawings, who can be people, dolls, body parts, toy soldiers etc.
Much of the work on show here does not come from a sequential series of work, but there is still a very strong essence of narrative that comes through the individual pieces.
Like a dream, the moments that are captured here often depict the moments just before something monumental is unveiled. Sometimes it’s the aftermath.
This is the silent drama that interests me.”
MATT COYLE
Matt Coyle was born in 1971 and grew up in Canberra. He lives and works in Hobart, Tasmania.
Relevant Work History
2007Worry Doll published by Mam Tor Publishing (UK) 1996Registry of Death published by Kitchen Sink Press (US) 1991Artist and editor for Honi Soit, Sydney University 1990-1991Studied Painting at Sydney College of the Arts
Solo Exhibitions
2009Worry Doll @ Willow Court, Ten Days on the Island 2008Night Stills Uber Gallery, Melbourne 2007Worry Doll Criterion Gallery, Hobart 2007Worry Doll Damien Minton Gallery, Redfern, Sydney
Group Exhibitions
2009NEXT – The Invitational Exhibition of Emerging Art, Chicago 2009Group Action 4 Criterion Gallery, Hobart 2008Ecchymosis Criterion Gallery, Hobart 2008Recent Acquisitions – Australian, International and Asian and Pacific Collections Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Art Gallery 2008Hong Kong International Art Fair (with Uber Gallery) 2007I Am Afraid Uber Gallery, Melbourne 2007Fine Sanderson Contemporary Art, Auckland
Commissions
2009Art and Australia magazine drawing series (Winter, Spring 2009 & Summer, Autumn 2010 editions)
Collections
2008Queensland Art Gallery/ Gallery of Modern Art
Awards/ Grants
2009Finalist City of Hobart Art Prize 2008Finalist Stan & Maureen Duke Gold Coast Art Prize 2008Finalist Sunshine Coast Art Prize 2008Shortlisted Ripe: Art & Australia/ ANZ Private Bank Contemporary Art Award 2008Shortlisted London International Creative Competition 2007Rue Morgue Magazine (Canada) Best Graphic Novel/Comic Artist 2007 (for Worry Doll) 2006Arts Tasmania Grant to assist with mounting exhibition at Damien Minton Gallery
Selected Bibliography
Art & Australia Vol 46/4 Artist Pages The Shades 2009
Art Monthly, Ten Days on the Island review June 2009
Artlines, Queensland Art Gallery magazine, Issue 3 2008
Radio National Artworks, interview, October 2007
Reviewed Rue Morgue Magazine (Canada) September 2007
Cover, Art Monthly, Issue 198, April 2007
Reviewed in the Weekend Australian, 3 March, 2007
Interviewed on Stateline, ABC TV, Hobart, 2 March 2007
Interviewed in The Mercury, 24 February 2007
Interviewed by Clara Iaccarino, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 Feb 2007
Reviewed by Sebastian Smee, Telegraph (UK), 8 January 2007