tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/wynne-prize-18730/articles
Wynne Prize – The Conversation
2023-05-05T08:10:37Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/204262
2023-05-05T08:10:37Z
2023-05-05T08:10:37Z
As Julia Gutman’s maverick collage wins the Archibald prize, the award is truly in the hands of a new generation
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C4000%2C3676&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Winner Archibald Prize 2023, Julia Gutman, Head in the sky, feet on the ground, oil, found textiles and embroidery on canvas, 198 x 213.6 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter
</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Julia Gutman’s Archibald-winning portrait of the singer Montaigne and Zaachariaha Fielding’s winning entry, Inma, in the Wynne Prize have more in common than their youth – although it is worth noting they both represent a new generation of artists, a changing of the guard at the Art Gallery of NSW’s annual series of art prizes. </p>
<p>These works – with Montaigne as the sitter and Fielding as the painter – capture the culture of music and performance that is at the cutting edge of their generation.</p>
<p>Montaigne, the performing name of singer Jessica Cerro, is a longtime friend of Gutman. Both share an intellectual rigour and a highly personalised approach to their art. </p>
<p>It is fair to say that, until recently, Gutman’s portrait would probably not have been hung, let alone won, the Archibald Prize. </p>
<p>For most of the last century or so, entries were dominated by portraits accurately described as “pale, male and stale”. </p>
<p>The change from men in suits to women in jeans, from academic portraits in oils to a maverick collage, can be charted in the Australian Cultural Data Engine’s handy <a href="https://acd-engine.github.io/archies-analytics/Archies.html#prize-money">Archibald Prize</a> database, which shows the many changes over the years, from the nature of the sitters, the age and genders of the winners, increases of the prize money and even the palette used by the artists. </p>
<p>As J. F. Archibald’s will stipulated that the judges must be Trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW, it also shows the impact of particular trustees on deciding the winners.</p>
<p>When the President of Trustees David Gonski announced this year’s winners, he made a point of noting that particular consideration had been given to the views of the two artist trustees, Tony Albert and Caroline Rothwell. However, as the voting was unanimous, the trustees as a whole have endorsed this expansion of definitions of what a painting may be.</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-think-archie-would-be-pleased-100-years-of-our-most-famous-portrait-prize-and-my-almost-50-years-watching-it-evolve-161575">'I think Archie would be pleased': 100 years of our most famous portrait prize and my almost 50 years watching it evolve</a>
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<h2>Self-contained and vulnerable</h2>
<p>The portrait of Montaigne, Head in the sky, feet on the ground, consciously quotes Egon Schiele’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seated_Woman_with_Bent_Knees">Seated Woman with Bent Knees</a>, a deliberately awkward, edgy composition by the Austrian artist. </p>
<p>The pose shows the artist as both self-contained and vulnerable, hugging one knee to her body, her feet bare and open. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C4000%2C3676&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C4000%2C3676&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524567/original/file-20230505-16043-mxnr1y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Winner Archibald Prize 2023, Julia Gutman, Head in the sky, feet on the ground, oil, found textiles and embroidery on canvas, 198 x 213.6 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.</span>
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<p>Gutman works in a combination of collage and paint, using materials either found or donated, roughly stitching the pieces of cloth together, happily revealing in the process. The modulated tones of the feet come from a combination of hessian and patches of gold cloth; a rainbow stripe helps define her top, a sleeve comes from the apron Gutman wore while teaching art to small children. </p>
<p>There is a delightful ambiguity in the landscape in which Montaigne is seated. The collage moves into paint, but the paint has been scratched so from a distance it looks as though it, too, is collage. </p>
<p>The painted trickery does not end here. Behind the figure a stitched in translucent panel reveals the struts supporting the painting’s stretcher: simultaneously revealing and concealing.</p>
<p>Including actual paint is a wise move as the Archibald has a history of <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/art-case-thrown-out-20060614-gdnr41.html">discontented artists</a> rushing off to the Supreme Court to contest the trustees decisions.</p>
<h2>Painting the music</h2>
<p>I first heard Montaigne’s distinctive soprano voice at a performance at the Giant Dwarf theatre in 2020, just after it was announced she would represent Australia at the Eurovision song contest, only days before the world locked down for COVID – and Eurovision was postponed for a year.</p>
<p>The same world-changing event took Zaachariaha Fielding away from performing music in the duo Electric Fields, to making art in his home country of Mimili in the APY lands in remote South Australia. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524568/original/file-20230505-17-qxlqc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524568/original/file-20230505-17-qxlqc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524568/original/file-20230505-17-qxlqc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524568/original/file-20230505-17-qxlqc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524568/original/file-20230505-17-qxlqc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524568/original/file-20230505-17-qxlqc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524568/original/file-20230505-17-qxlqc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524568/original/file-20230505-17-qxlqc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Winner Wynne Prize 2023, Zaachariaha Fielding, Inma, acrylic on linen, 306.2 x 198.5 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.</span>
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<p>Inma, which was awarded the Wynne Prize, is a visual celebration of the music he feels in the song and dance of this place of his childhood. Its limited palette emphasises the linear patterns and the music-like rhythm on the painted surface. </p>
