WINNER

Artist Name: JENNIFER ALLNUTT

Artwork Title: A PAGAN’S PRAYER TO THE MUSES

Medium: Oils on wood panel

Size: 30 x 23cm

About the Artist:

Jennifer Allnutt is a contemporary figurative artist based in Brisbane, Australia. Graduating from the University of South Australia (Honours, 2011) Allnutt has exhibited extensively throughout Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

Jennifer constructs images which straddle the line between realism and illusionism. In her surrealistic portraits she explores the uncanny, the unconscious mind, transformation and identity. Her works often grapple to find a way to visually express feelings and desires that we repress. Finding inspiration in dreams, mythology, personal experiences and conversations; Jennifer creates portraits that operate as carriers for her musings. There is unquestionably a drive in her work to tell a story or weave an ambiguous narrative. This is found by the subtle hints in symbolic objects, clothing, facial expressions or even a small gesture. She uses juxtaposition to consider divisions between the mind/body, man/nature and reality/representation.
She works primarily with oil paints on aluminium and wood panel.

Artist Statement:

Meditating on the idea of inspiration, the transcendent process of art making and the power of these objects at completion; Jenny explores her relationship with artistic practice.
In this work Allnutt references the pagan prayer or invocation to the muses.
The invocation of the heavenly muse at the outset of an artistic endeavour was a commonplace convention of classical poetry. Many poets, including Homer, Virgil and Milton would begin their works with a word of prayer to confess their limited capacity and humble themselves before the divine.
Allnutt draws parallels between the many hours of quiet contemplation when painting, to the confessional and humble prayer, pondering the significance of art.

Judge’s Comment:

Jennifer’s self-portrait A Pagan’s Prayer to the Muses is a vulnerable, delicate painting. The intimate scale forces a closeness with the viewer, revealing both masterful craftsmanship and a mature reflection on one’s own artistry. The influence of Dutch still life is evident in the glistening florals, whose ephemeral beauty mirrors the fleeting nature of artistic inspiration. Eyes gazing upwards, brushes clasped between hands in prayer; the invocation to a greater power to create something meaningful is an experience all artists can relate to. This piece transcends mere self-portraiture, becoming a universal homage to the creative process. Allnutt’s ability to capture this delicate interplay between artist and muse elevates A Pagan’s Prayer to the Muses to a moving exploration of artistic vulnerability and timeless beauty, and is a deserving winner of this year’s Small-Scale Art Award.

Runner Up

Artist Name: LIBBY USHER

Artwork Title: SLEUTH MOUNTAIN

Medium: Ceramic

Size: 38 x 29cm

About the Artist:

Libby Usher is a fourth-generation artist based in Paddington, Brisbane. Her ongoing focus is upon creating ceramic artworks that reveal and celebrate the everyday encounters she has with the creatures that inhabit her world, both real and imagined.

Usher’s intricately constructed figures and scenes continually reference a personal narrative and through her hand-built forms she constructs each new adventure with a sense of play and curiosity. As Usher explains, ‘These works express the deep connection I hold for the small things in life, the stories that emerge when you pause to closely observe what is going on around you, all the wondrous little happenings.’

Her current works continue to explore ‘domestic’ themes with intimate assemblages of figures, animals, and objects. Usher seeks to blur the lines between imagination and reality to create new worlds that are strangely familiar and yet ethereal, works that disclose the spectacle of the ‘ordinary’ and the important connections that exist between the ‘small things’, the self and each other.

Artist Statement:

I am exploring the connection between humans and animals (as divine) both in reality and the dream-world. The innocent and pure bond between us creates a refuge from our everyday fears of separation or abandonment. In this piece the bears manifest as the divine holding me up high on a mountain.