About
b. 1965 Melbourne Australia
Ewen Coates holds a Post–Graduate Diploma in Fine Art from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne (1989), and a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) Deakin University (1985). He has participated in a number of solo and group shows in Australia and internationally, exhibiting his work at the National Gallery of Australia, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art and at National Sculpture Survey shows such as McClelland Sculpture Survey & Award and Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Prize. Coates was awarded 1stPrize for the 2009 Montalto Sculpture Award and 1stPrize for the 1999 Central Goldfields Sculpture Prize at the Regional Art Gallery, Maryborough. Recent solo exhibitions have included ‘Hatchlings’ and ‘Hammer and Cyclo’ at Anna Pappas Gallery, and ‘Overground’ at Gippsland Regional Gallery and Warrnambool Regional Gallery. A ten year survey of his work was held at Deakin University Gallery, Burwood, Victoria in 2010. Coates was awarded the first ‘Warrnambool Public Art Commission’ in 2010 and was commissioned by Bates Smart Architects to create a feature entrance sculpture for the Mahogany Room at Crown casino in 2011. He participated in the 2013 Singapore Art Fair making headlines around the world for his bronze installation ‘Overground’. This work is currently on loan at the Australian High Commissioner’s residence in Singapore. In 2015 Coates was commissioned by The Australian War Memorial, Canberra to create a significant bronze memorial commemorating Explosive Detection Dogs and their Handlers.
Other works by Coates are held in various public galleries including Heide Museum of Modern Art, Werribee Park Sculpture Walk and the Deakin University collection as well as private collections in Australia, United States and United Kingdom.
Coates also owns and operates a sculpture foundry and has cast, finished, engineered and installed numerous major public commissions around Australia. He has cast works for Les Kossatz, including the Korean War Memorial, ANZAC Parade, Canberra (1999) and Ken Martin’s life-size Makybe Diva at Port Lincoln (2007) and his major sporting statues around the newly renovated Adelaide Oval