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Contemporary Art Awards
Finalist Exhibition 2017
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Highly Commended
Lillian Morrissey
Awakening
Acrylic on board
120 x 240cm
2016
Award Winner
Amy Carkeek
Little boy blue
Archival Inkjet Print
100 x 66cm
2016
Highly Commended
Jeramie Scahill
Walking Stick
Stirling silver and rosewood
10 x 85cm
2016
Alejandra Sieder
New South Wales, Australia
This is a tribute to all the years I lived in Norway. It is my farewell...
This is the snow melting in my soul because I feel at home in Sydney. I feel I belong here. While in Norway, snow is starting to fall right now, I am having the most wonderful weather, sunshine and energy everywhere. Thank you Norway for the souls I met, for the son I had and for the opportunity to believe that utopias exist.
Melting Snow
Acrylic on Canvas
100 x 60cm
2016
Alice Penco
New South Wales, Australia
At present, food is a constant source of inspiration in my art practice as it plays a significant part in our social and cultural lifestyles. For me, food not only triggers enjoyment but it also references family connections, and adventure. Aesthetically, the objective is to unleash the audiences’ imagination with its colour and shapes provoking the viewer to consider how food connects to their lifestyle, family, and the everyday. We are inundated with new food creations daily and it seems that nothing is out of the ordinary.
Sphenopalatine Ganglioneuralgia
Spray-paint on plywood
60 x 25 cm
2016
Black Sugar White Sugar (2016) is a reflection on Australia’s Sugar Bounty. Under the provisions of this 1903 Act, the Commonwealth government paid a bounty for ‘White Sugar’ – sugar cane cut by white labourers. Cane produced using South Sea Island, or Kanaka labor was known as Black sugar. Same product, different price. It was one of a raft of measures that excluded these sugar industry pioneers until World War II when the exclusion measures were finally repealed.
Alison Peters is a multi-disciplinary artist and writer. Her process is informed by her background as a TV reporter and producer.
Alison Peters
New South Wales, Australia
Black Sugar White Sugar
Repurposed textiles, palm husk, thread, white raku clay, raw sugar
176 x 93 x 35cm
2016
The More I Digest, The Less I Know
Mixed media collage on paper
110 x 150 x 20cm
2016
Amy Campbell
ACT, Australia
My work reflects on the information overload present in the digital age, and the way that the media and internet comprise of simulated realities which distort the original meaning of information. By printing photographs of previous paintings and collaging these into new works, I endlessly reuse imagery to show the effects of image reproduction and deterioration. This occurs in the imagery, which is also physically distorted by the folding contours of the sculptural surface. The dynamic support and clashing saturated colours evoke chaos and uncertainty in the viewer which is reflective of the turbulent, information-saturated world we live in.
Amy Carkeek
Queensland, Australia
These two photographic works depict a collision of worlds and the consequences of continually striving for the unobtainable — a manufactured dream — pre-packaged and sold for our inevitable descent. The works aim to bring desire and fantasy to a head in a new world, one where the fantastical and glittering illusion is actually obtained. By altering certain discarded children’s ceramic figurines into states of absurdity and unthinkable violence, a nightmarish reality is revealed.
Little boy blue
Archival Inkjet Print
100 x 66cm
2016
Children should be seen but not heard
Archival Inkjet Print
100 x 66cm
2016
Carol McGregor
Queensland, Australia
Blood rape, get'm before they menstruate
Possum skin, cotton, ochre, "Englischrot hell" pigment, gum binder
15 x 75 x 15cm
2016
Catherine Leung
New South Wales, Australia
This work is inspired by words from the book of Psalm. 'He who dwells in the secret place of the most high shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty' (Psalm 91:1)
In this ever-changing volatile world, we live in, to have a place where we can remain stable is crucial. We all need a secret place.
Secret Place
Archival Print
90 x 67.5cm
2016
Ethereal Beauty (2016) is a photographic work that showcases the award-winning burlesque performer Sina King. In creating this piece, I wanted to pay homage to the heritage of burlesque, I attempted this by placing particular motifs in the background and blurring the performer on the left. These methods were used to control the depth of field and direct the audience attention across the image. By capturing the artist in three different poses it represents the mental preparations of performing on stage. By combining the theatricality of burlesque and the dream-like quality, it transports the audience into an alternative world. Therefore, I invite the viewer to consider not only the historical aspects but also the contemporary modes of burlesque today.
Daniel Kneebone
Victoria, Australia
Ethereal Beauty
Archival photographic print on fine art paper
80 x 64 cm
2016
Dean Walker
Tasmania, Australia
A new art form I call Pretiosus Novella. It involves the creation of jewellery through narrative and vice versa. During the creation, it is almost as though I am possessed. I travel to other worlds, becoming a part of them, while my hands write and create.
This piece is called Invisible Dragon (2016). The 12,000-word short story is set in ancient China. It tells the story of Min's journey to avenge his mother's death.
