The 2020 Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award will open on Friday, March 19.

WPCC curator Kent Buchanan said it was a really good overview of contemporary drawing.

"The 2020 Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award is an exhibition staged by Grafton Regional Gallery, and it's a drawing competition. Essentially, it's about drawing in all its guises, from really traditional stuff right through to very experimental stuff," he said.

"The diversity really stands out. There's a lot of really interesting things in here, the sort of things that you wouldn't necessarily think were a drawing, but they definitely are challenging in their own way."

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The 56 finalists, winning work by Teo Treloar, and the highly commended works, are all included in the exhibition, which will be on display at the WPCC until May 16.

Mr Teo from Wollongong said he felt humbled and grateful that his work was chosen as the winner from among such excellent entries and artists who he has long admired. This Is Impermanence reflects on ideas of depression, anxiety and masculinity.

"There is a broad set of influences here at work but the drawings should not be viewed in such specific terms," Mr Teo said.

"Generally I make speculative drawings with no specific meaning; that's because I like the viewer to engage with the work on their own terms and define meaning for themselves. Importantly the work is really about drawing and the creative act and how I make sense of the world through it."

Local artist Jude Crawford is also featured in the exhibit.

Mr Buchanan said the Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award also includes videos.

"It will definitely challenge your idea of what drawing is and there will definitely be something that you really like that have to be something you really hate, so all is right in the world," Mr Buchanan said.

In 2020 the Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award received a record 659 entries from 521 artists from across Australia.

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