INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between' Christopher Zanko Christopher Zanko - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between' 2022
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'Christopher ZankoINSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'2022
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between' Christopher Zanko Christopher Zanko - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between' 2022
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'Christopher ZankoINSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'2022
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between' Christopher Zanko Christopher Zanko - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between' 2022
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'Christopher ZankoINSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'2022
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between' Christopher Zanko Christopher Zanko - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between' 2022
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'Christopher ZankoINSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'2022
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between' Christopher Zanko Christopher Zanko - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between' 2022
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'Christopher ZankoINSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'2022
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between' Christopher Zanko Christopher Zanko - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between' 2022
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'Christopher ZankoINSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Lost Between'2022
Illawarra red brick house and garden Christopher Zanko Christopher Zanko - Illawarra red brick house and garden
Illawarra red brick house and garden 2023
Illawarra red brick house and gardenChristopher ZankoIllawarra red brick house and garden
Illawarra red brick house and garden2023
acrylic on wood relief carving
180 x 150 cm
SOLD 
Ford Station wagon Christopher Zanko Christopher Zanko - Ford Station wagon
Ford Station wagon 2023
Ford Station wagonChristopher ZankoFord Station wagon
Ford Station wagon2023
acrylic on wood relief carving
60.5 x 134.5 cm
$7,500  ENQUIRE
Sandstone Chimney, Autumn Skies Christopher Zanko Christopher Zanko - Sandstone Chimney, Autumn Skies
Sandstone Chimney, Autumn Skies 2023
Sandstone Chimney, Autumn SkiesChristopher ZankoSandstone Chimney, Autumn Skies
Sandstone Chimney, Autumn Skies2023
acrylic on wood relief carving
180 x 150 cm
SOLD 
Bush 2 Christopher Zanko Christopher Zanko - Bush 2
Bush 2 2022
Bush 2Christopher ZankoBush 2
Bush 22022
acrylic on wood relief carving
32 x 23.5 cm
$2,000  ENQUIRE
Bush 3 Christopher Zanko Christopher Zanko - Bush 3
Bush 3 2022
Bush 3Christopher ZankoBush 3
Bush 32022
acrylic on wood relief carving
32 x 21 cm
$2,000  ENQUIRE
Pot 7 Christopher Zanko Christopher Zanko - Pot 7
Pot 7 2022
Pot 7Christopher ZankoPot 7
Pot 72022
acrylic on wood relief carving
71.5 x 14.5 cm
$2,500  ENQUIRE
Morning Drive Christopher Zanko Christopher Zanko - Morning Drive
Morning Drive 2023
Morning DriveChristopher ZankoMorning Drive
Morning Drive2023
acrylic on wood relief carving
122 x 99 cm
SOLD 
Christopher Zanko

Townships change. Places we call home can become virtually unrecognisable overnight as populations shift and new industries take hold. Landmarks disappear, and a district’s charm is changed forever due to redevelopment and urban renewal. Bearing witness to this loss of character is artist Christopher Zanko, who sees firsthand these changes in his hometown of Wollongong, south of Sydney.

Situated on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, Wollongong is an area as noted for its heavy industry and bustling port as it is the natural beauty of its location. Like many regional towns, ‘The Gong’s’ varied past has resulted in an eclectic mix of architecture that reflects each wave of economic and social change.

Keen to preserve this layered history, Zanko uses his art practice to document the miner’s cottages, beach shacks and art deco bungalows that feature throughout the Illawarra. Combining elements of printmaking and painting, his woodcarvings play with texture and bold colour to depict the atmosphere and aesthetics of mid-century suburbia. An evolving project, Zanko’s landscapes form a archive of the vanishing beauty of regional Australia, and the communities we’re losing along the way.

