Born 1960 in Horsham in North West Victoria, Anthony Pelchen studied Economics at Monash University and a decade later painting at the Victorian College of the Arts. Common to all his work is an overriding interest in the fine lines and shifts between physical and psychological states and how a dominance of one inevitably points to the absence and potential of another. This involves work across media - painting, drawing, photography, video, sculpture and installation - all incorporating elements of repetition, austerity and subtle change within set structures.
Throughout the 1990's he lived in Melbourne and exhibited widely in artist-run, institutional and alternative spaces, including 200 Gertrude Street, the Project Space - RMIT, Temple Studios,talk Artists Initiative and St Stephenʼs Anglican Church. He has exhibited twice in Osaka and has been represented in various surveys of painting and drawing over the past twelve years. Residencies include 200 Gertrude Street (1995/6,1999), Bundanon Trust (2001,2003), Parks Victoria (2002), Nou-Machi, Japan (2005,2007) and Malaysia (Asialink, 2010). He has been a recipient of Arts Victoria grants for New Work, Presentation and International Cultural Exchange.
Since 1998 he has periodically collaborated with Melbourne-based performers Yumi Umiumare and Tony Yap in gallery, church, landscape and land environments in Australia, Japan and Denmark.
In 2008 he participated in Drought – Cross Cultural Collaborations, involving solo and collaborative work presented at ACMI and the NGV. In 2009, his installation Spent and video work Well were commissioned for the Murray Darling Palimpsest #7 in Mildura.
Between 2009-2013 he annually presented work at the Melaka Art & Performance Festival (MAP Fest) and during his 2010 Asialink residency formed a new Visual Arts program, initiating new venue relationships with the National University of Singapore and Heritage Trust of Malaysia. He curated the MAPFest visual arts program 2010-2012, bringing together 22 artsist from Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Afganistan.
His collaborative artist book with writer Andrew Lindsay, Difficult Majesty, was launched at the National Gallery of Victoria and shortlisted for the 2010 Mackay Artspace, Libris Awards. In 2011 he participated in the Lake Hindmarsh Project at 27 Gipps Street Gallery, Melbourne and Revisitations at the VAC, Latrobe University, Bendigo.
In 2012 he was shortlisted for the Rick Amor Drawing Prize and the Blake Prize. In 2013, Kuang Road Prayer - the body of work initiated in Malaysia in 2010 – was shown at the Horsham Regional Art Gallery and his Blake Prize entry - Code Maroon (stay or go), 2011 - toured to the Jewish Museum of Victoria.
In late 2013, Pelchen formed the Malaysia Australia Raft Project (MARP), initially bringing artist Soong Ro Ger from Malaysia to collaborate with 5 Australian artists - encompassing a raft build and journey then culminating in an installation and performances at the Natimuk Frinj Festival. MARP then presented in Melaka, Malaysia in 2014 and in central Melbourne, 2015 – forecourt, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art - having grown to 11 collaborators, MARP was a part of the world-wide project Fluid States, and the Melbourne aspect, Performing Mobilities).
In August 2014, he participated in We Fall Into the Sea To Become an Island at Artist Run Initiative, Run Amok, Penang. Early in 2015, Kuang Road Prayer was represented at the Latrobe University Visual Arts Centre, Bendigo.
In 2017 he was shortlisted for the Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, Bendigo Art
Gallery, and 2018 his engagement with Melaka, Malaysia continued with a residency at the Baboon House and later leading the 6-artist I see you/you see me: Melaka Swabs
project.
His work is represented in collections including the National Gallery of Victoria, John McBride Collection -Sydney, James Mollison Collection – Melbourne, Australian Print Workshop, Bundanon Trust, Horsham Regional Art Gallery and Artbank.
In 2020/2021, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria grants supported Pelchen's ongoing performance/drawing project, Kanazawa Jack - Signals From the Dark and his 4-artist light-installation/performance series Natimuk - Signals From the Dark.
In February,2022, he will for the first time show a selection of his night drawings at project6.88 in Adelaide.
