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CONTEMPORARY ART
AWARDS 2019
Finalist Exhibition
11 January-11 June 2019
Congratulations to the 2019 winners
Winner: Mark Bagally
Highly Commended: Ellie Coleman
Highly Commended: Louise Tate
Janet Angus, Kay Armstrong, Kate Bender, Mark Bagally, Elizabeth Barden, Tarli Bird, Roger Callen, Tom Christophersen,
Sandra Cipriotti, Ellie Coleman, Guy Cooper, Karl de Waal, Allegra De Leucio, Michael Dyson, James Gardiner, Tyler Grace,
Wade Goring, Paul Hagan, Lee Herath, Julie Hollis, Sophia Holmes, Plugin Human, Lewis Ihnatko, Suresh Jeanel,
Kerry Juhren, Daniel Kneebone, Alex Leung, Simone Linssen, Bec Litvan, Shereen Mahmoud, Dennis McCart, Ceilidh Meo,
Susannah Paterson, Pamela Pauline, Brock Q Piper, Ruby Purple, Jenny Reddin, Al Roberts, Samir Hamaiel,
Oliver Scherer, Silvia A Sellitto, Alejandra Sieder, Amardeep Shergill, Noriko Sugita, Louise Tate, Katrin Terton,
Michelle Thompson, Thomas Thorby-Lister, Danae Thyssen, Sarah Tracton, Tessa Van Lubeck, Emma Ward,
Winner: Mark Bagally
Highly Commended:
Ellie Coleman
Highly Commended:
Louise Tate
Janet Angus
ACT, Australia
My art practice is an exploration of identity through painting and digital processes. I am fascinated by the way we shape our environment and in turn, the way it shapes us.
My painted constructions are a combination of three-dimensional and two-dimensional configurations that alternate between the illusion of deep space and the flat surface. They are a depiction of straight lines, hard edges, and simplified forms, and reference the starkness and austerity of Brutalist styles.
This work visually represents the connection between past, present and future, and the realisation of oneself within the built environment.
Where you stop is where I begin
Oil on board
152 x 137cm
2018
Kay Armstrong
New South Wales, Australia
Semantic Satiation (2018) represents that somethings can get repeated so many times that they lose their original meaning, like words.
Semantic Satiation
Single channel video
36sec
2018
Kate Bender
New South Wales, Australia
Kate Bender’s oil paintings embody the representation of light, and the perception of, and the interplay between space and form. The works are an illusionistic depiction of imagined forms and spaces, within which exists a harmony of colour, light and form. The abstracted forms and spaces offer a visualisation of both physical and psychological spaces.
Emphasising the uncertainty between the imagined and real, Bender’s works take the viewer into another world creating intimate spaces that invoke a sensorial and immersive experience; a visualisation of a poetic turn of phrase, an evocation of emotion, mood, and music expressed in paint and colour.
Feelings have no words
Oil on canvas
50 x 50cm
2018
What the Water Gave Me
Oil on canvas
76 x 84cm
2018
Mark Bagally
Victoria, Australia
A vibrant self portrait depicting a pensive moment.
Self Portrait
Oil on board
40 x 51cm
2018
Elizabeth Barden
Queensland, Australia
Hold Tight (2018) speaks of the resilience of women and a response to the #metoo #believeher #abouttime moment. The ability to withstand the storm, to find a way to be kept safe and protected. The depicted pink carnation, in the symbolism of flowers, represents the beauty and love of a woman, especially that of a mother.
This must be preserved and closely secured in the instability and fragility of life, in this narrative the tape holds yet it is still vulnerable.
Hold Tight
Acrylic on canvas
60 x 60cm
2018
Tarli Bird
Victoria, Australia
Urban Landscape: Bay of Fires (2018) explores the contrasting elements of the organic and the manmade world. A layer of acrylic paint has been applied in a gestural manner that explores the colours and organic patterns at Bay of Fires in Tasmania. Overlapping this is a layer of spray paint influenced by the grids in both geography and urban planning as a way to create easy navigation to a location. Hand embroidery is used to add dimension to the work and to interconnect the organic with the structural. As a result, my aim is to embrace both the natural and structural environment of Bay of Fires.