Christopher Zanko graduated with a Bachelor of Creative Arts from Wollongong University with a Distinction in Painting. He was a 2019 and 2023 finalist in the Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and a 2019 finalist of the National Still Life Award. He was a finalist of the 2018 and 2016 Gosford Art Prize and the 2015 Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award. He has exhibited in group exhibitions including at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Project Contemporary Art Space in Wollongong. In 2017 he was invited to participate in Art Box Projects' Japanese residency in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Carrie McCarthy

  • Born 1992
  • Wollongong, New South Wales

EDUCATION

2015

  • Bachelor of Creative Arts, Wollongong University

2012

  • Diploma of Fine Art, West Wollongong TAFE

SOLO EXHIBITIONS


2024

  • 'Daily Dilemmas', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane
  • 'Kakurega', Laid Bug, Tokyo, Japan

2023

  • 'Downshifter' Egg and Dart Gallery, Thirroul
  • 'Wandering Where', Sydney Contemporary, Carriage Works, Sydney

2022

  • 'Lost Between', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane
  • 'Measured Moments', Laid Bug, Tokyo, Japan

2021

  • Sweet Misgivings, Egg and Dart Gallery, Thirroul

2020

  • 'Heretofore', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane

2019

  • 'Stranger Avenue', Egg and Dart Gallery, Thirroul
  • 'A Different Road Home', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane

2018

  • 'Online', Egg and Dart Gallery, Thirroul

2017


  • ‘Umbra’, Egg and Dart Gallery, Thirroul

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024

  • The Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
  • Blake Art Prize, Casula Powerhouse, New South Wales

2023

  • 'Lateral Landscapes', Museum of Art and Culture, Lake Macquarie
  • 'Vision Splendid', Hazelhurst Art Centre, Gymea
  • Spring 1883, Hotel Windsor, Melbourne

2022

  • 'Substratum', Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf, Woollahra
  • 'Resistance', Beams, Harajuku, Japan

2021

  • 'Slippin Matters', Tsutaya Books, Tokyo, Japan
  • '93 Bourke & Friends', Ninety Three Bourke ARI, Sydney

2020

  • 'The Home', Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre, Gymea, New South Wales
  • 'Treading Water', Egg and Dart Gallery, Thirroul
  • 'The Home’, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, New South Wales

2019

  • 'The New Gallery Show', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane
  • 'An Exhibition', Egg and Dart Gallery, Thirroul
  • 'A Place Called Home', Wollongong Regional Gallery
  • 'Schorcher', Egg and Dart Gallery, Thirroul
  • 'TBD', School of Arts, Clifton
  • 'YMO at Home', Leichardt House, Sydney
  • 'Yours And Owls Stage Design', Wollongong

2018

  • 'Life in Working Art', Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Gymea
  • '10th Anniversary Exhibition', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane
  • 'The Wollongong Art Gallery 40th Anniversary', Wollongong Regional Gallery
  • 'On the Aussie Telly', Ambush Art Gallery, Sydney
  • 'Here + Now', Wollongong Art Gallery, Wollongong
  • ‘The Platform 10’, Edwina Corlette Gallery, Brisbane
  • 'The Castle', Egg and Dart Gallery, Thirroul

2017

  • ‘Surf Cassette’, Gladstone St Warehouse, Newtown
  • 'Home Wreckers', ASW, Newcastle 

  • ‘Xmas Show’, Egg and Dart Gallery, Thirroul
  • ‘Art Box Project’, Shibuya, Tokyo

2016

  • ‘Gong’Concrete’, Moving Mountains Gallery, Wollongong
  • ‘Vital Signs’, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Gymea
  • ‘Locals Lonely’, Egg and Dart Gallery, Thirroul

2015


  • ‘Xmas Show’, Egg and Dart Gallery, Thirroul


2014


  • ‘Boom ll’, Project Contemporary Art Space, Wollongong

2012

  • 'Boom', Pop Up Art Space, Wollongong

AWARDS


2024

  • Finalist, Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
  • Finalist, Blake Art Prize, Casula Powerhouse, New South Wales
  • Finalist, Fisher's Ghost Art Award, New South Wales

2023

  • Finalist, Kings School Art Prize, Sydney
  • Recipient, Create New South Wales, Visual Arts Commissioning Grant