ANTHONY PELCHEN
Born Horsham, Victoria, 1960
Studies
1979-81 Bachelor of Economics, Monash University, Melbourne
1989-91 Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting), Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne
Solo Exhibitions/ Installations
2022 A Familiar Place I Don't Know, project6.88, Adelaide
2015 Kuang Road Prayer, Latrobe University Visual Arts Centre, Bendigo
2013 Kuang Road Prayer, Horsham Regional Art Gallery
2012 Code Maroon, Baboon House, Melaka, Malaysia
2011 Kuang Road Prayer, No. 8 Heeren Street Heritage Centre, Melaka, Malaysia
2010 Spent, Jubilee Hall Horsham/ Well, Horsham Regional Art Gallery
2009 The sum of the days (the value of the parts), floor installation, St Pauls church, Melaka, Malaysia
2005 Church and landscape, Natimuk Lutheran Church, Wimmera
2003 Looking forwards/walking backwards, Natimuk Lutheran Church, Wimmera
2003 Looking forwards/walking backwards, Gallery Chayamachi, Osaka
2001 3,492 poly bags and a ploughed path, Wimmera land installation
1999 14,171 days (God knows how many breaths), St Stephen's Anglican Church, Richmond
1999 Cover me in mud, bury me in wheat (throw me in the river), Horsham Regional Art Gallery
1999 vectis, talk artists initiative, Melbourne
1997 Looking with mouth open, singing with eyes closed, The Project Space, R.M.I.T., Melbourne
1997 Cover me in mud (bury me in wheat, throw me in the river), Temple Studios, Melbourne
1996 Slide installation; 200 Gertrude Street, Melbourne / Canberra School of Art
1996 Vectis, Studio 12 at 200 Gertrude Street, Melbourne
1995 I Lay Me Down, Studio 12 at 200 Gertrude Street, Melbourne
Selected Group Exhibitions / Installatons
2021 Biennial Australian Monoprint Prize 2021, Fire Station Print Studio, Melbourne
2017 Printmaking in the Wimmera, Horsham Regional Art Gallery
2017 Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery
2016 Pushing the Sky, Horsham Regional Art Gallery
2014 We Fall Into the Sea to Become an Island, Run Amok Gallery, Penang
2013/12 Blake Prize, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney / Jewish Museum of Victoria March-July 2013)
2012 Rick Amor Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of Ballarat
2012 The Kick Ass Painting Show, Fontanelle Gallery, Adelaide; curated by Brigid Noone.
2011 Revisitations, Latrobe University, Bendigo with Domenico de Clario, Elizabeth Presa and Tony Yap, curated by Lella Cariddi
2011 Lake Hindmarsh Project, 27 Gipps Street Gallery Melb., curated by Dr Sheridan Palmer
2010 Survival, Rimbun Dahan, Malaysi
2010 Libris Awards, Artspace, Mackay
2009 Spent floor installation/ Well video installation: Murray Darling Palimpsest #7, The Art Vault -Mildura / Ballarat Gold Mining Exchange Building
2009 Difficult Majesty, artist book with Andrew Lindsay; Ballarat University Post Office Galler
2009 Gulag Studios1994-2009, Counihan Gallery Melbourne, Curated by Dr Sheridan Palmer
2008 Drought – Creative Cross Cultural Collaborations, curated by Lella Cariddi; Fed. Square / ACMI / NGV
2006 Being at Bundanon, toured Victoria/NSW
2004 The Alice Prize, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
2004 The Spirit of Football, National Gallery of Victoria
2004 National Works on Paper survey, Mornington Peninsular Regional Gallery
2002 5, installation/ perf’ce with Hisako Tsuzuku, Yumi Umiumare & Tony Yap, Mass Gallery, Melb
2001 Australian Paper Art Awards: Vic Arts Centre, Melb/ Festival Centre, Adelaide/ UTS Gallery,Syd
2000 National Works on Paper, Mornington Peninsular Regional Gallery
2000 Anthony Pelchen, Hisako Tsuzuku and Shukou Tsuchiya, Takarazuka Cultural Centre, Japan
1998 Finale 1998, Renard Wardell Gallery, Richmond
1998 National Works On Paper, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
1997 The Alice Prize, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
1997 New Acquisitions of Contemporary Australian Art, National Gallery of Victoria
1996 12th Biennial Prints Acquisitive Exhibition, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
1995 1031 Kilograms, 200 Gertrude Street, Melbourne
1995 Keith and Elizabeth Murdoch Travelling Fellowship, Victorian College of the Arts
1994 John Doe, 200 Gertrude Street, Melbourne
Self Curated Projects
2021 Light installation/performance series: Natimuk - Signals From the Dark
2020/21 performance/drawing: Kanazawa Jack - Signals From the Dark
2018 I see you/you see me: Melaka Swabs, Malaysia
2015/14/13 Malaysia Australia Raft Project (MARP) – forecourt Austalia Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne 2015/ St Paul's Hill, Melaka 2014/ The Verge, Natimuk, Victoria 2013
