Finalist: The Alice Prize
National Contemporary Australian Art Award
“The Alice Prize is an acquisitive national contemporary art prize, welcoming entries from around Australia, in any medium or theme.
Significant among regional art prizes, The Alice Prize contributes to one of the largest regional collections of Australian art, with works by leading artists from across its over 50 year history.
Coordinated by the Alice Springs Art Foundation, The Alice Prize is judged by an expert selection panel and judge of national standing, with national exposure for exhibiting artists and the opportunity to show in Mparntwe/Alice Springs, the cultural heart of Australia.” Courtesy of www.thealiceprize.com
The Devil in the Detail (2023) was one of 63 entries selected as a finalist by expert selection panel included Lucy Stewart, Dallas Gold and Petrit Abazi, from a total of 372 entries.
The exhibition opens on the 22nd March at the Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs. Judge, Dr Daniel Mudie Cunningham, will announce the winner of the Prize.
The Devil in the Detail (2023), Oil on canvas, 183 x 137cm
Detail: The Devil in the Detail (2023), Oil on canvas, 183 x 137cm
Fairytales Draw Along - Dark Theatre
Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art QAGOMA, 27th April, 2024
In conjunction with the QAGOMA Fairytales exhibition - a dramatic drawing workshop led by Dr Bill Platz, participants learn how to use simple materials to create your own weird world in a dark theatre. Delve into the realms of storytelling, layering, and the captivating interplay of shadow and light to bring your drawing to life.
Finalist: The Darling Portrait Prize
National Portrait Gallery
The Darling Portrait Prize is a biennial national prize for Australian portrait painting honouring the legacy of Mr L Gordon Darling AC CMG (1921-2015).
This year the prize will be judged by Bree Pickering, Director, National Portrait Gallery; Erin Vink, Curator First Nations Art (local and global), Art Gallery of New South Wales and Tara Heffernan, Art Historian and Critic. The judges are seeking the most compelling recent Australian portrait painting, whether they honour or push the genre, offer unexpected insights into well-known faces, or centre everyday people to explore the breadth of Australian identity.
All finalist artworks exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery from 22 June to 22 September 2024.
Dom (2024), oil and synthetic polymer on canvas
Launch Event @ National Portrait Gallery, Canberra: image courtesy of The National Portrait Gallery, Canberra ©
STATEMENT
‘Dominique Chen is a proud Gamilaroi woman, practising artist, researcher and lecturer who personifies self-determination. I was compelled to paint Dom in response to her engaging teachings, as well as acknowledging her co-created live installation exhibition, Blak Laundry. Dom teaches us to be bold, brave, informed, and to hold space and listen with our ears and our hearts. She shows us the power of activist art and the way it can connect us to each other. Dom also helps us to learn more about our complicated history of colonisation. This painting celebrates the importance of humble trailblazers and change-makers such as Dom.’
Winner: Behlau Murakami Grant Contemporary Issues Portrait Prize
QCAD Galleries
This Art Prize is awarded to the best portraiture artwork exploring the theme “Pro bono publico” which is usually shortened to “pro bono”. This Latin phrase refers to work undertaken voluntarily and without payment.
Exhibition: 16 - 24th of August, 2024
Debbie (2014), oil on board, 90 x 70cm
STATEMENT
Debbie Kilroy OAM has a phenomenal life story. She experienced significant adversity in her early years and a perilous time in a women’s prison. Despite these hardships and through immeasurable resilience and agency, she proceeded to forge ahead to found Sisters Inside in 1992. This now Internationally recognised organisation advocates for the human rights of women in the criminal justice system.
On meeting Debbie, I was particularly moved by her dual strength and kindness. Debbie and Sisters Inside are worthy of recognition for the critically important and far reaching pro bono support they provide.