June Tupicoff (b.1949, Healesville, Victoria) is a Brisbane based artist whose work focuses on an inherent interest in the Australian landscape. Tupicoff pays particular attention to ‘wallum country’, an ecosystem of coastal south-east Queensland extending into north-eastern New South Wales, characterised by flora-rich shrubland and heathland. Originally an abstractionist, over the course of time Tupicoff’s practice has broadened to examine the natural world in a more overt way, producing striking oil paintings and fine pastel drawings.
Primarily self-taught, for a short time in the 1960s Tupicoff studied sculpture while attending the Caulfield Technical College in Melbourne. During this period, she also received private painting lessons with artists Len French and Neil Douglas. Between 1985 and 1991 the artist tutored in painting at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane and later, in the late 1990s, Tupicoff also taught at the Brisbane Art School.
The artist’s exhibiting career began in the mid-1980s. Since that time her work has been curated in a number of significant museum exhibitions including Australian Perspecta, Art Gallery New South Wales, Sydney (1985); 17 Australian artists, Galleria San Vidal, Venice, Italy (1988); 20 Australian artists, Benalla Art Gallery, Victoria and touring (1990); Shifting Parameters, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (1991); Drawing on Inspiration, University of New South Wales, Sydney (1994), The artist’s studio, Cairns Regional Gallery, Cairns and touring (2003); Head in the Clouds, Kick Contemporary Arts, Cairns, and Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville (2017); Postcard to the End, Bathurst Regional Gallery, New South Wales (2019); New Woman, Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane (2019); and Odd Bedfellows, QUT Art Museum, Brisbane (2020).
A finalist in the Wynne Prize at Art Gallery New South Wales (1998), Tupicoff has also appeared as a finalist twice in the Tattersall’s Club Art Prize, Brisbane (2010, 2014). In 2016, the artist received a residency in Vindrac-Alayrac, France.
Tupicoff’s work is represented in numerous public and private collections including National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; QUT Art Museum, Brisbane; Artbank, Sydney; HOTA, Gold Coast; and Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville.
Image: June Tupicoff, Friends worshipping the sun, 2023, oil on linen, 138 x 184 cm