The Invisible Dragon
18ct yellow gold, precious gems, leather, and paper
36cm x 19cm x 6cm
2016
Elmari Steyn
Western Australia, Australia
Courage to change your life/circumstances.
To stay, to hold on or to leave?
The storm created by one’s decision.
Swallows - symbols of leaving/returning.
Difficult choices results in freedom (flight).
Courage
Etching and Aquatint on fine art paper
28 x 31 cm
2016
Acceptance generates a stillness within.
Peace of mind with circumstances/changes/what was left behind.
Silence is not the absence of noise, more the presence of soft sounds, the falling of leaves.
Body clothed. Present in the here and now.
Silence
Etching and Aquatint on fine art paper
28 x 31 cm
2016
Graziela Guardino
New South Wales, Australia
Your absence is as strong as your presence (2016), explores material and investigates the binary forces in life such as darkness and light; past and present, absence and presence. The use of the colour black allows a full exploration those elements, the absence of them as well as the space in between.
Your absence is as strong as your presence
Acrylic, tule and wood
100 x 80 x 4cm
2016
Dharma Wheel
Acid-free 110gsm archival paper
63.5 x 60cm
2016
Jacky Cheng
Western Australia, Australia
My awareness towards the viewpoint of the act of ‘making and doing’ is highly influenced by my Chinese cultural background be it from gastronomic point of view to folding joss paper or spirit paper with my grandmother for people in the afterlife. It became more apparent during my Architectural studies in my university years, which later transposed as a series of artworks that looked like a topographical landscape even though this was not the case as it was just the act of mark-making.
I have been correlating experiences and mapping the esoteric relationship between the art of making and attaining something sublime. I do not try to cut or imitate the perfect lines of a mechanical machine but much so to gain personal satisfaction in allowing myself to experience the ‘process’ to which it conveys emotions, behaviour and bio-rhythmicity of my experience.
During the process, I am drawn to observing the power of ‘growth’. The dynamic constant change of shapes becomes an entity in itself and encourages the play of light and shadow. I am less concerned about the result and care more about the act of "doing". The journey is as important as the destination.
Lonely Alone
Oil on board
182 x 81.3 x 3cm
2016
Janet Angus’s oil on board paintings take the forms of stark three-dimensional constructions.
The processes involved in the making are through the manipulation of wood for creating multiple surfaces that extends the flat surface, and enhance the viewing experience. Commencing with a vision or idea, Angus manipulates the image digitally until it reaches the desired state. This stage is crucial as she seeks to reflect an inner state of mind, with the intention of eliciting an emotional response.
Angus’s vertiginous structures suggest the difficulties associated with negotiating one’s way through any angst-inducing contemporary environment, physical, mental or emotional.
Janet Angus
ACT, Australia
Walk Stick
Stirling Silver and rose wood
10 x 85cm
2016
Jeramie Scahill
New South Wales, Australia
"Youth Is a gift of nature, but age is a work of art."
- Stanislaw Jerzy Lec.
Designed for strutting, this stick is sexy! Hand-crafted in Australia with attention to the smallest detail including the feel and the weight as well as the silhouette created when held in the hand.
The handle is hand forged sterling silver ergonomically sculpted to fit either hand. The curves of the silver blend into the ebonised rosewood shaft, which is hand carved with a curved taper and a triangular girth impossible to replicate on a machine.
Each piece of rosewood, a timber traditionally used in walking stick making, was especially selected for its tight grain and structural integrity. It grew on the Dorrigo Plateau, is over 150 years old and hardened by a lightning strike and bush fire.
The shaft separates into two pieces with a sterling silver sleeve and a stainless steel rod to provide a reinforced join. This makes it easy to pack away into your travel bag. The tapered end is sterling silver with a replaceable non-slip tip that slides into an inner sleeve.
Joanne Morris
Victoria, Australia
This artwork was created by combining the use of a raw charcoal stick and my unique method of ‘Painting with charcoal ‘ - a skill that involves applying the charcoal with dry brushes that I handcraft myself. I use this monochromatic medium to focus the viewers’ attention to the drama of light, shadow and texture without the added influence of colour. My unique technique resulting in a fresh and delicate contemporary piece.
Looking Through
Charcoal on cotton rag
100 x 75cm
2016
This intricate portrait depicts the details of face and personality. My highly realistic, black-and-white style draws attention to light and shadow without the distraction of colour. My works are painted using finely ground charcoal and hand-crafted tools; an organic approach that breathes life and meaning into my portraits.
I create with a method called ‘painting with charcoal’ using fine animal hair brushes I craft myself, plus charcoal powder, I can achieve a dramatic effect of contrasting light and shadow. I love using these ancient techniques to create realism, drama and depth in my works.
Studio Window
Charcoal on cotton rag
100 x 130cm
2016
Joanne Schloss
Victoria, Australia
In my work, I often use my immediate environment and people around me to express something from my subconscious. I piece together images from different contexts to create the new image. This gives my work a dream-like feel. I like to see the meaning emerge and unravel.