Urban Landscapes: Bay of Fires
Acrylic, spray paint and hand embroidery on canvas
100 x 150cm
2018
Roger Callen
Queensland, Australia
Still-Life as a genre is on the verge of movement. To be completely still is to die, but then there is decay. Geometric spaces and fluid organic forms reveal the contradictions and disharmonies inherent in human lives, lived as cultural imaginings in a world of accidental contingency. Human imagination creates a trajectory, closed, yet open to a transformation from within. The fabric of leaves, wood and bone leave their temporary imprint, a link to organic origins.
History: A leaky roof led to the restoration of leaf intricacies. Boxes from domestic purchases, driven by consumer ethic, a discarded child's ball from waterfall debris is in a position of dynamic rest, fallen rainforest leaves and a fern frond, discarded wood from a fencing project, the partial skeleton of a ? bird ...
Standing Still
Mixed media on board
86 x 67 x 11cm
2018
Tom Christophersen
New South Wales, Australia
Purge.EXE (2018) is a portrait of Queer portraiture artist Michal Simms. Michael makes traditionally crafted oil paintings on canvas. The work refers to the struggle Michael and many contemporary artists working in traditional and or technical mediums which are not considered ‘in-vogue’ amongst an age of digital saturation and ‘persona’ driven careers which are constructed to exist online. Emerging and early career artists are expected to have a large and bold digital presence which often leaves very little time for actually making work and many creatives take umbrage against rigorous tending to social media profiles to extend ‘influence’ rather than attend to their practices. ‘EXE’ refers to a naming convention in Microsoft DOS referencing ‘an executable file’: a digital file which contains a program.
Purge.EXE
Mixed media on watercolour paper
42 x 69.5cm
2018
Sandra Cipriotti
New South Wales, Australia
My interest is in female empowerment - to explore my interest in the empowered female and space she occupies in the world, I attempt to capture the feeling of empowerment and translate that into artwork. Evoking a sense of curiosity, I also aim to reveal expressions, poses and subjects that invite us to look deeper, beyond social norm's and constraints, beyond our experiences and humanity, to uncover a wisdom and truth that our authentic spirit is bigger than the constraints posed on us, beyond the confines of the canvas. My methodology is to investigate the contrasts of light and shade, negative and positive space, colour, form, design, texture, scale, and composition.
Fiore Energia
Oil and mixed media on canvas
60 x 90cm
2018
Ellie Coleman
Queensland, Australia
Lucent Creatures (2018) explores concepts of mourning, loss, repurposing and animal ethics through crystallised animal skulls and taxidermy birds. Reprocessing animal remains into contemporary art objects encodes the animal works with ethical considerations and insights pertaining to animal rights. This piece responds to the devaluing of animals and how I can debunk human-animal hierarchal by reassessing problematic perception and affiliated ‘social value’ of animals. By confronting the idea of death and the importance of all life through showcasing ‘deceased animals’ these jewelled objects occupy a new liminal space between animal ethics and vegan philosophy. They become more than a mere material through the acceptance they are the bodies of other animals. In this way, I tell their stories and pay homage to their lives rather than celebrate their deaths.
Lucent Creatures
Taxidermy bird and crystals
Variable
2018
Night View
Guy Cooper
Queensland, Australia
In nature, patterns and connections can be found everywhere we look; the cylindrical motion of life is seen on a large scale in our solar system and in the smallest cycle of growth and rebirth on our planet. Nowhere is this seen more so than the in coral reef systems and our own Great Barrier Reef. The advancement the industrial revolution has impacted the planet in many ways, as we fight to keep our planet growing, society needs to find a way to improve life and our constructions. May this coral themed music box call on Poseidon, god of the sea come to save us all.
