Cruise the Collection
Stephen Birch
Cosmos
(Second version) 2004, Silicon and synthetic polymer resin, installation view, New Gallery, Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tamaki, July 2005
Cosmos
(second version) 2004
Installation view
Cosmos
(second version) 2004
Installation view
A note from The Art Life: August 2007
It's with sadness that we report the death of the artist Stephen Birch. He passed away on Sunday evening after a long battle with cancer. He was 46.
Stephen Birch was born in Melbourne in 1961. After studying at Prahran College and earning a Bachelor of Art and Design, he exhibited widely in Sydney and Melbourne's artist run galleries in numerous group shows before staging his first solo show at Reconnaissance Gallery, Melbourne, in 1988. In 2000, he was awarded an MFA from College of Fine Art UNSW. His solo show Accumulations/Accretions was held at Kaliman Gallery in late 2006 and the exhibition Looking out my back door was presented on Level 4 at the Museum of Contemporary Art from 16 March - 20 May 2007. His installation The Trip, 2005 was also acquired for the MCA Collection earlier this year...
Our sympathies to Stephen's family, many friends and art world colleagues.
Curriculum Vitae
Born Melbourne 1961, lives Sydney Australia
Education
1983 Bachelor Art and Design Prahran College
2000 MFA College of Fine Art UNSW
Individual Exhibitions
2007 Stephen Birch MCA Sydney
2005 The Trip Performance Space Sydney
Untitled Michael Lett Gallery Auckland NZ
2004 Cosmos (second version) Michael Lett
Gallery Auckland NZ
Hamish McKay Gallery Wellington NZ
2003 Westfield Artspace Sydney
2002 Cosmos Scott Donovan Gallery Sydney
2001 Civic Minded Australian Centre for
Contemporary Art Melbourne
Secret Briefcase The Briefcase Hollywood Hotel
2000 Woodsprites level 2 Art Gallery of New South
Wales, Sydney
Run Through the Jungle Blaugrau Gallery
Sydney
Stardust Rubyayre Gallery Sydney
1999 Civic Minded 4A Gallery Sydney
1998 Under Wood Australian Centre for Photography
Sydney
3 Sculptures Room 35 Sydney
A Place in the Sun Room 35 Sydney
Unforgettable Side On Gallery Sydney
1995 Pets 200 Gertrude Street Gallery Melbourne
1994 Christine Abrahams Gallery Melbourne
1993 In Solution Room 4 Linden Gallery Melbourne
1992 A Series of Claims Microscope Gallery
Melbourne
1991 Christine Abrahams Gallery Melbourne
1988 Reconnaissance Gallery Melbourne
Group Exhibitions
2005 Macquarie University Art Prize Exhibition,
Macquarie Gallery NSW
McClelland Sculpture Prize, Melbourne
Chartwell Collection Auckland City Gallery
Auckland NZ
Collaboration with Rosemary Laing, Grant Pirrie
Gallery Sydney (USA, Spain, Germany)
2004 Werribee Park Sculpture Walk, Melb
2004 National Gallery of Victoria, Melb
Pegging Out Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, NSW
ReGroup Scott Donovan Gallery Sydney
2003 Marineland Tinsheds Gallery Sydney
Happy Hour Briefcase short videos Hollywood
Hotel Syd.