Ultimately my work is about the human condition. The struggle to find happiness and meaning in our lives. To live with the circumstances and choices we make. People’s relationship with nature and the wild always interests me. Nature is seen to be something to be owned, harnessed or conquered. Our treatment of animals reflects that.
The Battle
Oil on wood
60 x 90cm
2016
Take no heroes only inspiration! “We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.
This work was created out of inspiration and respect to the late Charles Bukowski, a German-born American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was honest and influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his home city, and addressed the ordinary lives of poor Americans and the drudgery of work. “What matters most is how well you walk through the fire”.
“Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead."
Charles Bukowski
Pencil on cresent board
38 x 51cm
2016
John Procter
South Australia, Australia
Jude Hotchkiss
New South Wales, Australia
Early childhood sensory experiences combined with current environmental concerns inform the structure, qualities and mood of my current abstract work.
Weather extremes and climactic drama were hugely important in a childhood spent in regional Australia. Dust storms, bush fires, flood and drought ruled life. Survival depended on anticipating and interpreting these occurrences. Days and weeks were foretold in colour, direction, temperature and cloud shape. A great deal of time was spent looking at the sky.
Cloudfield
Oil and medium on canvas
122 x 122 x 4 cm
2016
Serendipity….
"There isn't any questioning the fact that some people enter your life, at the exact point of need, want or desire - it's sometimes a coincidence and most times fate, but whatever it is, I am certain it came to make me smile.”
― Nikki Rowe
This was an exploration for me with a limited palette. I used just 3 colours, cobalt blue, Expresso, and Havana Brown....It was fun mixing the colours to see what they became and how they applied to the skin tones.
Serendipity
Acrylic on canvas
61 x 61cm
2016
Julie Hollis
Queensland, Australia
Kailum Graves
Queensland, Australia
Billionaires—the crème de la crème of a society in which money is the principle gauge of success.
#1 presents 130 of the world’s 1,810 billionaires in the congratulatory style of #1 Dad mugs found in cheap gift shops. The work is an attempt to flip the celebratory logic of wealth on its head and give a middle finger to neoliberalism—economic system that values greed, self-interest, and extreme personal wealth.
#1
130 ceramic mugs
204 x 116cm each
2016
The Business of Art 1
Found concrete, resin, dirt, oo/ho model items
30 x 20 x 25cm
2016
Karl de Waal
Queensland, Australia
These two works utilize the dynamic of sculpture to comment on the adverse effects the 'business of art' has on not only the artist but the very nature and development of an art practice. These works attempt to subvert the very nature of how the art world sees value in some works and not in others.The cult of celebrity and the 'so hot right now' system of curating destroying the fundamentals of creativity ultimately undermining the role of the artist and the diverse powers of expression the arts should be acknowledging and celebrating.
The Business of Art 2
Found concrete, resin, dirt, oo/ho model items
36 x 25 x 25cm
2016
Kate Bender is an emerging artist whose colourful abstract paintings lie somewhere between abstraction, optical illusion and the representation of space.
While the paintings appear abstract, they are an exploration and representation of the navigable internal spaces of the mind. Interacting with these paintings becomes an immersive, sensorial experience. Multi-directional light sources activate a luminosity that emanates and pulses from somewhere deep within and outside of the canvas.
Simultaneously there is a radiating charge of energy and sense of stillness within Bender’s paintings. This perplexing state of looking is balanced through the overriding harmony that flows from the colour relationships.
Kate Bender
New South Wales, Australia
Untitled
Oil on canvas
84 x 76.5cm
2016
Nesting
Genuine gold leaf and oil on linen
77 x 56cm
2016
Katherine Gailer
Victoria, Australia
I create imaginary landscapes exploring characters, cultural identity and spaces of magical realism. My artistic expression aims to underscore the main theme that looks at the complex relationship between fragility and strength, vulnerability and empowerment– and my artworks can be interpreted as a series of confronting tensions to articulate the essence of female existence. The representation of women is one of my core inspirations: the investigation of the female body as a symbol of sexuality, motherhood, beauty and ambiguity. Rediscovering a sense of the sacred and revisiting our ancient past embody the driving force for the development of my artworks.
Thread by thread we weave our destiny. We wrap and woof our thoughts, and so re-create our identity. The Weaving of Oneself is, therefore, a choice. We choose the patterns we embody; through those we filter and perceive the world, and recognise our own reflection.
Through my work, I aspire to contribute to the ‘weaving’ or reconstruction of a contemporary female identity; a matrix of the female experience as a source of power.
The Weaving of Oneself
Genuine gold leaf and oil on linen
56 x 102cm
2016
Fish Trap
Clay, wood and wire
60x 100 x 22cm
2016
This work is Raku vessels with the beginnings of fish-nets resting on a driftwood PLATTER. This work reflects the environment with which I surround myself, this body of work has evolved from materials i have collected on my many walks along our beach, visits to salvage yards and garbage dumps for the sole purpose of recreating beauty from a big world of junk.