Poseidon's Music Box
Steel and recycled plastic
180 x 180 x 380cm
2018
Karl de Waal
Queensland, Australia
This work celebrates the Dada Artists of the early 20th century.
Each figure represents one of the pioneering artists from Dada.
Just over a hundred years ago in Zurich, Switzerland, the Cabaret Voltaire unleashed a new way of thinking, a place of refuge.
A philosophical state of mind rather than an art movement, this Cabaret was to begin a chain of events that would challenge and inspire countless generations of artists. These sculptural figures pay respect to seven of the artists of the time.
Hugo, Emmy, Kurt, Sophie, Marcel, Hannah and Hans
Found timbers
7 pieces - variable
2018
Allegra De Leucio
Victoria, Australia
This series of works explores the theme of Identity through the depiction of inner emotions. Through the creation of digital manipulation of self-portraits, I depicted how emotions can be portrayed through the use of colour, texture, movement and body gestures. My inner emotions are depicted through different abstract paintings and photographs. The feelings within the portrait reflect part of my journey during a time and place where things are unpredictable and life circumstances continued to shift and change around and within me. In #1 I focussed on cool blue tones to emphasise sadness and depression exiting my body, and leaving a sense of strength, calmness and protection.
Sometimes I love you; sometimes you make me blue #1 Clouded Mind
Inkjet print and acrylic on canvas
42 x 59.4cm
2018
Michael Dyson
South Australia, Australia
A depiction of a drive through an extraterrestrial city on a rainy night.
Rain
Acrylic on canvas
60 x 50cm
2018
James Gardiner
New South Wales, Australia
Shard 1 (2018) is steeped within broad influences; eroded and stratified rock formations, science fiction, cities and formation/agglomerate over extended periods of time. The work explores the form similarities between such phenomena and the ambiguity that exists in the interpretation of abstract sculpture as an artefact.
Rocks, cities and science fiction worlds are all framed against time and its effects; settlement patterns, location of materials/resources, tectonic shifts and creative/destructive forces. Each in constant flux and marked through the passage of time.
The work is produced through a process of assemblage of resin board, then worked through cutting, gauging, grit blasting and fine jewellers detailing. The work was then spray painted with black lacquer and finished with a clear resin.
Shard 1
Resin board finished with black lacquer and clear polyurethane
36 x 72 x 30cm
2018
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Tyler Grace
New South Wales, Australia
Every relationship has its struggles. It can feel as if you are stuck in the mud and that the mud is going to swallow your relationship whole.
No matter what happens, always try to keep supporting each other through these sticky, tough times.
Down in the Mud
Metallic print face-mounted to acrylic
76 x 50cm
2018
Loneliness can be tough for some, but there are those who prefer to stay on the lonely road and live their lives in solitude.
The Lonely Road
Metallic print face-mounted to acrylic
76 x 50cm
2018
Wade Goring
New South Wales, Australia
This illustration was created using a number of digital art techniques and tools; from an iPad to a Wacom tablet and Photoshop. The work eludes to the excesses and stresses of modern life from a queer male perspective.
Broken Man
Digital Illustration
59.4 x 84.1cm
2018
Paul Hagan
New South Wales, Australia
In Reality in Time (2018) attempts to present a piece of work that challenges the thought process of determining our everyday actions. In the construct of reality and the matrices applications, our thoughts and actions determine the people we are and the people we become and in turn, the collective populous will determine the societal values and the very future of our world. Therefore, the audience is encouraged to adopt an attitude that promotes healthy growth and enhances the progression of our society.
In Reality of Time
Single channel video
1:39sec
2018
Lee Herath
Victoria, Australia
Inspired by nature, Terra Textures (2018) is a series of abstract photographic works that focus on emotion rather than form. Photographically, I experiment with textures found in nature by using Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) and Multiple Exposures to create painterly works that result in dramatic fields of colour. The colour palette that emerges in this series are expressive and aim to engage the viewer by providing a space for contemplation and escape from our day-to-day lives.