<p>In his acceptance speech, which began with an attempt to have the waiting media throng respond to his song, Fielding paid tribute to the community arts workers of Mimili. He then led them in the song that is described in his gloriously complex and rhythmic painting.</p>
<p>Yet his was not the most surprising speech at the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prize announcements. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524569/original/file-20230505-25-axhsvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524569/original/file-20230505-25-axhsvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524569/original/file-20230505-25-axhsvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524569/original/file-20230505-25-axhsvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524569/original/file-20230505-25-axhsvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524569/original/file-20230505-25-axhsvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524569/original/file-20230505-25-axhsvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524569/original/file-20230505-25-axhsvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Winner Sulman Prize 2023, Doris Bush Nungarrayi, Mamunya ngalyananyi (Monster coming), acrylic on linen, 198 x 273.5 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.</span>
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<p>That honour goes to Doris Bush Nungarrayi, the senior Luritja artist who was awarded the Sulman Prize for her painting Mamunya ngalyananyi (Monster coming) – a painting showing Mamu, the shapeshifting malevolent spirits that haunt the Anangu. </p>
<p>Her acceptance speech, all in language, was a passionate celebration of her victory, but also a recollection of her mother’s country and the deprivations that she and her people have suffered.</p>
<p>As a new generation wins the Archibald and Wynne Prizes, tradition is reinterpreted in the Sulman.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-joyous-celebration-to-the-depths-of-grief-the-new-orthodoxy-of-the-archibald-prize-is-there-is-no-orthodoxy-204261">From joyous celebration to the depths of grief: the new orthodoxy of the Archibald prize is there is no orthodoxy</a>
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<p><em>Correction: this article misstated the name of the Giant Dwarf. This has been corrected.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204262/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Mendelssohn’s research includes the ACD Engine and has received funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>
This year’s Archibald and Wynne Prize winners show that a new generation of artists have now entered the mainstream.
Joanna Mendelssohn, Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/204261
2023-04-28T02:37:00Z
2023-04-28T02:37:00Z
From joyous celebration to the depths of grief: the new orthodoxy of the Archibald prize is there is no orthodoxy
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523360/original/file-20230428-16-feaoqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C11%2C3982%2C2928&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Archibald Prize 2023 finalist, Jill Ansell, Looking east, oil on board and assemblage in found tin, 10.8 x 16.5 cm </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>About 50 years ago an unknown artist entered a portrait of the artist Russell Drysdale in the Archibald Prize. They had painted the artist as a craggy head, emerging from the landscape. The gallery trustees, who knew Drysdale well, loved it – but it was never hung. In their collective opinion the Archibald Prize was a serious art competition. Its subject should never be mocked, even with affection.</p>
<p>How times have changed. The current generation of trustees still take the prize seriously, but not only as an exhibition. The prize has evolved to being an annual snapshot of Australia. It shows a selection of the personalities who are valued both by the artists who paint them and the trustees who select the lucky few to be on view (it is worth noting that while 57 works have been hung, 949 were entered). </p>
<p>This year the exhibition reveals a colourful display of a multitude of styles and subjects. The new orthodoxy is that there is no orthodoxy. There is a similar inclusive sensibility on display in the Wynne Prize for landscape painting or figurative sculpture, and the Sulman Prize for best subject painting, genre painting or mural project exhibitions, although these works tend to be overlooked in the annual festival of art.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-think-archie-would-be-pleased-100-years-of-our-most-famous-portrait-prize-and-my-almost-50-years-watching-it-evolve-161575">'I think Archie would be pleased': 100 years of our most famous portrait prize and my almost 50 years watching it evolve</a>
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<h2>The trifecta</h2>
<p>Perhaps the work that best encapsulates 2023’s Archibald is Kaylene Whiskey’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2023/30560/">Cooking my famous Indulkana soup</a>, a joyous celebration of raw ingredients, pop culture and Aboriginal heritage. It rightly hangs in a prominent position, opposite the podium where the final judgement will be announced. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523345/original/file-20230427-28-hy8bzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523345/original/file-20230427-28-hy8bzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523345/original/file-20230427-28-hy8bzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523345/original/file-20230427-28-hy8bzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523345/original/file-20230427-28-hy8bzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523345/original/file-20230427-28-hy8bzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523345/original/file-20230427-28-hy8bzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523345/original/file-20230427-28-hy8bzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Archibald Prize 2023 finalist, Kaylene Whiskey, Cooking my famous Indulkana soup, acrylic on linen, 152.3 x 122 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.</span>
