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, a Creative Victoria grant is supporting the fictional collaborative project, Kanazawa Jack - Signals From The Dark.

ANTHONY PELCHEN

Born Horsham, Victoria, 1960