Kathleen Valks
Queensland, Australia
Katrin Terton
Queensland, Australia
I wander and listen to the dying things
Whisper, haunted, intangible
Skins loosened, memories stripped bare
Remnants, fragile, forgotten
Hidden beneath the layers
Where the dust settles into another truth
Shifting Skins
Mixed media installation - fabric, snake-skin, sheds, feathers, bones, skeletons, thread, wood and image projection.
2.5 x 4 x 4 m
2016
Kim Bennett
New South Wales, Australia
Part of a body of work named 'Fervour and Forfeiture' that explores the self and our experiences of loss, grief, reflection, and empowerment. The work is a response to the defining moments in life that determine our path, whether that be planned or unplanned. Hindsight challenging insight – we often do not fully understand or see the truth of a situation and the choices we have to make as a result.
These observations and experiences are responded to through the process of laying down material and instinctually placing textured layers and washes; often resembling abstracted landscapes and figurative forms and portraiture. Haptic and considered mark making and layering were specifically chosen to convey the emotional content of the work – revealing, hiding or hinting at what lies beneath or is left behind, but never forgotten. To reinforce the central premise, I used my whole body to create sweeping marks and lines and to lay the paint and ink, creating movement and textures. As with life, if you look closely or scratch the surface so much more is shared with you.
I did it for you
Acrylic, ink, graphite and charcoal on board
120 x 120cm
2016
Larissa Rogacheve
South Australia, Australia
The collision of formal play, dry composition of circles overlaid with cinematic, illustrative ,medieval and grotesque imagery is the key to this stylised piece.
The Festival of birds
Assemblage of 5 canvases, gold leaf, and tempera
80 x 150cm
2016
The Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Pianola
Pianola roll, watercolour, silk, acrylic medium
35 x 250cm
2016
This is a rhapsody about the nature of the grotesque dream, which makes us come back to artificial subjects in fruitless effort to escape the rational and inevitable. Who would not wish to find this hidden pianola roll of life narrative? What if the imagery and music it produced could have been amended? The sense of time, antique surface, constant loss of information, embedded into the image is at the center of my interest here.
Laura Delaney
Victoria, Australia
Saved from landfill (2016) highlights the widespread environmental atrocity of plastic chairs being buried in landfill with a ‘harem of zebras’ being saved from such a fate. By ‘animating’ the chairs, it is hoped that it will encourage people to think about the often thoughtless purchasing and discarding of these ubiquitous objects.
The narrative aims to highlight the collective disassociation of the environmental impact of excessive consumerism. One source claims the chairs can take up to a thousand years to decompose.
Saved from Landfill
Found polypropylene objects
130 x 100 x 200cm
2016
SOLD
Healing Rain
Acrylic on canvas
100 x 75cm
2016
Leah Doeland
New South Wales, Australia
Embedded into the first layer of paint is my artistic representation of the Hebrew script for "Adonai Roph'ekha", The Lord who heals.
This is a deeply spiritual piece encouraging an encounter with the ONE who heals.
The season of winter is often characterised by coldness-loneliness-barrenness, but why is it viewed in that light? Winter is essential; winter is the earth's time for rest and regeneration.
A place of rest can sometimes look and often feel unproductive and alone... but beauty comes from resting and time spent restoring your soul.
From a distance, this painting looks dull, muted and uninteresting, but please look a little closer, find the beauty in the intricacies, look for the splendour amongst the decay... Out of the darkest winter, spring blooms... and with spring comes new life and new opportunities. This artwork carries a blessing of rest and hope for tomorrow.
Winter Splendour
Acrylic on canvas
100 x 75cm
2016
Leah Emery
Queensland, Australia
Who Told You You Were Naked (2015) marries imagery that evokes a forbidden fruit narrative, with pornographic human landscapes. The melange of the biblical and the sexual was borne from exploration into the role religion has played in cultural attitudes to sexuality, nudity, responsible sexual practices, and women's role in the discourse of sexual liberty. The viewer is forced to identify and confront their own relationship to pornography and body image in a theologically unnerving, aesthetically inviting facade.
I use my works toprotest the cultural etiquette of withholding healthy public access on topics surrounding sex and intimacy quintessential to human experience.
Who Told You You Were Naked #1
Embroidery thread on Aida cloth
43 x 46cm
2015
Awakening (2016) is the largest piece in a series investigating contemporary Australian society through the use of architecture as analogy. The works are based off line drawings from NSW and Victoria of suburban houses, overlaid with new postmodern architecture. The work is layered until the lines blur and disintegrate, in a visual metaphor for the tension between ideologies and epochs as culture changes with technology. The resultant image is both a memorial to the twentieth century 'Australian Dream' of the small suburban home, and a conceptual map of our position in a new world of information flows and globalised capitalism.
