Prized Paintings and other artworks
April 7th 2010 11:33
Sam Leach’s portrait of the wild-haired, bare-foot comedian Tim Minchin shows that size doesn’t matter as long as you can paint real good. Nestled between two massive portraits, this year’s winner of the prestigious Archibald Prize (for Portrait Painting) is impeccable a nose-length away.
I have wanted to go to the Archibald Prize exhibition for a while now, having been subjected to the lure of the wonderful portraits shown on the news, and I finally made it this year. I didn’t know what the Wynne and Sulman Prizes were when I got the ticket, but they were all in the one exhibition, so what the hey – the more the merrier!
As they say, “I don’t know much about art but I know what I like”, and what I liked amongst the finalists, besides Tim Minchin, included the sheen of sweat on boxing champ Danny Green in Peter Kendall’s Underdog; the relaxed smile of Kate Cerberano by Christine O’Hagan; the brilliant tattoos on retired history teacher Geoff Ostling’s skin, that will one day end up at the National Gallery of Australia, in Nick Stathopoulos’ The bequest; and a most beautiful, watercolour self-portrait with peeling skin and an assortment of animals in his head by Khue Nguyen titled Unleashed.
In the Wynne Prize section (for Landscape Painting or Figurative Sculpture), Sam Leach took out this prize as well – adding a tidy $25,000 to the $50,000 Archibald Prize – with another small gem; this one of a reflected landscape called Proposal for landscaped cosmos. I was hard-pressed not to ruffle the fur on the life-like polar bear on a fridge (Rod McRae’s Crying out loud in the age of stupid), or run my fingers across (I didn’t – the man at the gallery was watching me like a hawk) the vertiginous crags and rampant surf of Neil Frazer’s Shore Leave.
Moving onto the Sulman Prize (for Subject, Genre or Mural Painting), winner Michael Lindeman shows how sign writing is really done with Paintings, prints & wall hangings. Other eye-catchers are plummeting, naked people in The doom by Marcus Wills; Peter Daverington’s Escher-esque, pristine black-and-white The temple; and Even Cerberus has become doubtful by Ben Smith, which had me laughing out loud.
And after these 93 pieces, another annual exhibition awaits upstairs. ARTEXPRESS 2010 features the artworks of 2009 NSW HSC students and I highly recommend seeing it as well as they sure give the seasoned artists a run for their money.
Here are the details:
Where: Art Gallery of New South Wales,
Art Gallery Road, The Domain
Opening hours: every day 10am – 5pm
www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au
Archibald, Wynne & Sulman Prizes
When: until 30 May 2010
Cost: $10
www.thearchibaldprize.com.au
ARTEXPRESS 2010
When: until 9 May 2010
Cost: Free
www.insideartexpress.com.au
I have wanted to go to the Archibald Prize exhibition for a while now, having been subjected to the lure of the wonderful portraits shown on the news, and I finally made it this year. I didn’t know what the Wynne and Sulman Prizes were when I got the ticket, but they were all in the one exhibition, so what the hey – the more the merrier!
As they say, “I don’t know much about art but I know what I like”, and what I liked amongst the finalists, besides Tim Minchin, included the sheen of sweat on boxing champ Danny Green in Peter Kendall’s Underdog; the relaxed smile of Kate Cerberano by Christine O’Hagan; the brilliant tattoos on retired history teacher Geoff Ostling’s skin, that will one day end up at the National Gallery of Australia, in Nick Stathopoulos’ The bequest; and a most beautiful, watercolour self-portrait with peeling skin and an assortment of animals in his head by Khue Nguyen titled Unleashed.
In the Wynne Prize section (for Landscape Painting or Figurative Sculpture), Sam Leach took out this prize as well – adding a tidy $25,000 to the $50,000 Archibald Prize – with another small gem; this one of a reflected landscape called Proposal for landscaped cosmos. I was hard-pressed not to ruffle the fur on the life-like polar bear on a fridge (Rod McRae’s Crying out loud in the age of stupid), or run my fingers across (I didn’t – the man at the gallery was watching me like a hawk) the vertiginous crags and rampant surf of Neil Frazer’s Shore Leave.
Moving onto the Sulman Prize (for Subject, Genre or Mural Painting), winner Michael Lindeman shows how sign writing is really done with Paintings, prints & wall hangings. Other eye-catchers are plummeting, naked people in The doom by Marcus Wills; Peter Daverington’s Escher-esque, pristine black-and-white The temple; and Even Cerberus has become doubtful by Ben Smith, which had me laughing out loud.
And after these 93 pieces, another annual exhibition awaits upstairs. ARTEXPRESS 2010 features the artworks of 2009 NSW HSC students and I highly recommend seeing it as well as they sure give the seasoned artists a run for their money.
Here are the details:
Where: Art Gallery of New South Wales,
Art Gallery Road, The Domain
Opening hours: every day 10am – 5pm
www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au
Archibald, Wynne & Sulman Prizes
When: until 30 May 2010
Cost: $10
www.thearchibaldprize.com.au
ARTEXPRESS 2010
When: until 9 May 2010
Cost: Free
www.insideartexpress.com.au
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