An exhibition of works by some of Australia’s best contemporary artists will be held at the Marianne Newman Gallery in Crows Nest during August.

On display will be over 30 works on paper by renowned artists including John Coburn, Adam Cullen, Elisabeth Cummings, John Peart and Ben Quilty.

All works in the exhibition have been sourced from Cicada Press, a custom printmaking
program based at the College of Fine Arts (COFA), the University of New South Wales (UNSW). 
Under the directorship of Michael Kempson, Cicada Press gives practising artists the opportunity to collaboratively explore the medium of printmaking and create quality artists’ prints.

Cicada Press was curated by Gabrielle Eade who is currently completing a Master of Art Administration at COFA. As part of this course, Gabrielle has been undertaking an internship at the Gallery since June. After completing a Bachelor of Design at COFA in 2001, Gabrielle worked as a graphic designer in Australia and also spent time travelling and living in England and Japan. She currently works at Arts NSW, the State Government’s arts and cultural funding, policy and advice body.

Gallery Director Marianne Newman said “I relish the opportunity to exhibit limited edition fine art prints by important artists who have high regard for the COFA artists’ print program and the outstanding skills and print techniques of Michael Kempson. These artists have been able to extend the scope of their artistic practice and produce very impressive results.”

The artists featured in the exhibition are arguably amongst Australia’s finest contemporary practitioners. Their works have been exhibited widely in solo and group shows and are held in private and public collections within Australia and overseas.

Adam Cullen, Nicholas Harding, Cherry Hood, Euan Macleod and Guy Warren are past winners of the Archibald Prize, one of Australia's most prestigious visual arts awards.

Visitors to the gallery will no doubt recognise the quirky and humorous visual style of the works of Chris O’Doherty and Norman Hetherington, who are probably better known by their alter egos, Reg Mombassa and Mr Squiggle ‘the man from the moon’.

Also featured are a recent series of evocative and delicate etchings exploring the relationship between the figure and the landscape by Guy Warren, a local North Shore artist.