Lillian Morrissey
Victoria, Australia
Awakening
Acrylic on board
120 x 240cm
2016
My work explores the shifting re-interpretations of motherhood as a subject matter in contemporary art. Specifically, it investigates the process of reorienting personal mother/child experiences by creating new narratives to reinstate a creative space within motherhood and art practice. This work is based on a narrative of my daughter, who leads the viewer into an unknown destination within the landscape. In this context, she leaves the weights and thread as metaphorical clues for the viewer. As I learn about her emerging identity, she leads me into an unknown ‘landscape’ where there is tension surrounding her need for independence, and my simultaneous reluctance to let go.
Lost/Found
Video projection, fabric, thread, sterling silver, pebbles, paracord
180 x 120 x 120cm
2016
Linda Clark
Queensland, Australia
This image is part of a body of work inspired by the idea of belief and overcoming challenges in finding ones own truths.
In this painting, the subject discovers that contemplative introspection must be considered in finding any answers. With a shift in focus from looking outward, some sense is made as the answers gradually appear.
No Mirror Required
Oil on linen
56 x 66cm
2016
SOLD
Lisa Kotoulas
New South Wales, Australia
Flooding at the Rivergums
Oil on canvas
102 x 102cm
2016
This is a scene from bushlad on the borders of the Murray at Echuca-Moama during this year's minor floods. Repetitive shadows mirrored tree trunks and pieces of sky in the water.
Lucila Zentner
New South Wales, Australia
This is a scene of bushlad around the Murray at the start or the 1026 spring with wildflowers in bloom.
Springflowers of Emkatdee
Oil on canvas
77 x 114cm
2016
SOLD
Luke O'Reilly
Queensland, Australia
These two paintings are an intuitive contemplation of the countless forces that shape individual experience, often before it even reaches our conscious awareness to be interpreted. From the composition of warring microbial colonies in our digestive tract to experiences of our grandparents causing epigenetic ripples which reach down to us, as well as the many cultural/historical metanarratives within which we are helplessly embedded. It is also an exploration of the concept of human individuality comprising of an inner orchestra of states/subpersonalities/intelligence/etc.
Contingent
Oil on aluminium
100 x 100cm
2016
Contingent II
Oil on aluminium
100 x 90cm
2016
The first time I saw Andrew Wyeth’s 1948 painting ‘Christina’s World’, I was immediately reminded of a reoccurring dream from my childhood. In this particular dream, I would find myself crawling in a field, attempting to reach shelter before the sun set and I was plunged into darkness on my own.
Through referencing Wyeth’s striking composition and reflecting on my memory of this dream, I wanted to explore the power of landscapes and their ability to shape our perspective and our place in the world.
Weight
Oil on wooden panel
50 x 60cm
2016
Michael Simms
New South Wales, Australia
Windows No.2
Hand woven tapestry - wool, cotton and linen
35.5 x 46cm
2016
Windows No. 2 (2016), based on x-rays, invites the viewer to peer into the very core of what makes up our identity. It shows our innermost physical being – something that we cannot fake, airbrush or Photoshop. It is a ‘secret portrait’, laying bare all that is true within us. The medium of hand woven tapestry further imbues the work with a sense of humanity through the many hours of tactile, hands-on work required to render this piece. This process provides a contrast to the immediacy of x-ray technology.
Michelle Driver
South Australia, Australia
Cry Wolf
Archival Giclee print
30 x 40cm
2016
This work is a combination of my love of predators and the story about the boy who cried wolf, which my father recited to me as a child. Painted freehand in specialist art program with no use of references.
Michelle Webb
Victoria, Australia
The blooming Jacaranda tree spreads its radiance and fragrance. The elegance and beauty represent a young lady. In this exhibit, benevolence is provided through shade and a touch of life to the otherwise barren earth. This juxtaposition shows that hardships can often yield the most beautiful results. The tender coils that make up the blossoms are worked finely to capture the essence of this tree when flowering.Through contrast, the jagged stone highlights the soft curves of the metallic tree. The finesse of each turn reflects a refined tone in the personality of the both the tree and the metaphoric lady.
Ming-Yu Chang
New South Wales, Australia
Transient Grace
Aluminium wire and rock
22 x 22 x 35cm
2016
Pines are held within a venerable status and are associated with longevity and wisdom. This exhibit represents the perseverance of nature and a wise aged man. The tree is depicted as having weathered through years of hardship, and yet remains firm from the experiences. Each carefully formed leaf is the fruit of patience, and every detailed root is shaped by the struggles and contours of the world. The metal that forms the plant life seeks to forever capture this image in time. Together it forms an image of strength, with each part equally important in representing a dignified character.
Intricate Dignity
Aluminium wire and rock
20 x 20 x 30cm
2016
Still lifes of origami silver unicorns came from the movie Blade Runner, in which they were left on the ground by one of the replicants to remind the lead character that he might be replicant since he keeps having possibly implanted dreams about unicorns.