Terra Textures 3
Limited edition of 10
Archival print face-mounted to acrylic
81.28 x 116.84cm
2018
Terra Textures 1
Limited edition of 10
81.28 x 116.84cm
Digital print face-mounted to acrylic
2018
Julie Hollis
Queensland, Australia
Here in Queensland, the colours in this painting mean so many things!
The golden yellow and oranges of the rising sun! I see the reds representing the, sometimes searing heat but also the beauty of an amazing sunset over the mountains. I see sunflowers following the sun around its’ daily cycle, their golden faces drinking in the beautiful warmth of the golden rays. This is my testament to summer and all those wonderful fields of sunflowers I love so much.
I also understand that art is totally subjective and some viewers will see a completely different picture based on their own life experiences. To me, that is the beauty of art.
Colours of Summer
Oil on canvas
90 x 60cm
2018
Sophia Holmes
Tasmania, Australia
Passing through landscapes, memories are imprinted, leaving a hazy image. These memories of moments are imagined and reimagined with each recall; overlapping, layer upon layer, in an unconscious field where thoughts are caught in strata of translucent colour. As with the layered memories, the process of painting follows its own path, slowly revealing forms through unearthing and reconcealing pentimenti, creating atmospheric suggestions of time and place.
Thursday 10:12pm 152_7163
Acrylic on linen
56 x 56cm
2018
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Plugin HUMAN
Victoria, Australia
Inter-dream (2018) is an interactive exhibition featuring a multi-sensory environment that is controlled by audience member's brainwaves. Audiences wear EEG (electroencephalogram) and VR (virtual reality) headsets. [Electroencephalograms read the electrical activity that is happening inside the brain]. Audience member's brainwaves control the sights, sounds, feelings and aromas in an immersive exhibition space. Inter-Dream places the human body at the centre of a live digital experience.
This project investigates human-computer integration. It uses the human body as a central interface. We create a feedback loop between humans and machines, forming a cycle of information that is shaped by a collusion between active brainwaves and real-time generative art.
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Inter-Dream
VR and EEG technology, digital interactive visuals, interactive sleeping platform,
interactive audio, customised interactive aromas.
4 x 5m
2018
Lewis Ihnatko
New South Wales, Australia
This painting references a moment after I was born. The image shows my mother and her friends. One woman in the work still maintains a friendship with my mother while the other is no longer in contact with. The referenced analogue photograph highlights figures and distorted colours best capture what I have been told about my early life.
Closer
Oil on canvas
150 x 100cm
2018
Suresh Jeanel
Victoria, Australia
I am interested in creating calligraphic images that are not exactly writing, but which hover between an alphabetic letter and a doodle. Where does the meaning lie?
Troubleshooting
Inkjet print
21 x 29cm
2018
Kerry Juhren
Western Australia, Australia
When it rains (2018) was created using heavy layered impasto strokes and uses colour variations to create further depth within the painting. This piece has been framed in solid Australian oak.
When it Rains
Acrylic and impasto on canvas (framed)
102 x 76cm
2018
Daniel Kneebone
Victoria, Australia
Drawing inspiration from the mythology of angels, Ariella's Tears (2018) is a photographic story piece illustrating the archangel who governs the natural world. The figure acts as a liaison between humanity and the elements.
The completed image is deliberately staged in a renaissance style to mimic the grandness of the oversized paintings produced during that time. The angel clutches herself while gazing into the distance; this depicts her future fears about what may happen to our world. The skies represent our environment, the dark and violent colours on the left are overtaking the lighter dawning skies on the right, exemplifying the turning point in our planet’s overall health. The inclusion of the other angels in the background symbolises the eternal struggle that has been taking place about the environment; the cooperation of humanity is imperative as heaven alone cannot save our world. The overall aim of this work is to present this dilemma in a mythological and imaginative way that enables the audience to be mindful and contemplate the future health of the planet.
