The alternative Archibald and Wynne Prize selection

5th June – 26 September 2021

The Salon des Refusés was initiated by the S.H. Ervin Gallery in 1992 in response to the large number of works entered into the Archibald Prize which were not selected for display in the official exhibition. The Archibald Prize is one of Australia’s most high profile and respected awards which attracts hundreds of entries each year and the S.H. Ervin Gallery’s ‘alternative’ selection has become a much anticipated feature of the Sydney scene.

Each year our panel is invited to go behind the scenes of the judging process for the annual Archibald Prize for portraiture and Wynne Prize for landscape painting and figure sculpture at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to select an exhibition from the many hundreds of works entered in both prizes but not chosen for the official award exhibition.

The Salon des Refusés exhibition at the S.H. Ervin Gallery has established an excellent reputation that rivals the selections in the ‘official’ exhibition, with works selected for quality, diversity, humour and experimentation, and which examine contemporary art practices, different approaches to portraiture and responses to the landscape.

JANE GUTHLEBEN Greetings from Bibbenluke (Lucy Culliton, artist)

This open competition is judged by the trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW. Finalists are displayed in an exhibition at the Gallery (although in the early years all entrants were hung). Although it is a non-acquisitive prize, several of the entries are now part of the Gallery’s collection.

Born in Titjikala in 1957, Mulda experienced a childhood accident that left her with impaired vision, but surgery has improved her sight. Exhibiting since 2008, she creates bright canvases with distinctive cursive text, depicting scenes of everyday life within Abbott’s Camp and drawing attention to social and political issues with emotional honesty.

In this portrait, the artist is wearing the stripey top and sits with her daughter, Louise Abbott. The other two people cooking roo tails on the fire represent all town camp women. As Mulda puts it: they are ‘maybe me and Louise, maybe any womans. This is town camp life. Every day.’

Mulda is also a finalist in this year’s Sulman Prize.

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Art, Activism And The Archibald

CREATIVE PEOPLE

Art has always been a vehicle for social dialogue, and a window into current political issues. When Sydney artist Julian Meagher met former professional soccer player, commentator and human rights advocate Craig ‘Fozzy’ Foster AM, he was inspired.

READ MORE ON THE DESIGN FILES HERE

Marisa Purcell is a finalist in the 2021 Sulman Prize with her work 'That Time of Day'. Administered by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the prize was first awarded in 1936. Each year the trustees invite a guest artist to judge the competition.

Marisa's work 'That time of day' considers those moments between day and night, where the last burst of blue lets itself dissipate into the darkness. These transitory spaces are intrinsic to human experience everywhere.

The painting contemplates layers of light and colour and the affect it can have when you are surrounded by it. Supported by a warm ground of raw linen and pink, veils of transparent colour shift in and out of perceptibility, activating an awareness of looking. This is a human-scaled painting, intended as an opportunity to feel and connect with this shared human experience.

ART/EDIT MAGAZINE

Living in Lismore New South Wales where she runs Basso Studio, multi-disciplinary artist Antoinette O’Brien is currently working in clay, creating a series of busts and full-figure sculptures. Whilst she has always maintained a studio practice, Antoinette has come into her own recently, working towards a diploma in ceramics. The arresting faces of her ceramic forms gaze out with a lifelike intensity, revealing a consideration of painting techniques. High fired and glazed through multiple firings including reduction, oxidation and lustre, the clay is pushed to its limits, resulting in tearing and buckling that speaks to themes of endurance and precarity. With glazes made from scratch and tested extensively, Antoinette approaches her craft with discipline and was recently awarded the Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize by esteemed artist Abdul Abdullah. Antoinette is preparing for a solo exhibition at Lismore Regional Gallery in August this year.

Featured image: Antoinette O’Brien, Sitting Pretty. Ceramic and found object, 47 x 36 x 28cm

2020 HURFORD HARDWOOD PORTRAIT PRIZE

The 2020 Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize is a national portrait prize administered by Lismore Regional Gallery open to any media. 2020 judge Abdul Abdullah, named Antoinette O’Brien as the winner of the $10,000 acquisitive prize for her portrait of Helen Deravenchecko, saying: ‘The combination of ceramic elements in the work drew me into a story about memory, and how moments attach themselves to our experience.’ Abdullah also recognised Michelle Dawson with a highly commendation for her portrait of the late Vera Wasowski

Stefan Dunlop's work 'Splash II' has been donated to the Sunshine Coast Art Collection through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2021.

The Sunshine Coast Art Collection now numbers over 800 works, including winning works of the inaugural Sunshine Coast Art Prize in 2006 by one of the foremost Nyoongar artists, Shane Pickett (1957 – 2010).

'The prize’s main impetus is to build the Collection, but it’s also a great device for visibility of the vibrancy of the Sunshine Coast arts and culture.'
Collection Curator Nina Shadforth, 2021

IMAGE

1/ L to R: Philanthropist Ferre De Deyne, Collection Curator Nina Shadforth and artist Stefan Dunlop

2/ STEFAN DUNLOP

'Splash II' 2017

oil on canvas

200 × 240.5 cm

VIPOO SRIVILASA

Wellness Deity 22 May 2021 > 22 August 2021

This exhibition will present the Wellness Deity Project, which Vipoo Srivilasa undertook in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This collaborative, community-driven project encouraged people to reflect on their experience of the pandemic. The artist invited people to submit a drawing of their Wellness Deity, a being that has a special empowering or protective power. Srivilasa selected 19 of these drawings to provide inspiration for a series of ceramic sculptures. Each deity has its own unique characteristics based on the personal stories submitted. Each work is also accompanied by a piece of commissioned creative writing.

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E-CATALOGUE

Established in 2015, the Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize is a celebration of contemporary Australian painting. The finalist exhibition brings together a broad range of artists, both established and lesser known, whose varied approaches to the painted medium conveys the breadth and diversity of painting in Australia today.

The annual prize is an important opportunity for Bayside City Council to add exceptional works of art to its collection and to promote art and artists as a valuable part of the Bayside community.

Sally Mulda's work 'Town Camp Stories' 2020 is a finalist in this year's prize.

READ MORE HERE

Established in 2015, the Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize is a celebration of contemporary Australian painting. The finalist exhibition brings together a broad range of artists, both established and lesser known, whose varied approaches to the painted medium conveys the breadth and diversity of painting in Australia today.

The annual prize is an important opportunity for Bayside City Council to add exceptional works of art to its collection and to promote art and artists as a valuable part of the Bayside community.

Tim McMonagle's work 'Put Upon' 2020 is a finalist in this year's prize.

READ MORE HERE