Nada DeCat
New South Wales, Australia
Find My Herd
Oil on linen
46 x 71cm
2016
I am honoured to know and to paint the portrait of former CEO (10years plus) of Scarlet Alliance (Australia's national peak sex worker organisation maintained entirely by current and former sex workers) and her partner Elena at a protest.
Sex workers who are activists in Australia still protest for decriminalisation, less stigma, safer work place, their autonomy, and for their human rights.
Janelle Fawkes
Oil and mixed media on linen
137.5 x 137.5cm
2016
This series was inspired by the power of free will upon freedom and captivity.Both freedom and captivity can be imposed physically, mentally, or both.
Often our own insecurities and anxieties will prevent us from living freely, and so we become captives of our own thoughts. Conversely, self-confidence can allow us to live freely and explore new challenges in life and grow into better people. However, what appears to be freedom to one may appear as captivity to another. Furthermore, we are generally poor assessors of our own states of wilful freedom and captivity. Though freedom and captivity are antonyms, delineating their boundaries, in reality, can be far more complicated.
I feel it is my duty as an artist to question and explore concepts such as this. Through a figurative representation, I aim to explore my own questions and attempt to answer them during the creative process. Ideally, this knowledge will transfer to my viewers and benefit them as well. This series attempts to represent this dichotomy through figurative representation. Birds represent freedom, and their humans signify the power of free will.
In April
Fibreglass
50 x 50 x 80cm
2015
Pimpisa Tinpalit
Victoria, Australia
Rachel Corsini
ACT, Australia
So much pressure in society today, social expectations, money to be made, bills to be paid and more, all this while we are trying to learn who we are as an individual and plan our path to our goals.
Learning from the past to persist in the presence, we make choices and mistakes, each of us with our own journey, our own tales to tell.
Beautiful Anxiety
Photographic print
42 x 59.4cm
2016
Fenkata/Watering Hole
Rabbit pelts, found objects, electrics, heat conductive wiring, water, steel, fabric, synthetic stuffing
130 x 230 x 170cm
2015
Rebecca Selleck
ACT, Australia
I question an ability to empathise with non-human animals on the one hand and disconnect on the other. Forcing these emotions to clash there is a strange sensation: A push and pull that results in perceptual dissonance. ‘Fenkata/Watering Hole’ draws from my perceptions of rabbits as a Maltese-Australian, with divergent memories of them as pests for poisoning and as friends for the family stew pot. Through a devised sculptural language that returns limited form to commercial skins, combining them with lifelike warmth and domestic objects that connect bodily with the viewer, I’ve given presence to the sensation of perceptual dissonance.
After a year of plein air painting of 'Black Rock' in every guise I returned to find the area had been burnt, and my full water container and tarp hidden nearby had melted and were conjoined with lumps of charcoal. I retrieved the elemental remains, which had a weird shape and smelled of fire. In their molten state, they were akin to the lava of the rock. After a week or so the idea emerged for this work. The fish-tarp with the eyelet-eye swims into my burnt water container which resembles the lava-rock. The fish symbolises life and renewal. I used the burnt twigs from the site for the charcoal mark-making. This was a studio-work. Part of the work is its smell.
Roger Callen
Queensland, Australia
Burnt Rock - The Artist's Remains
Collage - paper, plastic, metal, fluid acrylics, and charcoal on board
60 x 97 x 11.5cm
2016
Ruby Purple’s artwork for consideration is one in a series inspired by recent travels to the South of France. She combines the magnificence of the French Alps peeking through the clouds to the heavens with the breathtaking imagery invoking feelings of excitement about being welcomed into a world of adventure.
The colourful people, fashion and fast-paced yet relaxing lifestyles combined with an array of fantastic food, wine and scenery. This work is inspired by a sense of being, place, relativity and a connection to our environment.
Connections
Oil on canvas
45 x 35cm
2016
Ruby Purple
Queensland, Australia
Samir Hamaiel
Queensland, Australia
This acrylic work is a continuation of a series that explores in-between urban spaces. I attempted to capture both the movement and stillness of tunnels, expressing the surface textures, reflectivity and artificial lighting, but deleting the vehicles the tunnel is designed for. There is an overwhelming emptiness within the space. The dynamic perspective is a continuing theme in my work, as is the dominant positioning of urban signage with symbols and text. Repeating light fittings and reflections disappear into the distance as the tunnel appears endless.
Tunnel
Digital print on canvas
40 x 30cm
2016
This digital work is a departure in terms of medium, but continues to explore many of themes that fascinate me as an artist; movement; light, urban fabric. A familiar scene from my daily routine, this work distills the key components. The solidity of the brick monolith contrasts with the almost absurd gradient of the hill, a defensive high point from which to view life. The citadel almost appears to be crushing the more fragile natural elements across the street, overwhelming its entire surroundings.
