Twenty-two of Australia’s most respected contemporary artists, including one artist duo, have been selected to present work in the 2015 Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize at the National Art School Gallery in Sydney from 26 March.
The established artists selected to participate in the 19th annual Prize by Curator Tim Johnson in his second year in the role – himself a respected artist who won the Prize in 1999 – include some of the country’s brightest contemporary art stars.
Two former Australian representatives at the Venice Biennale, Shaun Gladwell (2009) and Hany Armanious (2011) are amongst the artists; along with 2014 Archibald Prize winner Fiona Lowry. Gladwell, who toured to Afghanistan in 2009 as Australia’s official war artist, will present a new work for the Prize with Untitled-Murramarang Planck, 2014.
The 2015 Prize features a strong contingent of respected indigenous artists including Bindi Cole (recently exhibited in the 19th Biennale of Sydney), Jenny Watson and Fiona Foley, who won the 15th annual Redlands Art Prize Prize in 2010 for her photographic work titled Bearing Witness I 2009.
The full list of selected established artists include: Hany Armanious, Marion Borgelt, Sophie Cape, Bindi Cole, Lucas Davidson, Dennis Del Favero, Mikala Dwyer, Maria Fernanda Cardosa, Fiona Foley, Shaun Gladwell, Helga Groves, Claire Healy & Sean Cordiero, Narelle Jubelin, Geoff Kleem, Fiona Lowry, Archie Moore, Rod Moss, Raquel Ormella, Hiromi Tango, Jenny Watson and Joshua Yeldham.
All participating artists submit a single recent work to contend for one of two prizes. The main award for established artists is the Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize, valued at $25,000 and sponsored by Konica Minolta for the third consecutive year. The Emerging Artist Prize is valued at $10,000 and sponsored for the first time in 2015 by the Glenburn Pastoral Company.
“For the 2015 Redlands Konica Minolta art prize I have invited a diverse range of artists, in order to reflect the wide spectrum of art being made here in Australia,” says 2015 guest curator Tim Johnson.
“As an artist myself, I feel artists themselves know what they do best and should have the freedom to participate on their own terms. There is so much exciting and original work around today that finding artists has not been difficult.”
“Interestingly, there are some Australian artists receiving international recognition who still have a fairly low profile here that I’ve sought to include. A lot of the most interesting new work being made is aimed directly at its audience and involves artists confronting, questioning and surprising the viewer.”
The Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize was established in 1996 and has been presented at the National Art School Gallery since 2012. Participating artists have no limitations on their choice of media or subject matter, however the Prize’s unique model requires each selected artist to nominate one emerging contemporary artist to participate in the exhibition. This pairing of established and emerging artists seeks to encourage mentoring relationships between different generations of artists.
The two winning artworks in the established and emerging categories will become part of Redlands School’s permanent art collection, providing a valuable resource for visual arts students and teachers. Over the past two decades Redlands School has built a unique and enviable collection of major works by some of Australia’s most sought after contemporary artists including past winners Vernon Ah Kee (2014), Callum Morton (2013), Ben Quilty (2012), Rodney Pople (2006), Lindy Lee (1998), Gordon Bennett (1997) and Imants Tillers (1996).
The 2015 Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize will be exhibited at Sydney’s National Art School Gallery from 26 March until 23 May 2015. Prize winners will be announced at an opening event at the Gallery on the evening of 25 March 2015. For more information, click here for details.
Image: Shaun Gladwell, Untitled-Murramarang Planck, 2014 (114 x 168 cm)