2022

  • Finalist, Hazelhurst Works on Paper Prize, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Gymea
  • Finalist, Salon De Refusé, S.H Ervin Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales
  • Finalist, Sir John Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

2021

  • Finalist, Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Caloundra Regional Gallery, Caloundra, Queensland

2020

  • Finalist, Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship, Brett Whiteley Studio, Sydney, New South Wales

2019

  • Finalist, National Still Life Award, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, New South Wales
  • Finalist, Wynne Prize, Art Gallery New South Wales, Sydney

2016


  • Finalist, Gosford Art Prize, Gosford Regional Gallery
  • Winner, Gongcrete Prize, Moving Mountains Gallery, Wollongong

2015


  • Finalist, Lloyd Rees Memorial Art Prize, Lane Cove

OTHER / RESIDENCIES

2024

  • Gang Gang Residency, Yuin Country, Cuttagee, New South Wales

2023

  • The Bank Residency, Port Kembla, Woollongong, New South Wales

2021

  • Artist in Residency, Trinity Grammar School, Sydney
  • Rose Seidler House 70th Anniversary Commission, Sydney Living Museum

2020

  • Farmer & The Owl ‘Family Values’ Album art

2019

  • Yours And Owls Main Stage Design, Wollongong

2017

  • Art Box Project, Shibuya, Tokyo

COLLECTIONS

  • White Rabbit Collection
  • Macquarie Group
  • Museums of History New South Wales
  • Wollongong Art Gallery
  • University of Wollongong Collection
  • St John of God Health Care Art Collection
  • Private Australian Collections

PUBLICATIONS/MEDIA

2023

  • Qantas Travel Insider Magazine, Creative Process, December Issue
  • Art Collector Magazine, Sydney Contemporary Art Fair Edition

2022

  • ABC Artworks, ABC, Episode 10

2021

  • Unlocked, The Sydney Living Museum Gazette, Autumn Edition, 70 Years of Rose Seidler House
  • Artist Profile Magazine, Issue 57

3 – 24 September 2024
THE SPRING SHOW

7 – 21 December 2023
SMALL WORKS - Click and Collection

16 July 2020 – 5 August 2020
Christopher Zanko ‘Heretofore’

26 June 2019 – 17 July 2019
THE NEW GALLERY SHOW — A Group Exhibition

29 August 2018 – 15 September 2018
THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION

September 20, 2024

CONGRATULATIONS TO CHRIS ZANKO WHO IS A FINALIST IN THE 2024 FISHER'S GHOST ART AWARD

We are thrilled to share that Christopher Zanko is a finalist in the 2024 Fisher’s Ghost Art Award with his work ‘The Laundry’.

The annual Fisher’s Ghost Art Award is now in its 62nd year, and there is over $60,000 in prize money to be won across the categories. The Fisher’s Ghost Art Award coincides with Campbelltown’s annual Festival of Fisher’s Ghost. Held over ten days, the Festival dates back to 1956 and celebrates Australia’s most famous ghost – Frederick Fisher.

The finalists exhibition will be held at the Campbelltown Arts Centre from Saturday 26 October – Friday 6 December, 2024

IMAGE

‘The Laundry’ 2023
acrylic on wood relief carving
59 x 54 cm

READ MORE HERE

June 29, 2024

CHRISTOPHER ZANKO IS A FINALIST IN THE 2024 SUNSHINE COAST NATIONAL ART PRIZE

We are pleased to share that Chris Zanko is a finalist in this year’s Sunshine Coast National Art Prize for his work ‘The Bathroom’.

The national acquisitive Sunshine Coast National Art Prize is a dynamic visual arts award reflecting outstanding contemporary 2D and new media arts practice in Australia. The finalists exhibiton will be exhibited at the Caloundra Regional Gallery from 24 August - 13 October 2024.

‘From the house I grew up in to the share houses and rentals I've lived in since, there has always been a variation of this tile in the bathroom, laundry, or kitchen. In recent years, I've begun to collect different colour variations of it. Sometimes I feel as though I've seen them all, then I incidentally come across a new colour motif. Synonymous with the mid-century red brick and fibro houses in my local area of Wollongong, many of the houses and buildings with these tiles are disappearing. Carving this design into wood is a way of enacting a sense of permanence, as the marks cannot be undone.’

