Andrew Christofides was born in Cyprus in 1946 and migrated to Australia with his family in 1951. He studied Commerce, majoring in Economics, at the University of New South Wales (1968-71), before moving to Canberra to work as a research economist in the Taxation Office. In early 1974 he travelled to Cyprus, and then to London, where he lived from 1974 to 1982. After completing studies in Fine Art at the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting (1974-75) and the Chelsea School of Art (1975 – 78) in London, he received a Rome Scholarship and a studio residency at the British School in Rome (1978-79). This was followed by the Picker Fellowship in Painting at Kingston Polytechnic in London (1979-80).
He has lectured in painting and drawing at numerous colleges of art in the United Kingdom and Sydney and was Head of Drawing at The College of Fine Arts (2003-12).
Since 1974 he has had 35 solo exhibitions in New York, London, and Rome, as well as in the Australian cities of Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Melbourne. Since 1978 he has been included in over 140 group exhibitions throughout Australia and overseas, including numerous museum and institution exhibits. Andrew has had ten solo exhibitions with King Street since joining the gallery in 1997.
His upcoming solo exhibition in April 2024, ‘Evolving Hierarchies’, at King Street Gallery explores the artistic traditions of composition, seeking to resist the need for ‘hierarchies’ within a work. “Within my own practice the more ‘concrete’ works have been generated by numeric sequences and therefore have no intended hierarchic structure, their composition being pre-determined by the numeric system. However, when my work does contain a subject, then the composition is determined by the needs of that subject and the breadth and limitations of my own chosen visual language.” – Andrew Christofides, 2024
He is represented in numerous public, institutional, corporate and private collections in Australia and overseas. His studio practice encompasses painting, drawing and relief constructions; he currently lives and works in Sydney, where he has occupied his current studio in Chippendale for the past 30 years.
In this video, Andrew discusses his return, with his family, to Cyprus in 1974 and the impact that country has had on his work.
2024
Evolving Hierarchies, King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2022
Studio Archaeology, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
2021
Parallel Universe: A paradise of images King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2018
Reason and Intuition Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra
Towards intuition King Street Gallery on William
2016/17
Andrew Christofides Abstraction – from the collection, Maitland Regional Art Gallery
2016
New work King Street Gallery on William
2015
Grid, structure, space Charles Nodrum Gallery
Abstraction X 3 Nancy Sever Gallery Canberra
2012
Relief constructions and works on paper King Street Gallery on William
2010
New Work King Street Gallery on William
2009
Constructions Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
2008
New work King Street Gallery on William
2007
Andrew Christofides a survey 1982-2006 Wollongong City Gallery, Wollongong
2006
New work king street gallery on burton, Sydney
New Work Robert Steele Gallery, New York
2004
Odyssey king street gallery on burton
2003
New paintings Robert Steele Gallery
2002
Works on paper Charles Nodrum Gallery
2001
New paintings & works on paper king street gallery on burton
2000
New paintings & works on paper Robert Steele Gallery, New York
1999
New work king street gallery on burton
Recent work Robert Steele Gallery, Adelaide
1998
Charles Nodrum Gallery
1997
king street gallery on burton
Anima Gallery, Adelaide
1996
The Cut Gallery, London
1995
The Beatty Gallery, Sydney
Charles Nodrum Gallery
Solander Gallery, Canberra
1994
The Beatty Gallery
1992
Charles Nodrum Gallery
1989
The Painters Gallery, Sydney
1988
The Painters Gallery
1986
The Painters Gallery
1980
House Gallery, London
1979
British Academy, Rome
1978
Chelsea School of Art Gallery, London
2023
Works on Paper, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria
Round, curated by Lisa Jones and Tom Loveday, Wollongong Art Gallery, Wollongong
Text Re-Read, Deakin University Art Gallery, Melbourne
Enchanting and beyond, Queenscliff Gallery, Queenscliff, Victoria
Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Sydney New South Wales
2022
Abstraction 22, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
Works on Paper, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
2021
Mayday, curated by Stephen Wickham, Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne
Abstraction 21, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
2020
Small Abstracts: from the collection of David and Gillian Serisier Orange Regional Gallery, New South Wales
Uncurated Macquarie University Gallery, Sydney
2019
Works on Paper 2019 Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
Inside/Outside King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
Gallery Artists Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
Abstract 19 King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
RNOP – The Road paintings Five Walls Gallery, Melbourne