Ariella's Tears
Archival digital print on galerie prestige gold fibre silk
79.5 x 100cm
2018
Alex Leung
Hong Kong
Steel Knife (2018) abstracts a set of still life objects. It is expressed in a style that uses flowing, liquid-like, interlocking lines to create a mixture of patterns such as fruits, cheese, wine, glass, flower pot and steel knife, which dynamically express both individual objects and their surroundings. The rhythmic lines and shades imply the balance between rules and freedom. The accurate lines represent the social rules, whereas the freestyle patches represent our desire for freedom. These are inspired by the concept of viewing the world through liquid-filled glass.
Steel Knife
Acrylic on canvas
70 x 108cm
2018
Simone Linssen
Queensland, Australia
My artwork focuses on the personal and the hidden, concentrating on particular issues of identity, anxiety and loneliness. Wallflower (2018) communicates the irrational emotions that emanate from social anxiety. All aspects of the scene are Instagram ready, from the colour palette to the appropriate clothing, however, the subject is experiencing an overwhelming urge to hide. The absurd and humorous place to seek cover speaks of the destabilising feeling of being emotionally exposed.
Wallflower
Oil on canvas
76 x 76cm
2018
Bec Litvan
New South Wales, Australia
My work aims to engage with female body image in relation to a process (breast cancer) which amputates femininity and restores it through empowerment. My work celebrates the disabled female form, whilst challenging the societal constraints on femininity and beauty. This work focuses on an emotional connection between a husband and wife, which is often lost due to the gruelling and defeminizing process of breast cancer.
To Have and to Hold, in Sickness and in Health
Archival digital print
118.9 x 84.1cm
2018
Shereen Mahmoud
Queensland, Australia
My work investigates pain, exploring both the fragility and the resilience of the human mind, body and soul. Through my self-portraits I communicate the profound emotions that life generates in me, capturing truthful moments of pain, struggle and vulnerability. I believe that communicating our pain is a crucial element to communicating our truth and to building deeper human connections. This body of work integrates traditional painting, body painting, photography and digital art into one whole. I start the process by painting on canvas, paint my body, then compose and photograph the scene; finally I proceed with the digital painting and image manipulation process.
Grief
Archival inkjet print
76 x 101cm
2018
Dennis McCart
Queensland, Australia
This painting continues my ongoing line of enquiry into post-industrial landscapes. It depicts a contemplative journey through a totem etched tunnel which opens onto a peri-urban landscape bordering the Gateway Motorway in Brisbane. The liminal environment depicted has undergone traumatic upheavals through past and present industrial activity and yet these landscapes remain resilient, adapting to the continual rewriting of their ecology due to human interference. While superficially pleasing, the painting uses a subdued gentle pallet to compensate for the ugliness of the subject matter. However, beneath these artifices, I seek to evoke what Edmunds Burkes states a delightful horror.
Solvitur Ambulando (It is solved by walking)
Oil on board
83 x 100cm
2018
Ceilidh Meo
Victoria, Australia
Reminiscent of the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, this work responds to the media coverage of Harvey Weinstein's swift fall from grace in response to the #MeToo movement. From L-R the three sections are titled "Only Human", "Return to Earth" and "Feet of Clay".
The Bigger they are, the Harder they Fall
Knitted wool and synthetic yarns, polyester ribbon and acrylic on canvas
228 x 76cm (triptych - total size)
2018
Susannah Paterson
New South Wales, Australia
Many of my paintings are about dreaming, the subconscious, and the intertwining of psyche and nature. This work is about the primitive nature of nature itself. I chose colours that evoke earth, water, air and rock and the figuratively abstracted animals and beasties represent the known and unknown. I'm always curious about the unknown. Sometimes people say oh you have an amazing unconscious mind, but I don't think of it as mine, more that I am expressing aspects of all of our unconscious minds, like Jung's collective unconscious. I believe that most of us rush around with only a slight awareness of the primitive forces of nature on the edges. Unless you live in the bush, that is! Even so, there is so much mystery yet to be uncovered.