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<p>Whiskey is also exhibiting <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/sulman/2023/30627/">Come see Kaylene</a> in the Sulman Prize, a reworked Northern Territory tourism poster from the days when TAA flew “the friendly way”. Those who have come to see her include good friends Wonder Woman and Dolly Parton. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523353/original/file-20230427-223-yfo67o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523353/original/file-20230427-223-yfo67o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523353/original/file-20230427-223-yfo67o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523353/original/file-20230427-223-yfo67o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523353/original/file-20230427-223-yfo67o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523353/original/file-20230427-223-yfo67o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1214&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523353/original/file-20230427-223-yfo67o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1214&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523353/original/file-20230427-223-yfo67o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1214&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Sulman Prize 2023 finalist, Kaylene Whiskey, Come see Kaylene, acrylic on found poster, 96 x 59 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.</span>
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<p>Jason Phu has managed the trifecta this year, with entries hung in all three competitions. His Archibald portrait of William Yang, <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2023/30545/">cameras are the best, cameras are the worst</a>, implies Yang’s trademark low-key inscrutability. </p>
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<span class="caption">Archibald Prize 2023 finalist, Jason Phu, cameras are the best, cameras are the worst, acrylic on canvas, 153 x 137 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.</span>
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<p>In all three of Phu’s paintings thin paint runs down the surface, making it look as though we are seeing the images through wet glass. </p>
<p>This is most disconcerting in his Wynne entry, <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2023/30595/">EVERYTHING STINKS UNDER A STINKING HOT SUN, EVERYTHING GROWS UNDER A SEXY SEXY SUMMER SUN (after a pile of dead rats on a lovely flower bed in the rocks)</a>, based on memories of an incident when he was a “dish pig” in a tourist restaurant in The Rocks.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523350/original/file-20230427-16-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523350/original/file-20230427-16-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523350/original/file-20230427-16-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=643&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523350/original/file-20230427-16-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=643&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523350/original/file-20230427-16-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=643&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523350/original/file-20230427-16-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523350/original/file-20230427-16-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523350/original/file-20230427-16-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Wynne Prize 2023 finalist, Jason Phu EVERYTHING STINKS UNDER A STINKING HOT SUN, EVERYTHING GROWS UNDER A SEXY SEXY SUMMER SUN (after a pile of dead rats on a lovely flower bed in the rocks), acrylic on canvas, 213.5 x 198.3 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.</span>
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</figure>
<p>I suspect the Trustees will find it hard to judge this year’s Wynne as there are many very strong entries, including sculptures. </p>
<p>Billy Bain’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2023/30567/">Blak Excellence</a> is a light-hearted collection of five Aboriginal sports people, all of whom are both stars in their field, all of whom have helped change some negative stereotypes some would impose on Aboriginal Australians. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523351/original/file-20230427-22-f3azca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523351/original/file-20230427-22-f3azca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523351/original/file-20230427-22-f3azca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=263&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523351/original/file-20230427-22-f3azca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=263&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523351/original/file-20230427-22-f3azca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=263&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523351/original/file-20230427-22-f3azca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523351/original/file-20230427-22-f3azca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523351/original/file-20230427-22-f3azca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wynne Prize 2023 finalist, Billy Bain, Blak excellence, ceramic with underglaze, glaze and enamel, dimensions variable © the artist, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Probably the most beautiful of the sculptural entries is Pippin Drysdale’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2023/30576/">Wolfe Creek Crater Installation</a>, consisting of 17 individual porcelain pieces. However the most memorable is James Powditch’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2023/30596/">The Wynne Club Championship</a>, a mock honour board for the previous winners of the grand old prize.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523352/original/file-20230427-24-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523352/original/file-20230427-24-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523352/original/file-20230427-24-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523352/original/file-20230427-24-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523352/original/file-20230427-24-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523352/original/file-20230427-24-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523352/original/file-20230427-24-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523352/original/file-20230427-24-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wynne Prize 2023 finalist, James Powditch, The Wynne Club Championship, oil, acrylic and pen on board, found objects, 180 x 316 cm © the artist, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Life is short, art is long</h2>
<p>But the Archibald remains the main game. </p>
