Christopher Orchard

“Drawing with charcoal is a fight with a blunt object on white paper. There’s a physicality and immediacy to it that allows for an emotional truth to emerge, something raw and unfiltered.”

- Christopher Orchard

CHristopher Orchard is widely regarded as one of Australia’s foremost interpreters of the drawn image. Trained in sculpture and painting, he pivoted to a distinctive drawing practice that has deeply influenced contemporary figurative art in Australia and beyond. At the core of Orchard’s work is the emblematic “Bald Man” an avatar conceived in the early 2000s. This suited, portly, middle-aged figure represents “the entire history of what it means to be human.” Repeatedly depicted in precarious, absurdist scenarios, the Bald Man encapsulates existential tension and subtle irony, the everyday amplified to poetic strangeness.

 His technique primarily charcoal, pastel, and pigment on paper, often mounted on canvas builds texture, depth, and intensity, bridging narrative and mark-making in narrative drawing. Educator as well as artist, Orchard taught drawing at Adelaide Central School of Art, serving as Head of Drawing from 1998 and later as Adjunct Associate Professor at Flinders University.

“Christopher Orchard is an extraordinary talent in that he combines uncommon vision and skill to create art that captures the zeitgeist of our time while maintaining the highest formal qualities of painting and drawing.” – Stephen Rosenberg, Stephen Rosenberg Fine Art, New York.

Image: Central Studios Inc

 About the Artist

    • *1950, lives and works in Adelaide, South Australia

  • Selected Solo Exhibitions

    • 2025
      Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney

    • 2022
      Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney
      BMG Art Gallery, Adelaide

    • 2020
      BMG Art Gallery, Adelaide

    • 2019
      Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney

    • 2017
      Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Carriageworks, Sydney
      BMG Art, Adelaide
      Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney
      Stephen Rosenberg Fine Art, New York, USA

    • 2016
      BMG Art, Adelaide

    • 2015
      Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney

    • 2014
      Stephen Rosenberg Fine Art, New York, USA

    • 2013
      Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney
      Stephen Rosenberg Fine Art, New York, USA

    • 2012
      BMG Art, Adelaide
      Stephen Rosenberg Fine Art, New York, USA

    • 2011
      Stephen Rosenberg Fine Art, New York, USA

    • 1995
      Australian Embassy, Washington DC, USA

    • 1988
      Festival Centre, Adelaide

    • 1986
      International Art Fair, Olympia, London, UK

    • 1984
      Festival Centre, Adelaide

    Selected Group Exhibitions

    • 2021
      The Line #3, BMGArt Gallery, Adelaide
      Christmas Show, Wagner Contemporary, Sydney
      Group Show, Wagner Contemporary, Sydney
      40/40 Project, Wagner Contemporary, Sydney

    • 2020
      Human: All Too Human, Wagner Contemporary, Sydney
      Thatcher Projects, New York, USA (fundraising exhibition for homeless people in NY)
      Drawing Challenge 3, Jason McCoy Gallery, New York, USA

    • 2019
      Summer Exhibition, Wagner Contemporary, Sydney

    • 2018
      40/40 Project, Wagner Contemporary, Sydney
      Painted Black, Wagner Contemporary, Sydney

    • 2017
      Summer Show, Wagner Contemporary, Sydney

    • 2016
      Men In Suits, Long Sharp Gallery, New York, USA
      Men In Suits, Long Sharp Gallery, Miami, USA
      Invited artist – Kedumba Drawing Award, NSW
      Christmas Exhibition, BMG Art, Adelaide
      Anything At All, Adelaide Central Gallery, Adelaide
      Paul Guest Drawing Prize, Finalist, Bendigo Art Gallery, VIC
      Works on Paper, Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide

    • 2015
      Small Images – Grand Visions 40/40, Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney
      CASCA Contemporary 2015, Kerry Packer Civic Gallery, Adelaide
      Christmas Exhibition, BMG Art, Adelaide

    • 2014
      Drawing: A Fundamental Liberation 4, Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney
      Icon of South Australia Exhibition, Light Square, Adelaide

    • 2013
      Drawing: A Fundamental Liberation 3, Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney
      Small Images – Grand Visions 40/40, Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney

    • 2012
      Drawing: A Fundamental Liberation 2, Wagner Gallery, Sydney
      Small Images – Grand Visions 40/40, Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney

    • 2008
      Basel/Palm Beach³ Art Fair, Florida, USA
      Dobell Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales

    • 2007
      Identity: Portrait and Place – Document or Insight, Flinders University Art Museum, South Australia

    • 2006
      Dobell Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales

    • 2005
      Dobell Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
      Avarice, Wagner Ring Cycle, Art Space, Festival Centre, Adelaide, South Australia

    • 2003
      Chemistry, Art Gallery of South Australia

    • 2002
      New York Studio School Benefit Exhibition, New York, USA

    • 2001
      Dobell Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales

    • 2000
      Dobell Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales

    • 1993
      Symbols and Metaphors, Union Gallery, University of Adelaide, South Australia

    • 1992
      Cleveland (UK) International Drawing Biennale and Touring Exhibition, Europe

    • 1986
      Spring Exhibition, Smiths Galleries, Covent Garden, London, UK
      Air and Space Gallery Survey Exhibition, London, UK
      Open Studios, Berry St, London, UK

    • 1981
      Art Gallery of South Australia Touring Exhibition Scheme

    • 1979
      Australian Print Council Survey, Melbourne

    • 1973
      Mildura Sculpturescape Triennial, Riverland, Victoria

  • Collections

    • Art Gallery of South Australia

    • Art Bank

    • JADA Collection, Grafton Regional Gallery, NSW

    • Adelaide University

    • Government House South Australia

    • Kedumba Drawing Collection, NSW

    • FH Faulding Collection

    • Santos Collection

    • Scotch College Collection

    • Flinders Medical Centre

    • Private collections in UK, France, Germany, USA, Kenya, China

    Awards

    • 2017
      SALA Festival featured artist

    • 2016
      Paul Guest Drawing Prize, finalist, Bendigo Art Gallery, VIC

    • 2015
      Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award (JADA), Grafton Regional Gallery, NSW

    • 2014
      JADA Drawing Prize, finalist

    • 2012
      Keynote speaker for the South Australian Living Artists Festival (SALA), Art Gallery of South Australia

    • 2011
      Arts SA fellowship

    • 2008
      Shortlisted for the Dobell Prize for Drawing, Art Gallery of NSW
      Keynote speaker for the opening of South Australian Living Artists Festival, Art Gallery of South Australia

    • 2007
      Selected for Jacaranda Drawing Prize touring exhibition, NSW

    • 2006
      Shortlisted for the Dobell Prize for Drawing, Art Gallery of NSW
      Selected for Jacaranda Drawing Prize touring exhibition, NSW

    • 2005
      Shortlisted for the Dobell Prize for Drawing, Art Gallery of NSW

    • 2004
      Selected for Jacaranda Drawing Prize touring exhibition, NSW

    • 2002
      Selected for Jacaranda Drawing Prize touring exhibition, NSW

    • 2001
      Shortlisted for the Dobell Prize for Drawing, Art Gallery of NSW

    • 2000
      Shortlisted for the Dobell Prize for Drawing, Art Gallery of NSW
      Awarded adjunct associate professorship, Flinders University
      Awarded the Gunnery Studio Residency, Sydney, NSW

    • 1998
      Commissioned to produce major work for the opening of FH Faulding new headquarters, Adelaide
      Commissioned to produce the patron print for The Print Studio, Adelaide

    • 1994
      Santos Whyalla Art Prize, Whyalla

Works by the Artist

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