Citadel
Digital print on cotton rag
43 x 59cm
2016
Porcelain is a delicate, fragile medium in which I continually seek to extract its translucent qualities. I build architectural slabs from pouring porcelain slip by layers onto a plaster surface. Marbled chromatic landscape panorama coloured surfaces akin to landscape topography are the result. I watch the colours morph and transform as it reacts to form alchemy with heat and water. This unveiling of colour is fascinating to watch; a metamorphosis of imagery.
Sarah Tracton
New South Wales, Australia
Let the Light in
Porcelain
13 x 42cm
2016
Sheilla Njoto
Victoria, Australia
Oh, truly, how wonderful. Who creates the sea and all creatures in it? Who creates the hills and whispers beautiful mists? Who creates our every strand of hair and counts them in numbers? Who creates beauty and lets us enjoy it? Originality, this is. I stop and I stare, and always in awe. Oh, truly, how wonderful.
Wonder
Rubber bands and nails
100 x 200cm
2016
Silvia A Sellitto
Victoria, Australia
Uprooting myself
Mixed media
42 x 59.4cm
2016
My third child's maternal health nurse recently expressed to me, "It's the end of an era for you!", upon telling her that I had no plans to have more children. I was suddenly grief-stricken.
In Uprooting myself (part of the "End of an era" series), I am partially withdrawn from the present - positioned in my cultural past - while reflecting on the combined playfulness and intense experiences and feelings that I encounter in my relationship with my children. My Southern Italian heritage is referenced - specifically, my great-grand mother’s era where they performed a folklore dance called the Tarantella. Inspired by its frenzied and frantic movements, I used collage to re-imagine my face and body via a tarantella-like strangeness.
Third-eyed (2016), is from my Leave the night light on series. It was inspired by my six-year-old daughter’s imaginary response to the real world, which she depicted in an alluring mixed media collage artwork. Her gathering of natural art materials prompted the creation of an expressive motif. Subsequently, a collaborative process between her and I developed.
My portrait of Cinzia reflects the fears and anxieties associated with parenthood and that which is common in fairy tales and roused within children in dark sleeping environments. It references the empowering impact that acts of disguise, make-believe and visual art making can have on children.
Third-Eyed
Oil on linen
70 x 57cm
2016
Simone Linssen
Queensland, Australia
Throughout my artwork, I explore particular issues of identity, anxiety and loneliness. To address these concerns, I place figures in private and intimate spaces that can be a place of comfort and solitude but also a place of entrapment and isolation from the outside world. By using familiar interiors, I invite the viewer to contemplate mental health conditions that many people face on a daily basis in contemporary life.
Comfort in Shadows
Oil on canvas
100 x 76cm
2016
Skye Baker
New South Wales, Australia
Currently, my art practice investigates humanity’s relationship to the environment and the collapsing of systems. I am interested in how we respond to collapse in a variety of forms; be it environmental, societal, personal or political, and also what ensues in the aftermath of a breakdown. Humanity is represented within my work through the symbol of the everyday and anonymous worker who is often engaged in ambiguous tasks. Through the worker, I am able to comment on anthropocentric practices in terms of our relationship to each other and our environment.
The World in its Becoming
Oil and acrylic on canvas
101.7 x 152.5cm
2016
Stephen Tiernan
Queensland, Australia
Batman is going on a date and using the Batmobile. Robin is not impressed and this has created tension between the Dynamic Duo.
Date Night
Oil on belgian canvas
51 x 60cm
2016
Thirawut Bunyasakseri
Queensland, Australia
Mythology has been used as a common vehicle to present philosophical lessons in entertainment and palatable forms. This type of narrative is obviously a timeless treasure, appeared in all religious stories with multiple layers of realities to represent their views toward the universal truth of beings. However, regarding various changes in society, modern people may understand less and less of the precise information embedded in religious art. The creation of The Modern image of an Ancient Hero with a Thousand faces (2016), and Kidnapping of Sita 2016 (2016) are based on an ancient epic Ramayana theory of iconology and meanings behind the religious iconography. My (Thailand) traditional style of painting, and questioning results in enquiring about people around Australia (Hindu and Non-Hindu) regarding their understandings and imaginations toward mythological images. Therefore, various changes include present-day social circumstance, or most familiar contemporary images have been introduced and replaced on the conventional painting scene to increase accessibility, not only for Hindu or Asian but global audience.
The Kidnapping of Sita 2016
Acrylic on polyester canvas
85 x 99cm
2016
The Modern Image of an Ancient Hero with a Thousand Faces
Acrylic on polyester canvas
99 x 85cm
2016
Thomas Thorby-Lister (Skulk)
New South Wales, Australia
Thomas's work combines a personal graphic vocabulary of figures, objects and primitive shapes, with expressionistic mark-making and an abstract composition.
An element of performance and physicality distinguishes Thomas’s paintings, bold in both scale and expressive gestures. The act of making is apparent; Thomas’s paintings are filled with authentic energy and spontaneity, this intensive physical process is a direct result of his mural practice, yet he explores this with a refined approach to painting. This painting is from a recent solo exhibition, part of a series painted in Berlin during a three-month residency at “Institut Fur Alles Mogliche’.
