News

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:

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.

- Melissa Pesa, Art Almanac

READ MORE 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

Mariam Arcilla's feature on Vipoo Srivilasa is in the current issue of Vault Magazine.  Arcilla says 'Talking to Srivilasa is like witnessing renewable energy.  The practicing Buddhist emits a childlike wonder, a stentorian laugh and a yen for learning ("So many things I still want to do: get a mentor, learn how to make pasta, combine ceramics with aromatherapy, pursue Thai dancing)...

Vipoo's next exhibition at the gallery is in early 2017 and will revisit an earlier series S & M Mermaids.

Congratulations to Vipoo Srivilasa who is a finalist in the 2016 Basil Sellers Art Prize.  

The prize defines sport in the broadest possible sense. An acquisitive prize of $100,000 will be awarded to a single, outstanding artwork, displayed in an exhibition of shortlisted finalists at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne in July 2016.

This prize is supported by Basil Sellers in order to encourage contemporary artists to develop their practice, to engage with the many themes within sport past and present, and to contribute to critical reflection on all forms of sport and sporting culture in Australia.

View available works by Vipoo Srivilasa HERE.

Julian Meagher has been selected as a finalist for the Shirley Hannan Bega Portrait Prize at the Bega Valley Regional Gallery. The prize is a $50,000 non-acquisitive award for realistic portraiture. The winner will be announced by the judge Dr. Christopher Chapman, Senior Curator at the National Portrait Gallery, Friday 17 June.

View Julian’s available works here.

Congratulations to Dean Brown who is a finalist in the 2016 Archibald Prize for his portrait of the artist McLean Edwards.

McLean Edwards is an artist known for his bold use of colour in theatrical, darkly humorous figurative paintings. He is a five-time Archibald finalist.

‘I’ve been a great admirer of McLean Edwards’ work from the first moment I saw it. I was instantly captivated by the themes and narratives that seemed to exist in his visual world. I feel his work is truly individual,’ says Dean Brown.

‘McLean has been a friend and mentor to me for a number of years and I have wanted to paint his portrait for some time. He can be incredibly animated and theatrical, with an intense gaze, and I felt that would make for a dramatically expressive portrait if I could capture it.

‘I painted the portrait from the vantage point of his studio mezzanine. I turned all the lights off and spot lit him as if he were an actor on stage. The number 44 in the bottom right-hand corner is a tongue-in-cheek homage to the way he signs his work, not with his signature but his age when he painted it. I have appropriated his concept as a sign of respect.’

The Archibald Prize is awarded annually to the best portrait, 'preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in art, letters, science or politics, painted by any artist resident in Australasia’.

READ MORE HERE

IMAGE

'McLean Edwards' 2016

oil on board

93 x 73 cm

John Aslanidis has been curated into War – A Playground Perspective. This exhibition is presented within the historic Newington Armory exploring the human propensity for violent conflict and war as seen from the perspective of 28 leading Australian artists. Understandings of war and the human impulse for conflict are at the core of the exhibition curated by UNSW Art & Design lecturer Allan Giddy and graduate Nick Vickers. This exhibition is an opportunity for artists to examine aspects of human nature that are deeply embedded in communal psyche – territorialism and conflict.

The exhibition is current 14 May – 14 August.

For more details, click here.