Chris Zanko, 2024

READ MORE HERE

Image:

‘The Bathroom’ 2023

acrylic on wood relief carving

59 x 54 cm

June 13, 2024

EXCITING NEWS FOR CHRISTOPHER ZANKO WHO IS A FINALIST IN THE 2024 WAVERLEY ART PRIZE

Exciting news for Christopher Zanko who is a finalists in the 2024 Waverley Art Prize for his work 'Midday brick house'.

The Waverley Art Prize finalist exhibition is on from 6 July - 18 August at the Bondi Pavilion Gallery, Sydney.

READ MORE HERE

Image:

'Midday brick house' 2023

Flashè on Wood relief carving

122 x 99 cm

Image courtesy Jessica Maurer

May 30, 2024

CHRISTOPHER ZANKO IS A FINALIST IN THE 2024 WYNNE PRIZE

Thrilled to share the news that Chris Zanko is a finalist in the 2024 Wynne Prize with his work ‘Personal plethoras’.

Growing up, Christopher Zanko formed impressions of local architecture that helped him build a ‘cognitive map’. Particular houses and streets in the Wollongong suburbs of his childhood, on Dharawal land, became markers for him in a place now undergoing development and gentrification.

Zanko, a two-time Wynne finalist, noticed this house while walking to his daughter’s preschool in 2023. ‘The arrangement of shadows cast by the eaves and the glimpse into the backyard gave a sense of familiarity,’ he says. Rendered large, with confident lines, the house’s textures of red brick, speckled concrete, pruned bushes and drawn blinds have been lovingly depicted. Zanko carves into the wooden surface with small hand chisels before adding colour, then accentuates the work’s graphic details and deep shadows by applying black paint with a roller.

While the changing nature of our environment can be challenging, Zanko notes, it ‘is arguably necessary, especially considering Australia’s current housing crisis’. ‘Through my process I seek to give a sense of permanency to the narratives and experiences of suburban Australia.’


READ MORE HERE


Artwork:

‘Personal plethoras’ 2024

synthetic polymer paint on hand-carved wood

180.1 x 150 cm

May 25, 2022

CHRIS ZANKO FEATURED ON ABC ARTWORKS

Hosted by Namila Benson, Art Works is the ABC's weekly half-hour arts show sharing the most inspiring, surprising, and formative ways that Australian creatives are telling our stories today.

Namila talks to artist Christopher Zanko who shares how he combines woodcarving and painting.

Episode 10 Venice Biennale, Deborah Kelly

Duration: 27 minutes 10 seconds27m


May 6, 2022

Christopher Zanko and Paul Ryan - Sulman Art Prize Finalists

Congratulations to Christopher Zanko and Paul Ryan who are finalists with a collaborative work in the 2022 Sulman Art Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The Sulman Prize is awarded for the best subject painting, genre painting or mural project by an Australian artist.

Christopher Zanko and Paul Ryan's work is set against the backdrop of Wollongong in NSW. This painting is concerned with the vulnerability of the changing demographics of an area once defined by coal mining, steelmaking and allied industries.

READ MORE HERE

PAUL RYAN + CHRISTOPHER ZANKO
Bulli, Rock Steady 2022
oil and acrylic on wood relief carving
120 x 100 cm

September 21, 2019

CHRIS ZANKO FINALIST IN THE GOSFORD ART PRIZE

The Gosford Art Prize is the premier art prize of the Central Coast region, with local and national artists engaged in friendly competition for over $25,000 in total prizes.

August 19, 2019

CHRIS ZANKO FINALIST IN THE NATIONAL STILL LIFE AWARD AT COFFS HARBOUR REGIONAL GALLERY

Still is a biennial, acquisitive award for artworks in the genre of still life, in all mediums. The award is open to artists at all stages of their careers. Still: National Still Life Award seeks to highlight the diversity and vitality of still life in Australian contemporary art practice, broadening the interpretation and meaning of this enduring genre.