Recent Acquisitions Deakin, University Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria
2018
Chromophilia, curated by Louise Brand Wollongong Art Gallery, Wollongong, New South Wales
Abstraction Twenty Eighteen, Langford120, Melbourne, Victoria
Infinite Worlds / Infinite Probabilities University of Southern Queensland Art Gallery, Toowoomba, Rockhampton Regional Gallery, Townsville regional gallery, Queensland
End of the Beginning University of Southern Queensland Art Gallery, Toowoomba, Queensland
2017
Artist Profile Australasian Painters Orange Regional Gallery, NSW
timeFRAME Justin Art House Museum, Melbourne
2016/17
Visions of Utopia Wollongong Art Gallery, NSW, Penrith Regional Gallery, NSW
2016
Cultural conversations travelling Gallery LVS, Seoul, Korea, Korean Cultural Centre, Sydney
Collected II Wangaratta Art Gallery, Vic
Visions of Utopia Wollongong Art Gallery, Wollongong, NSW
Into abstraction Macquarie University Art Gallery, Sydney
Quiddity RMIT University Art Gallery, Melbourne
In the field Macquarie University Art Gallery, Sydney
Andrew Christofides’ abstraction: from the MRAG Collection Maitland Regional Art Gallery, Maitland, NSW
2015
Little pictures and sculptures Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
Grid: Matrix Module Myth Langford Gallery 120, Melbourne
Summer exhibition Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra
2014
Abstraction 13 Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
30th anniversary group show Charles Nodrum Gallery
Dark Stephen McLaughlan Gallery Melbourne
Perceptions of space: Justin Collection Glen Eira City Gallery, Melbourne
The democracy of drawing Airspace Projects, Sydney
2013
Last but not least King Street Gallery on William
Factory 49 @ Stephen McLaughlan Gallery Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne
Artist’ Books, Limited Editions and Art Monographs from Australia, Kunst-Und Abstraction 12 Charles Nodrum Gallery
Drawing now Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
Works on paper Charles Nodrum Gallery
Looking forward King Street Gallery on William
2012
Works on paper Charles Nodrum Gallery
Melbourne Art Fair Charles Nodrum Gallery
Recent acquisitions Wangaratta Art Gallery, Vic
The big picture King Street Gallery on William
Square one Wollongong City Gallery, NSW
Non objective present Langford Gallery 120, Melbourne
Abstraction 11 Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
2011
Field work: abstraction and the permanent collection Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, NSW
Together in harmony Korea Foundation Cultural centre, Seoul Korea
Together in harmony Korean and Australian Artists, BOM Gallery, Seoul Korea
Abstraction 10 Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
Christmas show King Street Gallery on William
American University, Cairo
Art Bank, Australia
Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, Victoria
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales
Axes Corporation, Tokyo
Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst, New South Wales
Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, Victoria
Campbelltown Bicentennial City Art Gallery, Sydney
Department of Immigration, Canberra
Geelong Art Gallery, Geelong, Victoria
Maitland Regional Art Gallery, Maitland, New South Wales
Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, New South Wales
New Zealand Insurance, Sydney
Philip Cox & Partners, Sydney
Phillip Institute, Melbourne
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania
Qantas Collection, Australia
RMIT University, Melbourne
Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Toowoomba, Queensland
University of Central Queensland, Queensland
University of Melbourne, St Mary’s and Newman Colleges academic centre, Melbourne
University of New South Wales, Sydney
Sydney University Union, Sydney
The Rare Books Collection, Monash University, Melbourne
The State Library of NSW, Sydney
The State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
The State Library of Victoria, Melbourne
Wangaratta Art Gallery, Wangaratta, Victoria
Wollongong City Gallery, Wollongong, New South Wales
Andrew Christofides: Creating art from ‘archaeology’ by Fotis Kaprtopoulos
Neos Kosmos - Online Publication
16 June 2022
Andrew Christofides on his 2018 exhibition, Reason and Intuition by Weng Chin-Dahler
Medium.com Online
10 November 2019
Beyond the blockbusters: five remarkable art exhibitions in 2019 by Sasha Grishin
The Canberra Times online
20 December 2018
Geometric abstraction with spiritual and emotional content by Sasha Grishin
The Canberra Times
13 August 2018
Visions of Utopia: Rose Niland Reports on touring exhibition by Rose Niland
The Culture Concept Circle
2 May 2017
Come in for a cool screening to beat the Bathurst heat by Penny May
Western Advocate
15 December 2017
Circle / Line / Square - Aspects of geometry by Margaret Meager
State of the Art: NSW Regional
September 1994
Report from Australia: Winter Walkabout by Robert Berlind
Art in America Publication 1993
30 May 1992
Exploring relationships, essentials and harmony by Susanna Short
Arts and Entertainment, Sydney Morning Herald
22 March 1985
Abstracts fail to raise the status of symbols by Terence Maloon
ART, Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday 13 April 1985