New York Calling Australian Studio PS1
NYC
The Way Things Are Grant Pirrie Gallery
Sydney
Anything Now Scott Donovan Gallery Sydney
Michael Lett Gallery Auckland NZ
Wonderland Artspace Auckland NZ
10th anniversary exhibition, Hamish McKay
Gallery Wellington NZ
2002 2002 The Year in Art S.H. Ervin Gallery Sydney
One Fine Day Block Sydney
Attention Span Scots Church Sydney
Briefcase 50 Boutwell Draper Gallery Sydney
Bittersweet Art Gallery NSW
Pet Green Block Sydney
Objection Sarah Cottier Gallery Sydney
Trouble in Paradise Scott Donovan Gallery
Sydney
Good Work: The Jim and Mary Barr Collection
Dunedin Public Art Gallery
2001 Objection Physics Room Christchurch NZ
Artful Park MCA in Centennial Park Sydney
Helen Lempriere Sculpture Prize Melbourne
Hamish McKay Gallery Wellington NZ
2000 The Kings Lead Hat Blaugrau Gallery Sydney
Gene Spill Imperial Slacks Gallery Sydney
Arus/Flow National Gallery of Art Kuala
Lumpur Malaysia
Rubyayre Rubyayre Gallery Sydney
1999 A Wolf in Sheeps Clothing First Floor Gallery
Melbourne
1998 Unhomely Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art
Korea
1997 Kunst Unlimited: Editions and Multiples
Gitte Weise Gallery Sydney
This Pop Life Art Gallery SA
Whim: Humour in the Extreme Linden Gallery
Melbourne
1996 Comfort First Draft Gallery Sydney
1995 Winterhouse Center for Contemporary
Photography Melbourne
Decadence 200 Gertrude Street Gallery
Melbourne
1994 Don't Stop Linden Art Gallery Melbourne
1991 Frustrated Cargo Studio 12 200 Gertrude
Street Gallery Melbourne
Postcard Show Linden Art Gallery Melbourne
1990 Lost in Space 200 Gertrude Street Gallery
Melbourne
Scotchmans-Hill Art Award Geelong Regional
Art Gallery Geelong
1989 In House 200 Gertrude Street Gallery
Melbourne
1988 St Kilda Acquisition prize Linden Gallery
Melbourne
Moet and Chandon Touring Exhibition
Sydney Melb Bris Hobart
1987 Faber-Castell Drawing Prize Rex Irwin Gallery
Sydney
Awards
2003 Australia Council VACB New Work Grant
2002 Willoughby Art Prize
2000 Australia Council VACF Studio Greene Street
NYC
1999 NAVA Marketing Grant
Pat Corrigan Artist Grant through NAVA
1997 Australia Council VACF New Work Grant
1995 Pat Corrigan Artist Grant through NAVA
1990 Pat Corrigan Artist Grant through NAVA
1989 Australia Council VACB Studio Italy
Collections
Art Gallery of South Australia
Artbank
Chartwell Collection NZ
Auckland City Art Gallery
Private Collections
Publications
Robert Leonard ex cat Chartwell Collection, Auckland City Art Gallery Auckland
TJ McNamara Spiderman NZ Herald 4.05.05
Robert Lindsay Ex Cat McClelland Sculpture Prize Langwarrin Victoria 2005
Wayne Tunnicliffe ex cat One Dozen Unnatural Disasters, Grant-Pirrie Gallery Sydney 2005
Louise Martin-Chew Art and Australia, Winter 2005
Tanya Peterson Natural Selection, ex cat Artspace 2003
Wayne Tunnicliffe Bittersweet ex cat AGNSW 2002
Benjamin Genocchio Twitchy Escapist Impulses The Australian May 4-5 2002
Bruce James Mind the Banana Skin… SMH May 8 2002
Alex Gawronski A Forest of Signs Eyeline Summer 2002
Stuart Koop Civic Minded cat. ACCA 2001
Russell Storer Play Things, Artlink vol 21 No 2 2001
Maria Bilske The Helen Lempriere Sculpture Prize Artlink vol 21 No 2 2001
Russell Storer Woodsprites ex cat AGNSW 2000
Wayne Tunnicliffe Flow ex cat AGNSW 2000
Russell Storer Civic Minded Eyeline Spring 1999
Blair French Outcast Objects Art +Text 63 1998
Jason Smith Unhomely ex. cat. Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea 1998
Robert McFarlane Arts Review Sydney Morning Herald June 17 1998
Bruce James Galleries, Sydney Morning Herald June 16 1998
Alex Gawronski LIKE Mar-Apr 1998,
Jacqueline Millner Real Time Feb-Mar 1998,
Bruce James Galleries SMH Dec 12 1997
Bruce James Galleries SMH April 14 1997,
Natalie King The White cube/Black Hole Project: Art in Inner Melbourne Eyeline #29 Summer 1995,
Stuart Koop White Cube/Black Hole Project: Art in Inner Melbourne exhibition catalogue 1995,
Anne Marsh A Photo Display of Negatives Herald Sun August 8 1995,
Marie Sierra-Hughes Stephen's Art has Gone to the Dogs Herald Sun July 19 1995,
Stuart Koop Pets GLOBE E- Journal #2 1996 http://www.monash.edu.au/visarts/globe/ghome.html,
Stuart Koop Time and Dimness Eyeline Summer 1991,
Moet and Chandon Touring Exhibition catalogue 1988