<p>When trying to assess this year’s exhibition I keep on thinking of Sydney’s Royal Easter Show. It is enormously popular with the general public for it sideshows and baby animals, magnificent displays of agricultural produce, fairy floss and CWA scones. But at its heart there is the very serious purpose of competition – from fine wool sheep and beef cattle to dogs and poultry. The day trippers enjoy the spectacle but the competitors mean business. And so it is with the Archibald. </p>
<p>When the packing room judges gave the amuse bouche of the Packing Room Prize to Andrea Huelin, they set a high bar for those judging the main event. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523347/original/file-20230427-22-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523347/original/file-20230427-22-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523347/original/file-20230427-22-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523347/original/file-20230427-22-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523347/original/file-20230427-22-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523347/original/file-20230427-22-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523347/original/file-20230427-22-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523347/original/file-20230427-22-kdf4gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Packing Room Prize 2023 winner, Andrea Huelin, Clown jewels, oil on board, 120.2 x 120.1 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the past it would be fair to describe the gallery’s packing crew as “good old boys”: the early winners were, more often than not, paintings otherwise destined for the reject pile. </p>
<p>This year’s winning portrait, <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2023/30536/">Clown Jewels</a>, is a credible finalist. It sits well with academic portraits by <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2023/30555/">Judith Sinnamon</a>, <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2023/30532/">Tsering Hannaford</a> and <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2023/30509/">Marie Mansfield</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523354/original/file-20230427-18-17qtn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523354/original/file-20230427-18-17qtn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523354/original/file-20230427-18-17qtn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523354/original/file-20230427-18-17qtn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523354/original/file-20230427-18-17qtn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523354/original/file-20230427-18-17qtn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523354/original/file-20230427-18-17qtn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523354/original/file-20230427-18-17qtn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Archibald Prize 2023 finalist, Emily Crockford, Jeff’s pink daisy eyelash clash, acrylic on canvas, 101.7 x 76.7 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The exhibition is enlivened by Ryan Presley’s whimsical but tough <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2023/30547/">Blood money – infinite dollar note – Aunty Regina Pilawuk Wilson</a>, the sheer energy of Emily Crockford’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2023/30524/">Jeff’s pink daisy eyelash clash</a> and Abdul Abdullah’s playful <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2023/30513/">Self-portrait after MD 2</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523348/original/file-20230427-14-27pgvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523348/original/file-20230427-14-27pgvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523348/original/file-20230427-14-27pgvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523348/original/file-20230427-14-27pgvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523348/original/file-20230427-14-27pgvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523348/original/file-20230427-14-27pgvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523348/original/file-20230427-14-27pgvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523348/original/file-20230427-14-27pgvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Archibald Prize 2023 finalist, Abdul Abdullah, Self-portrait after MD 2, oil on linen, 40.7 x 51.5 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the painting that haunts me, that I cannot forget, is Danie Mellor’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2023/30541/">A portrait of intimacy</a>. The subject is Gene Sherman, whose husband Brian died less than a year ago. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523349/original/file-20230427-24-w4jxre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523349/original/file-20230427-24-w4jxre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523349/original/file-20230427-24-w4jxre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523349/original/file-20230427-24-w4jxre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523349/original/file-20230427-24-w4jxre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523349/original/file-20230427-24-w4jxre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1164&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523349/original/file-20230427-24-w4jxre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1164&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523349/original/file-20230427-24-w4jxre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1164&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Archibald Prize 2023 finalist, Danie Mellor, A portrait of intimacy, acrylic on board with gesso and iridescent wash, 93 x 60 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>She sits in profile, her face controlled in grief, staring ahead, focusing on infinity, eyes protected by her tinted glasses, hands gripping the arm of the chair. Sherman’s pose echoes a translucent background image of Alesso Baldovinetti’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_a_Lady_in_Yellow">Portrait of a Lady in Yellow</a>. </p>
<p>Life is short, art is long, and will outlive us all.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/judging-the-archibald-the-rules-of-the-game-6159">Judging the Archibald: the rules of the game</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204261/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Mendelssohn has in the past received funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p>
The Archibald Prize and the Royal Easter Show have a great deal in common. Both are enjoyed by the general public, but the entrants in the competitions are very serious about winning.
