Posted by Jacqui Bonner | 16/04/2014
Full list of finalists for the Gallipoli 2014 Art Prize
MEDIA RELEASE – 7 April 2014
RECORD NUMBER OF ENTRIES FOR 2014 GALLIPOLI ART PRIZE
Winner announced 12pm Wed 23 April, 2014
A record number of entries have been received for this year’s annual $20 000 Gallipoli Art Prize. Judges have selected 37 finalists from a record field of 166 entries, with the winner to be announced two days before Anzac Day at midday on Wednesday 23 April, 2014 at the Gallipoli Memorial Club in Sydney. The finalists’ works will be on exhibition at the Club from 23 April to 4 May (excluding Anzac Day and 30 April).
Artists are asked to submit works that reflect upon the themes expressed in the Gallipoli Club’s ‘creed’ – “We believe that within the community there exists an obligation for all to preserve the special qualities of loyalty, respect, love of country, courage and comradeship which were personified by the heroes of the Gallipoli Campaign and bequeathed to all humanity as a foundation of perpetual peace and universal freedom.” Australian, New Zealand and Turkish artists are invited to interpret the broad themes of the creed as it relates to any armed conflict in which Australia has been involved from 1915 up to the present day. The works do not need to depict warfare.
Now in its ninth year, the Gallipoli Art Prize attracts entries from a broad range of professional and amateur artists. “On the eve of the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign this year’s Gallipoli Art Prize has attracted its largest ever number of entries, including a higher percentage of works by professional artists. This doesn’t mean the professionals are judged more leniently than the amateurs but it suggests the Prize is being taken seriously in art circles,” says Gallipoli Art Prize judge and art critic John McDonald. Last year’s prize was awarded to Melbourne artist Peter Wegner for his painting ‘Dog with Gas Mask’.
This year’s 37 finalist works vary greatly in subject matter and the emotions they evoke – each entry tells a different and often personal story, accompanied by heartfelt commentaries from each artist about their painting. This year’s finalist works include an evocative portrait of a soldier floating above an empty landscape in what painter Glen Preece describes as “a silent and peaceful ascent into heaven”, a portrait of a mine sweeper in modern combat fatigues walking into a barren landscape by Lewis Miller who served as Australian Official Artist in Iraq, and a collaborative work about the Battle of Bitapaka in Papua New Guinea by young students from John Colet Primary School from Sydney’s Northern beaches.
“The theme of the Prize extends beyond the theatre of war to embrace those qualities we like to think of as somehow defining ‘Australian character’. The Gallipoli campaign played a big part in establishing these values. It’s up to the rest of us to ensure they do not degenerate into myths…If the Gallipoli Art Prize has a broader purpose it is to make us reflect deeply on our common humanity and hold fast to those beliefs that show national identity in the best possible light,” says judge John McDonald.
One of the abiding aims of The Gallipoli Art Prize is to put together a collection of works to commemorate the heroes of the Gallipoli campaign and all those who have served and fought during the following century. This spirit extends to the Turkish soldiers who were the Anzacs’ opponents in 1915. The club sponsors a parallel version of this competition every year in Turkey, honouring the ties of friendship that now unite former adversaries. The Club is planning a traveling exhibition of all the Gallipoli Art Prize winning entries in Australia, New Zealand and Turkey for the Gallipoli Centenary in 2015.
This year’s judging panel includes John McDonald (writer and art critic for The Sydney Morning Herald), Jane Watters (Director, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney) and Barry Pearce (former Head Curator of Australian Art, AGNSW).
2014 GALLIPOLI ART PRIZE FINALISTS
Alan Jones Granny and Grandad – 1942
Alison Mackay Battlefields
Amey Bell-Booth Our True Colours: Spring in the Garden of Gallipoli
Benjamin Holgate Penders Park
Ben Tankard Impossible Objective
Daniel Pilipczyk The Ataturk Aniti
Darrell Miller Here Sleep the Brave
Dean Bowen Hospital Ship
Don Braben Goodbye and Good Luck
Fleur MacDonald The Valiant Procession
Geoffrey Jones Miss Ruby Pascoe (1888-1987)
Glen Preece Soldier – flight to heaven
Graeme Drendel The Scout
Greg Warburton Beautiful day at Lone Pine
Hadyn Wilson Gallipoli Patched
Harley Manifold The Veteran
Hugh Ramage R.E. as a Digger
Idris Murphy Gallipoli evening 2013
Jodi Daley Reveille
John Butler The Cove
John Colet School Year Six Students The Battle of Bitapaka, Rabaul, PNG
Kerrie Lester On Her Majesty’s Service
Leo Robba Into the Blue of Day and Night, Gallipoli Memory Locked in Time, 2014
Lewis Miller Mine clearing at Al Faw 2014
Margaret Ackland Fragments
Martin Tighe Return to Sender
Maryanne Wick The Dug-out
Max Berry Reprieve
Monique Auricchio For Gallantry
Peter Gardiner Wreath (Memory)
Peter Smeeth “Bill the Bastard”, Australian War Horse
Philip Meatchem Camelier with Pink Parasol
Rachel Fairfax Lone Pine, Gallipoli
Robyn Sweaney The Avenue 2013
Sherrie Ella Ehrlich “If I should die, think only this of me” – Rupert Brooke 1914
Sue Jarvis “Look down and swear by the slain of the War that you’ll never forget” – Sassoon
Terrance Mahony A Time For Remembrance
FOR FINALISTS GALLERY CLICK THIS LINK
(ENDS)
MEDIA ENQUIRIES: CLARE MCGREGOR PUBLICITY M: 0418 192 524 E: claremcg@bigpond.net.au
General enquiries: Gallipoli Memorial Club secretary John Szetu 02 9235 1533 john@gallipoli.com.au