Matt Coyle
Wielding but a pen, ink and some coloured pencils, Matt Coyle navigates through the abject chaos and filth of this world to reveal the beauty within. Exploring the dichotomy of light and dark, line and form, his meticulous drawings transport the viewer to a hyper-real world in which something much more sinister is happening beneath the veil.
Over the past decade, Coyle has held regular solo and group exhibitions across Australia, as well as international shows at spaces such as Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong (2013) and Sanderson Contemporary, Auckland (2010). He has also participated in the 2014, 2012 and 2010 editions of the Melbourne Art Fair and the 2011 Korea International Art Fair (KIAF). In 2009, Coyle was invited to participate in Chicago’s NEXT – The Invitational Exhibition of Emerging Art, a showcase of global, cutting-edge talent, and he is currently a finalist in the Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing for his micro-hallucinatory drawing The Good Room.
Coyle has also published two graphic novels: Worry Doll (2007, Mam Tor, UK), “an inspired piece of gothic noir disguised as a children’s book,” and Registry of Death (1996, Kitchen Sink Press, USA). His 2007-2008 series Worry Doll was acquired by the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), Brisbane and displayed as part of Recent Acquisitions – Australian, International and Asian and Pacific Collections (2008).
Works by Coyle are also held in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