Joanna Mendelssohn, Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/203677
2023-04-13T04:57:22Z
2023-04-13T04:57:22Z
From radical to reactionary: the achievements and legacy of the influential artist John Olsen
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520668/original/file-20230413-22-xqt8zb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=68%2C2%2C1928%2C994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library NSW</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>After media outlets breathlessly described the late John Olsen as a “<a href="https://fb.watch/jSdCoR-2GN/">genius</a>”, I found myself humming The Chasers’ <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXHleozgQ18">Eulogy Song</a>. </p>
<p>This is perhaps a bit unfair, but the hyperbole surrounding Olsen’s death seems to have crowded out any assessment of his real and lasting achievements as an artist. There is a danger here. </p>
<p>Hyperbole invites a reaction, which is not always kind. It is still hard to have a dispassionate discussion on the merits (and otherwise) of <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/from-the-archives-1969-norman-lindsay-dies-20191112-p539sa.html">Norman Lindsay</a>, an artist often called a genius in his lifetime.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520669/original/file-20230413-2318-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520669/original/file-20230413-2318-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520669/original/file-20230413-2318-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520669/original/file-20230413-2318-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520669/original/file-20230413-2318-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520669/original/file-20230413-2318-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520669/original/file-20230413-2318-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520669/original/file-20230413-2318-1i8t9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Portrait of John Olsen painting Love in the kitchen (now in a private collection) at Dunmoochin, Victoria in 1969, by Robert Walker © Estate of Robert Walker.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of New South Wales Archive</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>John Olsen and Australian art</h2>
<p>To understand Olsen, and his importance to Australian art, it is important to give some context. He emerged from that generation of Australians whose childhood was coloured by the deprivations of the second world war, and whose adolescent experience was of an expanding, changing Australia. </p>
<p>War meant that he finished school as a boarder at St Josephs Hunters Hill, while his father fought in the Middle East and New Guinea and his mother and sister moved to Yass in rural New South Wales.</p>
<p>His ability to draw meant that he escaped the tedium of a clerical job by becoming a freelance cartoonist while moving between a number of different art schools, including Julian Ashtons, Dattilo Rubio, East Sydney Tech and <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/orban-desiderius-dezso-14658">Desiderius Orban</a>’s studio. As with other young artists of his generation, he was especially influenced by the experimental approach and intellectual rigour of <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/passmore-john-richard-15023">John Passmore</a>.</p>
<p>He found visual stimulation in <a href="https://www.carlplate.com/">Carl Plate</a>’s Notanda Gallery in Rowe Street, a rare source of information on modern art at the time. Rowe Street was the creative hub for many artists, writers and serious drinkers who later became known as “The Push”. The informal exposure to new ideas on art, literature, food, wine and great conversation was more effective than a university. He learned about Kandinsky, Klee, the beauty of a wandering line, the poetry of Dylan Thomas and T.S. Eliot.</p>
<p>Olsen’s first media exposure was as the spokesman for art students protesting at the rigid conservatism of the trustees judging the <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18514782?searchTerm=John%20Olsen%20art%20student%20National%20Art%20Gallery">Archibald Prize</a>. There were no complaints about the Wynne Prize, which had exhibited his work.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520670/original/file-20230413-303-tp3jz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520670/original/file-20230413-303-tp3jz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520670/original/file-20230413-303-tp3jz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520670/original/file-20230413-303-tp3jz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520670/original/file-20230413-303-tp3jz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520670/original/file-20230413-303-tp3jz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520670/original/file-20230413-303-tp3jz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520670/original/file-20230413-303-tp3jz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Olsen. A road to Clarendon - autumn. Winner of the Wynne Prize 1985.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The ‘first’ Australian exhibition of Abstract Expressionism</h2>
<p>The friendship between Olsen and fellow artists William Rose, Robert Klippel, Eric Smith and their mentor John Passmore, led to the exhibition <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/ARC409.1.147/">Direction 1</a> in December 1956. </p>
<p>An art critic’s over enthusiasm led to it being proclaimed as the first Australian exhibition of Abstract Expressionism, and its artists as pioneers of modern art. As a consequence, Robert Shaw, a private collector, paid for Olsen to travel and study in Europe. This was a transformational gift, coming at a time before Australia Council Grants, when travel was expensive.</p>