2012/11/10 Formed and curated Visual Arts Program for the Melaka Art & Performance Festival, Malaysia>
Collaborations
2012 Installation activation: Frank Van de Ven, Code Maroon, Baboon House, Melaka, Malaysia
2010 Installation disruption: Tony Yap, Spent, Jubilee Hall, Horsham
2009 Installation disruption: Tony Yap, Merangkori, St Pauls church, Melaka (MAP 09)
2009 Installation disruption: Tony Yap, Merangkori, Ballarat Gold Mining Exchange
2008/9 Artists book with writer Andrew Lindsay, Difficult Majesty, NGV/Ballarat University Gallery
2009 Installation disruption: Tony Yap, Merangkori, Palimpsest #7, Mildura
2008 Installation/disruption: Tony Yap, Difficult Majesty, Punctum - Bendigo
2007 Installation, Troubled Nature, Natimuk Lutheran Church, with 222 children (Japan/Wimmera)
2005 Installation, 100 Years, Natimuk Lutheran Church (with community x 100)
2003 Installation for Inori-invisible with Yumi Umiumare, Copenhagen
2001 land installation, foreground Mt Arapiles, Wimmera:3,492 poly bags… (performance: Yumi Umiumare, Cape Kennedy, Jillian Pearce & Tony Yap)
2000 Installation for Inori-invisible with Yumi Umiumare, Dancehouse, Melbourne
2000 Installation for Inori-invisible with Yumi Umiumare, Takarazuka City, Japan
1999 Installation for How could you even begin to understand (Version5), with Yumi Umiumare and Tony Yap, St Stephen's Anglican Church, Melbourne
Grants / Awards / Residencies
2020 Creative Victoria: Sustaining Creative Worker Initiative
2018 Baboon House residency, Melaka, Malaysia
2013/14 Arts Victoria Development grants
2010 Asialink residency, Malaysia
2009 Regional Arts Victoria – Arts Development (MAP 01, Melaka)
2008 Arts Victoria – Arts Development Grant – Presentation
2007 Regional Arts Victoria – Arts Development (Japan Residency)
2005 Regional Arts Victoria grants– Japan Residency/ New Work
2003 Bundanon Trust residency – Nowra, NSW
2003 Arts Victoria – Cultural Exchange Program Grant (Denmark)
2002 Parks Victoria residency - Warrandyte, Victoria
2001 Bundanon Trust residency - Nowra, NSW
2001 Green Room Award nomination – Design for Dance (Inori-in-visible)
2001 Arts Victoria - Regional Arts Development Grant
2001 Arts Victoria - Arts Development: New Work - Presentation
1999 Arts Victoria - Cultural Exchange Program Grant (Japan)
1999 Arts Victoria - Arts Development Program Gran
1999 200 Gertrude Street, Melbourne - Studio 18 live-in residency
1994-96 200 Gertrude Street, Melbourne - studio residency
19105 Victorian College of the Arts - Theodore Urbach Award for Painting
Collections
National Gallery of Victoria - Margaret Stewart Endowment, Bundanon Trust, Horsham Regional Art Gallery, John McBride Collection –Sydney, James Mollison Collection – Mebourne, Australian Print Workshop, Wimmera College of TAFE, Artbank, Australian Institute of Management, Melbourne Airport, Private- Australia, New Zealand, England, Japan
Publication / Interviews
2012 Jonathan Nichols - text: Anthony Pelchen, Kuang Road Prayer, Horsham Regional Art Gallery
2011 Lella Cariddi, catalogure essay, Revisitations project
2011 Dr Sheridan Palmer, catalogue essay, Lake Hindmarsh Project
2010
Portrait: Anthony Pelchen, with Shefah Szetu on 6th Nov 2010, BFM 89.9, The Business Station, Kuala Lumpur:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRfBftAXYlA
2010 Dr Sheridan Palmer, catalogue essay, Spent, Jubilee Hall, Horsham
2009 Dr Sheridan Palmer, Gulag Studios 1994-2009, catalogue essay
2009 Artists talk: Drought- Perceptions & Propositions, Ballarat University
2004 ABC Radio National interview with Julie Copeland, 12th Dec, The Maker: Anthony Pelchen
2001 essays: 3492 poly bags… www.abc.net.au/arts/fertile/essay_6.htm
2001 Leslie Harding, Re-thinking the Vital Illusion, Craft Victoria Quarterly – Spring Issue
2001 Leslie Harding & Carolyn Laffan, Marks of Intimacy, Australian Paper Art Awards
2009 Sandra Bridie, talk artists initiative, Melbourne
1999 Peter Timms, The Age, 16 June
1997 Peter Timms, Back to the Land, Herald Sun, 28 May
1997 Robert Nelson, The Age, 8 January
1995 Jenny Zimmer, The Age, 21 June
Other
2011-21 Teaching - adults and children of All-Abilities, Horsham
20012/11 Teaching – Ballarat University Art Dept, Horsham campus
2007/5 Conducted drawing/painting workshops, Nou Machi, Nigata pref., Japan
2012-2004 Conducted residential Butoh/drawing workshop with Yumi Umiumare, Wimmera River
1998/99 Guest tutor in drawing, RMIT Koori Education Unit
1998/1997 Lectures: Deakin University, RMIT University, Victorian College of the Arts
Travel
2018/2017/14/12/11/10/9/3Malaysia; 2014/7/5/3/0 Japan; 2003 Denmark, France; 1991 Indonesia; 1983 North America, Mexico, Southern Europe, Scotland
