Geoff La Gerche Chandler Coventry

Chandler Phillip Coventry (1924–1999) was an art collector, gallerist and art patron who was involved with the establishment of the New England Regional Art Museum.

Geoff La Gerche was dubbed an ‘eyeball realist’ for his super-scaled portraits. Following formal studies in Melbourne, he departed for London in 1967. At the Royal College of Art, his teacher, American pop artist Jim Dine, had a profound effect on his work. Returning to Australia, La Gerche utilised air-brushed acrylics to achieve precise renderings of light and shade in his early hyper-real works.

Now in the collection of Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art with the title Channy, this was one of eight works by La Gerche in the Archibald Prize between 1975 and 1982.