Shamanic
Oil on round birch panel
90cm diameter
2018
Pamela Pauline
New South Wales, Australia
Pamela Pauline is a Landscape and Fine Art Photographer based in Mona Vale on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. This work, entitled "I'll Fly Away" forms part of a new series entitled "Grow Where You Are Planted" with a focus on Australian Native Flora and Fauna. In these works, my subjects are painted in high detail using my lens, and then further honed during a meticulous editing process. This artwork includes elements of over 80 photographic images, including a little-featured lorikeet, dedicated to my father who loved them and passed away this year.
I'll Fly Away
Digital pigment print on cotton rag, framed
102 x 102cm
2018
Brock Q. Piper
Victoria, Australia
Painting for me has always been like another language, some kind of ancient text that no one quite knows how to pronounce. I was four years old when my fascination with paint began, I would be mesmerised by its ability to make your imagination a shareable reality. My grandmother was taking painting and drawing lessons at the time, as most country ladies of leisure did with their time. She would paint birds on the family farm amongst countless copies of classic paintings, some to this day I am not 100% sure she didn't paint the originals. Either way, I begged her to allow me to use her oil paints and so my journey with art began. She introduced me to colour, and above all, the importance of being patient, of looking and to create.
Titan
Oil on canvas
140 x 140cm
2018
Ruby Purple
Queensland, Australia
Survival Way – Outback Connections are created using native grasses transformed into handmade paper prepared during my 2018 residency at Curtin Springs in the Northern Territory. I layer and overlap, mould and paint to create patterns, shapes and markings aiming to reflect linkages to trails from astrological navigation and Songlines.
The concept embraces the complexities linked with navigating the vastness of the outback and surviving within it in the modern world while showcasing new ideas and perspectives.
I offer ambitious works centring on connections to Songlines, people, place and our environment with a message of the importance to appreciate and engage in its preservation.
Survival Way_OC 1
Handmade paper and acrylic in a white wooden frame
45 x 35cm
2018
Jenny Reddin
Victoria, Australia
Twin (2018) emerges as a consequence of deliberate accidents. The image represents a major element of climate change and seeks to capture drama and catastrophe in visual form. The image is reminiscent of remnants, fossils and scraps of history. There is a reference to aerial photography of geological features damaged and worn by time and
destruction.
Twin
Mixed media on canvas
1.4 x 1.4m
2018
$2,800
Al Roberts
Tasmania, Australia
Until recently, my perception of ageing was that life became slow and boring, almost a bit of a drag. Struggling to understand why there wasn’t more of a race to squeeze as much as possible out of the later years in life. I observed myself and other young people rushing to fit as much as they could into a day when they had twice the time to experience things. When I stopped for a moment, I became aware that as one ages, and changes throughout time, life becomes more about appreciating and enjoying the race, rather than simply doing it.
Drag Race
Bronze, Tas oak and synthetic grass base
16.5 x 16.5 x 21cm
2018
Samir Hamaiel
Queensland, Australia
A nighttime scene based upon a suburban reality but transformed into a portal to another place. The gateway is imbued with almost facial features. The work has a sense of unease - where is this place and where does the portal go?
In Suburbia
Acrylic on canvas
91.5 x 61cm
2018
Oliver Scherer
New South Wales, Australia
Through the vortex of the modern mind, tempted by poisonous addiction and skewed by unattainable fantasy; what remains at the heart is our roots. Although our ancestors instil a solid and unshakeable sense of identity within us as children, as time evolves, tradition becomes a delicate sentiment which is always persuaded by the bright lights of modernity. An unravelled mind, this work demonstrates the fragility of human existence and survival when up against the reckless nature of contemporary society.
Checker China
Oil on canvas
45.5 x 61cm
2018