<p>He travelled first to Paris, then Spain where he based himself in Majorca and supported himself by working as an apprentice chef. The fluid approach to learning he had acquired in Sydney was enhanced in Spain. He saw, and appreciated the <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/t/tachisme">Tachiste</a> artists, but took his own path, remembering always Paul Klee’s dictum that a drawing is “taking a line for a walk”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520671/original/file-20230413-26-pxkw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520671/original/file-20230413-26-pxkw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520671/original/file-20230413-26-pxkw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520671/original/file-20230413-26-pxkw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520671/original/file-20230413-26-pxkw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520671/original/file-20230413-26-pxkw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520671/original/file-20230413-26-pxkw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520671/original/file-20230413-26-pxkw7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Olsen. Australia, England, Spain, Portugal. 1960.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That Spanish experience was distilled in the exuberant works he painted after his return to Sydney in 1960. <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/OA29.1960.a-c/">Spanish Encounter</a> paid tribute to the impact of this culture that continued to intrigue him, its energy and its apparent irrationality. </p>
<p>But he also found himself enjoying the “honest vulgarity” he found in the Australian ethos, leading to a series of paintings which incorporated the words <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/6124/">you beaut country</a> in their title. Olsen’s confident paintings of the 1960s easily place him as the most influential Australian artist of that decade. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520674/original/file-20230413-2227-utej5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520674/original/file-20230413-2227-utej5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520674/original/file-20230413-2227-utej5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520674/original/file-20230413-2227-utej5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520674/original/file-20230413-2227-utej5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520674/original/file-20230413-2227-utej5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520674/original/file-20230413-2227-utej5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520674/original/file-20230413-2227-utej5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Olsen. Summer in the you beaut country. 1962.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery Victoris</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Five Bells and landscape</h2>
<p>In 1972, Olsen was commissioned to paint a giant mural for the foyer of the concert hall at the Sydney Opera House. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/archived/booksandarts/my-salute-to-five-bells:-john-olsen/6721222">Salute to Five Bells</a> takes its name from Kenneth Slessor’s poem of death on the Harbour, but is more about elements of subterranean harbour life. </p>
<p>The heroic scale of the work meant that he worked with a number of assistants to paint the dominant blue ground. When the mural was unveiled in 1973, it received a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/archived/booksandarts/my-salute-to-five-bells:-john-olsen/6721222">mixed response</a>. It was too muted in tone to cope with the Opera House lighting, too sparse in content, too decorative.</p>
<p>In the following years, Olsen turned towards painting the Australian landscape and the creatures that inhabited it. In 1974, he visited Lake Eyre as the once dry giant salt lake flooded to fill with abundant life. He made paintings, drawings and prints of the abundance – both intimate views and overviews from flying over. Lake Eyre and its environs was to be a recurring motif in the art of his later years.</p>
<p>While these works were commercially successful, and many were acquired by public galleries, Olsen was no longer seen as being in the avant garde. He was, however, very much a part of the art establishment and his art was widely collected.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520677/original/file-20230413-2532-3zn38v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520677/original/file-20230413-2532-3zn38v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520677/original/file-20230413-2532-3zn38v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520677/original/file-20230413-2532-3zn38v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520677/original/file-20230413-2532-3zn38v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520677/original/file-20230413-2532-3zn38v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=732&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520677/original/file-20230413-2532-3zn38v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=732&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520677/original/file-20230413-2532-3zn38v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=732&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Olsen. Five bells. 1963.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A man of his generation</h2>
<p>The aerial perspective of many of his later decorative paintings could seem to have echoes of Aboriginal art. Indeed, when the young <a href="https://abdulabdullah.com/home.html">Abdul Abdullah</a> first saw Olsen’s paintings in 2009 he at first assumed Olsen was an Aboriginal artist. </p>
