18/05/2010

45 artists pre-selected for ‘the churchie’ 2010 emerging art award
 

From 675 entries in the churchie national emerging art exhibition, the pre-selection judges chose 49 works as finalists in the 2010 award.

Each of these artworks is in the running for the $15,000 cash prize, donated by Brand + Slater Architects.

The overall winner, to be chosen by ‘the churchie’ 2010 judge - national arts broadcaster, writer and critic, Andrew Frost – will be announced in Brisbane on 11 June.

The pre-selection judging panel comprised two top emerging Australian artists, Madeleine Kelly and Tony Albert, and Director of the Queensland College of Art Gallery, Simon Wright, and they described the quality of entries as “exceptionally high”, with many “hot” names among the 380 artists from across Australia who entered the 2010 award.

All the entrants were vying to be included in the seven-week exhibition of finalists’ artwork to be held at the Queensland College of Art Gallery, South Bank, from 11 June to 1 August.

Of the 45 artists who were successful in pre-selection, nine are from Victoria, three from New South Wales, two from Tasmania and 31 are Queensland artists. Together they create a show brimming with innovation, smarts, energy and wit, according to Simon Wright.

“‘the churchie’ is aimed squarely at the “great under-knowns” of the art world and the 2010 exhibition is a snapshot of 'what's happening out there' with those young at art,” he said.

“There are some really terrific works by artists who are bound to be significant players in years to come and there were interesting responses from young indigenous artists based in remote communities, and several were selected as finalists.

“To be in a position to showcase the emergence of a new generation of Aboriginal artists is such a valuable part of ‘the churchie’ for us.”

Entries range from city-based people like Ryan Presley (whose sculpture of a fox - an introduced species - is a strong comment on the effect of colonisation in a contemporary sense) and Amanda Gabori, whose mother, Sally, is a Mornington Island artist of national repute, to Cheryl Accoom from the Lockhart River community in Far-North Queensland, whose mesmerising canvas is among the pre-selected.

“Both Cheryl and Amanda’s work speaks to family and place, while also revealing something of the training and skills being passed on by senior painters and remote art centres established to nurture and support community efforts and creative endeavours,” explained Simon.

Other works the pre-selection panel highlighted as outstanding included a large, complex work on paper by Melbourne-based artist Kirra Jamison. This 

kaleidoscope of colour depicts two lovers embraced in an old-time dance, saturated by flowers and memento mori. This is part of a major new series of works Kirra has embarked on since winning the prestigious Samstag Scholarship to study art abroad (at Cal Arts, Los Angeles).

Sydney artist, Ida Lawrence will go to Brisbane in June to install her “funny, expression-packed and brave work” titled 'So, do you come here often?' – a huge corner piece made of painted beer coasters.

At the other end of the spectrum is a detached, minimal, cool painting of hues and geometric shards by Melbourne-based painter Bryan Spier, who finished his Master of Visual Arts at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) in 2005.

Two artists had all three of their entries selected as finalists – Brendan McCumstie and Georgina Campbell.

For Northern Rivers (NSW) artist, Brendan McCumstie these included two delightfully strange collages, where old-fashioned modernist principles in art (derived from assemblage and dada-ist humour) meet the future, set in the comforting splendour of a 1950s lounge room and bathroom.

Among a range of works across many mediums, photography is well represented and three images by Georgina Campbell are up for final judging, along with photographic work by Chantal Fraser and Matt Dabrowski, selected on the basis that they shone brightly among the entrants who submitted.

There are strong visual responses to a range of conceptual and narrative-based investigations, with sculpture and three-dimensional works by artists such as Carly Kotynski, Phoebe McDonald, Ann Russell and Katherine Huang.

Video and DVD works also are a strong part of ‘the churchie’ 2010, with screen-based finalists including Alex Cuffe, Andrew DK Forsyth, Kelly Hussey-Smith and Danielle Woolbank, whose clever piece deals with television and cinematic sterotypes of supposedly passive, helpless women who fall in love and become dependent on men for happiness.

According to Simon, a rich vein of humour in a lot of the works, delivered with cool irony in some parts and hysterical frankness in others, is countered throughout the show by quieter, introspective work that draws on the reserves of viewers who might need to spend a little time with the piece in order for it to reveal a truth, semi-truth, or naked lie.

ABOUT THE PRE-SELECTION JUDGES

Madeleine Kelly, a painter and previous winner of 'the churchie', now represented by Milani Gallery in Brisbane, has been a previous exhibitor in the prestigious 'Primavera' young artist project at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, and was recently included in a survey of Queensland contemporary artists titled 'Temperature' at The Museum of Brisbane. She has work in the collections of leading public and private holdings, such as Art Bank, Griffith University and The Paul Eliadis Contemporary Art Collection.

Tony Albert, a young artist whose family originates from the Cardwell area of Far-North Queensland, is represented by Jan Manton Art Dealer in Brisbane. In 2004 he completed a degree in Visual Arts majoring in Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art at Queensland College of Art. Recently he was included in the Havana Biennale (Cuba) and the major Australian contemporary art project, titled 'Optimism' at Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art. Albert was awarded the 2007 Sunshine Coast Art Prize (Queensland) and his work is recognised by institutional collections in Australia, including the National Museum, National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Monash Gallery of Art, Caloundra Regional Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Griffith University and Queensland Art Gallery.

Simon Wright has delivered over 200 exhibition projects across private and museum gallery sectors since 1995. Following a five-year period as Bellas Gallery Manager, he was Exhibitions Officer and then Acting Director at Brisbane City Gallery. He is currently Director of Griffith Artworks and QCA Gallery and a contributor to art journals, magazines and auction house catalogues. In 2004 he received the inaugural Regional Galleries Association of Queensland and Museums Australia [QLD] Gallery and Museum Achievement Award [Individual Category], and an Australia Business Arts Foundation Award in 2006. He joined the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation in 2007, and served as a member of The Commissioner’s Council for Australia at the 53rd Venice Biennale of International Art in 2009.

ABOUT THE JUDGE

Andrew Frost helped co-found The Art Life as a blog in 2004 and has been its editor for more than six years. He has written for a wide variety of international art magazines including Art & Australia, Australian Art Collector, Art Link, Runway, Contemporary, Flash Art and many others. He has also contributed journalism and opinion pieces to The Sydney Morning Herald and book reviews to Spectrum, as well as writing on a huge variety of subjects including (but not restricted to) cooking, gardening, cosmetic surgery, movie star profiles and "strange but true" stories. He is the author of the monograph The Boys, to be published by Currency Press, and the forthcoming Burn to Disc: Contemporary Australian Video Art. His recent television series, The Art Life, began screening on ABC1, from Tuesday, March 17 at 10pm.

KEY DATES FOR ‘the churchie’ 2010

Entries opened:                  1 January 2010

Entries closed:                    31 March 2010

Media & VIP preview:        Thursday 10 June 2010 (6 – 8pm)

Opening night / Announcement of winners:
Friday 11 June 2010 (6 – 8pm)

Exhibition of pre-selected & winning works:

11 June – 1 August 2010
 
Exhibition venue:

Queensland College of Art Gallery
Griffith University, 226 Grey Street, South Bank, Brisbane

Enquiries:
enquiries@churchieemergingart.com

More information:

www.churchieemergingart.com

Media contact:
Nikki Shrimpton / nikki@nscomm.com / 0412 645 547
Simon Wright / s.wright@griffith.edu.au / 0409 325 749