B. 1943

Virginia Cuppaidge is a prolific Australian artist, renowned for her colour-field paintings. Cuppaidge knew, and declared, from the age of 6 that she would be an artist. While Brisbane-born, she studied in Sydney alongside illustrious peers such as John Olsen and Robert Klippel before moving to New York City in 1969 to keep pace with the heart of the abstract art world.

Influenced by the colour-field movement and painters from New York’s Abstract Expressionists that emerged in the 1950s, Cuppaidge’s practice is characterised by dense waves of colour. Likened to the style of Piet Mondrian and Hans Hoffman, Cuppaidge’s practice seeks to draw out her experiences of the world as extending past the figurative plane. By returning to colour as the driving force behind her work, Cuppaidge resists identifiable subject matter, instead using abstract forms and layered hues to create movement. 

Despite living as an ex-pat for almost 50 years, Cuppaidge’s fascination with light speaks to a childhood raised under sun-soaked Queensland skies. The contemplative nature of her work responds to the bustling pace of New York, encouraging audiences to find sanctuary in her works. 

Cuppaidge has featured in notable feminist exhibitions since the beginning of her career, most notably the pioneering 1973 exhibition ‘Women Choose Women’ held at The New York Cultural Center, and the National Gallery of Australia’s “Know Her Name” project. She has been recognised as an outstanding practitioner throughout her life, commended by notable art critic Clement Greenberg and awarded a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in 1976. Her work is held by institutions across the USA, Canada and Australia, making her an invaluable find for any serious collectors of Abstract Australian art.