News

The Art Life's Sharne Wolff recently posed six and a half questions to Abbey McCulloch about being a finalist in the 2016 Portia Geach prize, and what it's like to paint portraits.  

Sharne Wolff: You’ve been an Archibald finalist twice and your portrait of curator and arts writer Alison Kubler Two 2016, is now showing in the Portia Geach Memorial Award. Tell us a bit about the process of making portraits.

Abbey McCulloch: Actually three times in the Archie but hey, who’s counting? They’ve all been great experiences getting to meet the subjects – even the ones that didn’t make the cut – so in some ways the motivation to have a specific encounter is behind my wanting produce a portrait at all. I think my idea of a person shapes the portrait, and playing around with that preconception is far more interesting to me than simply re-creating someone on canvas. I keep the sitting brief as there is usually something that happens in those initial moments of meeting someone that sticks with you and I don’t like to lose that feeling. There is this immediate wrestle with the person you expected in your mind and I like to play around with that. I also hope to capture some of the nerves as they’re there somewhere too – for both of us.

Read more here.

One of the biggest celebrations of cultural diversity in New South Wales, Parramasala will be held from 10-12 March 2017, thanks to a multi-year funding arrangement between the State Government and City of Parramatta Council. 

Parramasala’s new mascot, an illuminated six metre tall inflatable creature will be revealed prior to the festival. Created by Vipoo Srivilasa, the mascot represents the coming together of many cultures in a harmonious and friendly way. Vipoo incorporated the V symbol denoting peace to reflect the multicultural event.

“It was an amazing experience as I’d never seen my work this size before,” the Thai-born artist said.

Vipoo Srivilasa's work has been curated into Gippsland Art Gallery's 'Weird Ceramic' exhibition.

Weird Ceramic is a survey of the strange and peculiar in contemporary Australian ceramics featuring twenty-seven works by eleven artists: Glenn Barkley, Stephen Bird, Chris Dolman, Lynda Draper, Donna Green, Emily Hunt, Philjames, Jenny Orchard, Stephen Ralph, Sarah Smuts-Kennedy, and Vipoo Srivilasa.

With its basis in the 1970s arts/craft movement, contemporary ceramics has one eye on the past while looking forward to new forms, techniques and processes.

Saturday 26 November 2016 to Sunday 12 February 2017, open during Gallery hours.  Read more here.

Marisa Purcell is a finalist in the 2016 Grace Cossington Smith Art Award.  

The award is sponsored by Abbotsleigh School and commemorates one of its alumni, Grace Cossington Smith, who is known as a pioneer of modernist painting in Australia.  Artists were invited to submit original two dimensional artworks reflecting the theme of Making Connections. The winning entry will form part of the permanent collection of Abbotsleigh’s Grace Cossington Smith Gallery. 

Read more about the award here.

Congratulations to Jasper Knight who is a finalist in the Paddington Art Prize with his work 'Red Ladder, Yellow Ladder' 2016, enamel, acrylic, masonite, plywood, perspex and copper on board.

The Paddington Art Prize is a $25,000 National acquisitive prize for a painting inspired by the Australian landscape and is now in it's 13th year. An exciting addition to the Australian Arts calendar, the Paddington Art Prize takes its place among the country's most lucrative and highly coveted painting prizes. The prize encourages the interpretation of the landscape as a significant contemporary genre, its long tradition in Australian painting as a key contributor to our national ethos, and is a positive initiative in private patronage of the arts in Australia.

Abbey McCulloch's work 'Two', a portrait of writer and curator Alison Kubler has been selected as a finalist in the Portia Geach Memorial Art Award for women artists for 2016.

The award, which was first given in 1965 in memory of the artist Portia Geach, displays selected entries from artists across the nation representing diversity in contemporary portraiture. The award is recognised as one of the most important celebrations of the talents and creativity of Australian female portrait painters and has played a major role in developing the profile of the nation’s women artists.

Tim McMonagle's work 'Ken Pearler' recently featured in the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art's exhibition 'Painting. More Painting'.  

Presented in two chapters across ACCA’s four exhibition galleries, Painting. More Painting was a big-picture focus on contemporary Australian painting, featuring the work of over 70 living Australian artists.

Conceived by ACCA Curator Annika Kristensen and Associate Curator Hannah Mathews, and developed in collaboration with ACCA’s new Artistic Director/CEO Max Delany, Painting. More Painting brought together a range of painting practices that reflected the medium’s enduring importance and its recent return to the centre of much public debate.

Read more here.

Gallery artist Lucy O'Doherty has been announced today as the recipient of the Brett Whitely Scholarship. Two paintings Shacks at Little Garie and Art deco bungalow from O’Doherty’s winning body of work are on display at the Brett Whiteley Studio alongside works by finalists Jason Phu (highly commended), Abdul Abdullah, Clara Adolphs, Tsering Hannaford, Andrew Hopkins and Zoe Tweedale.

Begun in 1999, this scholarship for young Australian painters is now in its 18th year. This year’s judges were artist Tom Carment and head curator of Australian art at the Art Gallery of NSW, Wayne Tunnicliffe. They selected this year’s winner from seven finalists, shortlisted from 91 entries.

O’Doherty has won $30,000 and a three-month residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, which is administered by the Art Gallery of NSW.

About the scholarship

The annual Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship is open to Australian artists aged between 20 and 30 years. It was created from an endowment by Mrs Beryl Whiteley, who died in 2010. The inspiration was the profound effect international travel and study had on her son, the artist Brett Whiteley, as a result of winning the Italian Government Travelling Art Scholarship at the age of 20.

Melissa Pesa thoughtfully writes about Bundit Puangthong's latest exhibition in the current edition of Art Almanac. She writes:

Puangthong’s paintings explore, in depth, the cultural differences experienced since his arrival in Australia in 2000. Utilising a range of techniques from stencils to detailed, academic brushwork and an evocative colour palette, Puangthong creates texturally layered paintings that highlight his interest in American pop and Australian street art. Captivated by Melbourne’s creative ambience, its feast of colour, ideas and energy generated from public spaces, cross-cultural similarities became apparent. Puangthong reminisces, “When I came to Melbourne and saw all the street art everywhere it reminded me of the stencil work in the temples in Thailand.” Incorporating this approach with a modern medium, Puangthong brings a fresh art style onto the canvas.

View the complete article HERE.

Alex McCulloch recently interviewed Julian Meagher on J-AIR, The Jewish Voice of Melbourne radio station.  The interview coincided with Julian's recent exhibition 'Everybody Talks in Their Sleep' in conjunction with Edwina Corlette Gallery in Melbourne.  You can listen to the interview and hear about this recent series of works which explore male rituals and the immortal goon bag.

Listen HERE