<p>It was therefore a surprise to many when in 2017 Olsen mounted a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/john-olsen-says-archibald-prize-win-is-the-worst-decision-ive-ever-seen-20170728-gxl4ze.html">trenchant attack</a> on the Wynne Prize after it was awarded to Betty Kunitiwa Pumani for Antara, a painting of her mother’s country.</p>
<p>Despite some visual similarities to his own approach to landscape he claimed her painting existed in “a cloud cuckoo land”. In the same interview, he attacked Mitch Cairns’ Archibald-winning portrait of his wife, Agatha Gothe-Snape, as “just so bad”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-gum-trees-to-cities-to-sweeping-deserts-how-125-years-of-the-wynne-prize-traces-australias-shifting-relationship-to-our-landscape-179764">From gum trees to cities to sweeping deserts: how 125 years of the Wynne Prize traces Australia's shifting relationship to our landscape</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>While it is not unusual for the radical young to become enthusiastic reactionaries in prosperous old age, there was a particular lack of grace in Olsen’s response to artists who were not a part of his social circle or cultural background. He was in this very much a man of his generation, with attitudes and prejudices that reflect the years of his youth. </p>
<p>Looking at Olsen’s paintings of the 1950s and ‘60s is a reminder that there was a time in Australia when brash young men could prove their intellectual credentials by quoting Dylan Thomas while making a glorious multi-coloured paella in paint.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203677/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Mendelssohn has in the past received funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p>
Some of the media response to the death of John Olsen has been to proclaim the late artist as a ‘genius’. He was more complex than that.
Joanna Mendelssohn, Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/179771
2022-05-13T05:37:58Z
2022-05-13T05:37:58Z
‘I can’t think of a more timely painting’: Blak Douglas’s Moby Dickens is a deserving winner of the 2022 Archibald Prize
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462944/original/file-20220513-14-jejm0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C10%2C2371%2C3631&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Winner Archibald Prize 2022, Blak Douglas Moby Dickens, synthetic polymer paint on linen, 300 x 200 cm </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist, image © AGNSW, Mim Stirling</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2020, the year Vincent Namatjira was awarded the Archibald for his <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2020/30235/">double portrait with Adam Goodes</a>, I was also impressed by the painting hanging next to it, Blak Douglas’ (aka Adam Hill) <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2020/30215/">Writing in the Sand</a>. It was both passionately political and visually very clever, incorporating the speech that the 12-year-old Dujuan Hoosan gave to the United Nations. </p>
<p>One of the many unwritten rules of the Archibald is that the winner is often an artist who has exhibited an outstanding (non-winning) work in previous years. </p>
<p>But this year, Blak Douglas’s winning portrait is the standout entry, head and shoulders above the rest. </p>
<p>It is not just the subject that makes it significant and topical, although that helps. Karla Dickens, a Wiradjuri woman, lives in Bundjalung Country in northern New South Wales. </p>
<p>When the prize was announced, Dickens described herself as “a grumpy white sperm whale in muddy water ready to rip the leg off any fool with a harpoon who comes too close”. </p>
<p>The people of Lismore and surrounding districts have every reason to be enraged at the politicians who come with platitudes instead of help. The people are left to wade through muddy waters with leaky buckets. Dickens herself harboured three homeless families in the immediate aftermath of the floods.</p>
<p>Douglas has painted Dickens standing under a dark grey sky patterned with 14 stylised clouds, symbolising the 14 days of continuous rain that brought the floods. </p>
<p>Douglas’s style owes a great deal to commercial art. The subject is outlined in black for emphasis, even the mud forms a pattern. Dickens stands full frontal, scowling at the viewer, uncompromising in her anger at the folly that has led to this mass destruction. Her feet are concealed by mud, the kind of sludge that still fills and stinks the houses as people try to survive. </p>
<p>I can’t think of a more timely painting, as it so effectively encapsulates the current mood of the country.</p>
<p>In his acceptance speech, Blak Douglas noted he has spent “20 years of taking a risk” before he stood on the winners podium with a prize of $100,000. He reminded the gathering of media and patrons that, especially in recent years, the lives of artists are both hard and uncertain. Not all are winners.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-archibald-2022-finalists-sitters-speaking-up-to-power-artists-speaking-back-to-the-canon-179770">The Archibald 2022 finalists: sitters speaking up to power; artists speaking back to the canon</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The Wynne Prize</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462945/original/file-20220513-3750-onvo9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462945/original/file-20220513-3750-onvo9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462945/original/file-20220513-3750-onvo9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462945/original/file-20220513-3750-onvo9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462945/original/file-20220513-3750-onvo9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462945/original/file-20220513-3750-onvo9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462945/original/file-20220513-3750-onvo9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462945/original/file-20220513-3750-onvo9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Winner Wynne Prize 2022, Nicholas Harding Eora, oil on linen, 196.5 x 374.8 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist, image © AGNSW, Mim Stirling</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nicholas Harding, who has been awarded the Wynne Prize is not an Indigenous artist, but his painting, Eora, also references Australia’s Aboriginal heritage. </p>