The Still exhibition opens at Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery on Friday 20th September 2019, with the official opening on Saturday 21st September, and runs until Saturday 30th November 2019.

Christopher Zanko is a finalist in the 2019 award.

Image: CHRISTOPHER ZANKO 'Sundial' 2019

READ MORE HERE

June 15, 2019

CHRIS ZANKO, WYNNE PRIZE FINALIST, ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Christopher Zanko is a finalist in the 2019 Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales with his work 'Bulli: bricks and black diamonds' 2019.

The Wynne Prize is awarded annually for 'the best landscape painting of Australian scenery in oils or watercolours or for the best example of figure sculpture by Australian artists’.

This open competition is judged by the trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW. Finalists are displayed in an exhibition at the Gallery (although in the early years all entrants were hung). Many winning paintings have become icons in Australian landscape art, entering the collections of public galleries, including our own.

The prize was established following a bequest by Richard Wynne, who died in 1895, and first awarded in 1897, in honour of the official opening of the Gallery at its present site.

READ MORE HERE

March 28, 2019

CHRIS ZANKO REVIEWED IN COAL COAST MAGAZINE

Christopher Zanko’s depictions of classic Australian suburbia and architecture – created through carving and painting – feel happy and nostalgic, as though cementing a time in local history, while also celebrating the beauty of an everyday normal.

“These days a lot of homes and buildings are being knocked down, so the area is not going to look like this for much longer,” Chris says. “It's great to be able to capture these beautiful buildings while they’re still here.”

READ MORE HERE

February 27, 2019

CHRIS ZANKO IN COUNTRY STYLE MAGAZINE

Thirroul artists Chris Zanko and Paul Ryan are featured in the current issue of Country Style Magazine. The article looks at the richness of creative talent on the Coal Coast in the Illawarra region of New South Wales and their deep connection to the area.

February 27, 2019

CHRIS ZANKO IN HAPPY MAGAZINE

Sydney based Art and Music publication Happy Mag recently caught up with artist and musician Chris Zanko to discuss his life down south, what inspires his works and the creative process from the start of a piece to its final product.

READ THE ARTICLE HERE

November 7, 2018

CHRIS ZANKO AT HAZELHURST REGIONAL GALLERY

Chris Zanko's work is included in Hazelhurst's Regional Gallery's exhibition Life in Working Art, an exhibition presenting a diverse selection of works from the Gallery's installation team.

3 November - 13 November 2018

September 12, 2018

CHRIS ZANKO AT WOLLONGONG ART GALLERY

Christopher Zanko's wood relief carved work 'Redman Ave Reflections' is included in Wollongong Art Gallery's exhibition Here + Now.

Co-curated by Wollongong Art Gallery and Aaron Fell-Fracasso, Here + Now celebrates the diverse and unique creative energy of the Wollongong region and includes works by Jessica Cochrane, Tex Crick, Ebony Eden, Misha Harrison, India Mark, Paige Northwood, Nick Santoro and Chris Zanko.

1 September - 25 November 2018

READ MORE HERE

March 6, 2018

NOW REPRESENTING CHRIS ZANKO

The Gallery is delighted to announce we now represent Illawarra based artist Chris Zanko.

The streets of Australian suburbia with their red brick houses, electricity pole-lined streets and rusty Hills Hoist-filled backyards provide endless inspiration for Chris Zanko's work.  His carved wooden surfaces depicting iconic mid-century architecture capture a nostalgic view of the vernacular architecture of our suburbs. 

Zanko graduated with a Bachelor of Creative Arts at Wollongong University with Distinction in Painting. He was a winner of the 2016 Gosford and Gongcrete Art Prizes and a finalist in the 2015 Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award. He has exhibited in group exhibitions including at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Project Contemporary Art Space in Wollongong. 

CHRISTOPHER ZANKO
CHRISTOPHER ZANKO 'HERETOFORE' Exhibition Walkthrough, July 2020
CHRISTOPHER ZANKO WORKING IN THE STUDIO

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