Cycle
Mixed media on linen
180 x 180cm
2016
Visitor
Acrylic on canvas
109 x 109cm
2016
Tom Christophersen
New South Wales, Australia
Tom Christophersen is petrified of beautiful things and death. It is primarily the car-crashing of these two themes which permeate the hyper-realistic, almost surrealistic, often dark portraits he produces. In a world of instant gratification and ‘fast art’, Tom endeavours to bring the focus back to things that take a very long time to draw, paint or make, and that are of a level of detail which demands an intimate level of engagement from the viewer. Tom hopes his traditional, technical approach, combined with the modern figures he creates (representing grey areas surrounding gender, sexuality, beauty and isolation) provide a fresh, immediate offering to portraiture and indeed a representation of the self. Tom’s work asks if you would please lean a little closer for a better look and rethink something you thought was quite harmless, because, as it turns out, it is not.
Epicene
Watercolour, watercolour pencil, acrylic, and gold leaf on canvas
84.1 x 118.9cm
2016
A meeting of minds great and small, furry and beaked... ants and spiders... rooster knights and noble swine steeds... dastardly long-nosed rogues with bulldog companions... smelly rats with sharpened blades... and many many more... have all come to see the round one...
Travis Bell
Tasmania, Australia
Hatch...
Pen and watercolour on paper
64 x 28cm
2016
Tyler Grace
New South Wales, Australia
Anxiety can change your life. It can get so bad that you can't do things that you use to be able to do, you become afraid of things that you once loved, and it can make you never want to leave the house again and just wither away until you meet your bitter end.
Anxiety
Metallic print face mounted on acrylic
50 x 76cm
2015
Veronica Andrus-Blaskievics
New South Wales, Australia
Within my work, I seek to reflect the absence of a body and presence of memories with aims to evoke the preciousness of an item or clothing can be, when holding the memory of a loved one and revealing the absence of an individual. The work encapsulates the preciousness of my memories.
Through the work is a dialogue, between the past and present, and the extremely vulnerable and fragile link between memory and loss that is essential and a necessary component of my visual construction. The process of undoing, layering information into developing a structural form serves as a physical link for relocating my personal experiences. These sculptural works are not just a means of reflecting my personal experience of loss but a direct entrance to process loss.
Commemoration
Concrete, glass, and fabric
25 x 12 x 12cm
2016
Association
Concrete, and fabric
20 x 5 x 5cm
2016
Victoria Pitel
New South Wales, Australia
I explore what it means to inhabit the human body; a site from which thought takes place and through which inner states are projected. An exploration of presence and the examination of self; where boundaries of the psychological and physiological become indistinct, where language is rooted in intuition. These concepts underpin my work and the way in which creative processes may give expression to ideas. 'Third Space' offers narratives of human ontology; of unresolved tensions surrounding hybrid identities developed in ‘third space' with a questioning of national ideals.
Third Space
Ceramic
Groups of figures dimensions vary - smallest approx. 10cm x 15cm - Largest approx. 15 x 25cm
2016
Virginie Senbel-Lynch
Queensland, Australia
Sensual Breast (2016) and Turning Heads (2016) is part of a series called Lumiere (which means light in french).
Darkness does not exist without light. Every object is defined by the way light falls on it. It can look sharper, bigger or smaller according to how light is reflected. However, our eyes will use that light to determine what it is, from what is visible. The intention of each piece displays the subjects “best light” in order to highlight the sublime. The photorealistic drawings will leave the viewer wondering if it is a drawing or a photo. Therefore, the series Lumiere is both about technicity and light. With light being a powerful conductor the darker values provide an illusion obscured by the source of light.
Sensual Breast
Watercolour pencil and charcoal on paper
21 x 29.7cm
2016
Turning Heads
Watercolour pencil and charcoal on paper
76 x 101.6cm
2016
Wade Goring
New South Wales, Australia
This work was created using a number of different digital art making techniques to realise a concept first drafted with pencil to paper. Thematically, the work is apocalyptic. However, it is deliberately unclear as to whether the hog-like creature at the centre is 'feeding' from the human figures or whether they are feeding on it. Either way, the work comments on the disgusting, glutinous nature of consumption, the exploitation of resources and the way society is lulled into a sense of ignorance about it.
Live Feed
Digital art print
59.4 x 84.1cm
2016
Sarah Hill, Simone Guascoine,
& Sabine Haider
Nothern Territory, Australia
Our bowerbird uses all her charm, beauty, and poise to entice any unsuspecting male bowerbird into her nest. Carefully she meticulously, almost obsessively; collects and rearranges her many purchases and possessions simply to impress. Little does she know, or is she aware, that through the constant need to replace what she already has (to continue the consumer cycle) that she is cluttering and destroying the beauty that she is and that of her home; her environment.
Bower Business
Archival print
50 x 74cm
2016