WINNER
HENRI VAN NOORDENBURG
HIDING PLACE II. ‘WHEN A MEMORY BECOMES A STORY OR A STORY A MEMORY’ SERIES
Medium: Hand carved Photographs on Hahnemulhe
Size: 100 x 100cm
Judge’s Comment:
A haunting thicket that summons a viewer to entertain an imagined narrative of either untold horror or hope. The notion of memory and place is heightened by the image's centrality and monochromatic colour, which fades in and out of one's grasp. The artist's technique suggests a labour of love and desire to develop the medium of photography. The work seemingly travels between places in the mind, becoming transformed over time and from one generation to the next as the artist has suggested.
PEOPLE CHOICE
KATHY ELLEM
TWO LEFTS AND A RIGHT
Medium: oil
Size: 78 x 103cm
HIGHLY COMMENDED
MITCHELL ENGLISH
HEATWAVE (VAN DYKE BROWN)
Judge’s Comment:
What was once a Queenslander's 'right of summer passage'' (to go to the beach) has become a curiously politically charged event in today's pandemic environment. This painting politely refuses to lockdown, yet its socially distant inhabitants form a strange grid of potentially dangerous carriers. An oddly intriguing work that is more complex than the suitably surfy laissez faire sentiment expressed in the artist's statement.
Medium: oil on canvas
Size: 95 x 125cm
HIGHLY COMMENDED
GERWYN DAVIES
DESERT (EAST/WEST)
Judge’s Comment:
This diptych recalls the glitz and glam of coastal architecture and the tug between city and suburb, coast vs inland, the historical conservatism of Queensland and it's emerging sense of cosmopolitan identity. While Queensland comes 3rd on the podium of economy and population, it shines bright (as does this character) and commands its own space. The work is parodic and earnest at the same time.
Medium: Archival inkjet print
Size: 90 x 180cm
HIGHLY COMMENDED
LINDY SALE
ITHACA CREEK
Judge’s Comment:
This bucolic scene is the stuff of Australian poetry, first-nations heritage and legend. One can almost hear the brook bubbling away in the distance. A calming influence rendered more so by the soft light and invitational journey of the eye down stream.
Medium: oil on canvas
Size: 76 x 76cm
HIGHLY COMMENDED
CAROLYN MCKENZIE- CRAIG
ROADSIDE REMAINS
Judge’s Comment:
There is such melancholy in this work, yet the resurrection of the charred earth into charcoal for artistic representation speaks not only to the resilience of the Australian landscape but of artists in a time when they face continued hardships. The work physically transforms one material (charred earth) to another (charcoal drawing as record), undergoing metamorphoses through the artist's hand lest we forget.
Medium: charcoal dust drawing
Size: 86 x 110cm