<p>The subject is based on the Narrabeen Lakes walk, north of Sydney. It is one of the largest works exhibited. Harding’s characteristic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impasto">impastoed</a> surface evokes the lush vegetation of the land before the colonists came to fell the trees and kill the ferns.</p>
<p>Interestingly the painting was not painted for the prize but as a commission for two private collectors who are long-term admirers. Harding is a nine time finalist in the Wynne, and says the decision to enter was “a last minute thing”. </p>
<p>His hesitation is understandable as every year, even being hung can be a bit of a lottery.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-gum-trees-to-cities-to-sweeping-deserts-how-125-years-of-the-wynne-prize-traces-australias-shifting-relationship-to-our-landscape-179764">From gum trees to cities to sweeping deserts: how 125 years of the Wynne Prize traces Australia's shifting relationship to our landscape</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The Sulman Prize</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462946/original/file-20220513-3750-cfaigb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462946/original/file-20220513-3750-cfaigb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462946/original/file-20220513-3750-cfaigb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462946/original/file-20220513-3750-cfaigb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462946/original/file-20220513-3750-cfaigb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462946/original/file-20220513-3750-cfaigb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462946/original/file-20220513-3750-cfaigb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462946/original/file-20220513-3750-cfaigb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Winner Sulman Prize 2022, Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro Raiko and Shuten-dōji, acrylic gouache, jute and tape on helicopter shell, 159.5 x 120 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist, image © AGNSW, Mim Stirling</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Archibald and the Wynne are judged by the Trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW. Not so the Sulman Prize, which was established as a bequest of Sir John Sulman – one of the Gallery’s most conservative trustees. The brief is for a “subject or genre painting”, but over the years that distinction has become meaningless. </p>
<p>Because it is judged by a different person every year, its outcome is less predictable. </p>
<p>It is worth noting that this year, 69% of the Sulman entries were by artists who had never before been hung. This is in marked contrast to the Archibald (27%) and Wynne (50%) finalists. </p>
<p>As is common practice this year’s judge, Joan Ross, was a previous winner and is also an Archibald finalist. </p>
<p>The winner is unusually a duo – Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro – who formed their artistic collaboration when they were undergraduate students. Over the last 20 years they have created installations both large and small, including at the Venice Biennale.</p>
<p>Raiko and Shuten-doji is painted on a piece of an army surplus helicopter, so that the Japanese legend of the warrior Raiko and the demon Shute-doji can be viewed through the lens of military conflict. But then they turn it back into a kite: a playful thing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179771/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Mendelssohn has received funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p>
This year’s winning Archibald Prize portrait, Moby Dickens by Blak Douglas, encapsulates the justifiable rage felt by people living in flooded Bundjalung country
Joanna Mendelssohn, Principal Fellow (Hon), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/179764
2022-05-12T20:00:22Z
2022-05-12T20:00:22Z
From gum trees to cities to sweeping deserts: how 125 years of the Wynne Prize traces Australia’s shifting relationship to our landscape
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459654/original/file-20220426-26-iz63jk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4993%2C3615&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Elioth Gruner (1882–1939), Spring Frost, 1919. Oil on canvas
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of New South Wales </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is fair to say that Richard Wynne, who died in 1895, would not recognise many recent entries in the art prize that he endowed with £1,000 to reward a “landscape painting of Australian scenery”. </p>
<p>Since 1999, when Gloria Tamerre Petyarre was awarded the Wynne Prize for her magical sequence of <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/1999/21225/">Leaves</a>, the Wynne has been dominated by works by Indigenous artists living in communities in central and northern Australia. </p>
<p>Rather than inhibiting artists from different traditions, the presence of such superb art appears to have inspired non-Indigenous artists to also be their best. It is therefore well worth a visit to see the full range of entries in the Art Gallery of NSW’s annual festival of prizes.</p>
<p>Not all appreciate this liberation of landscape. In 2017, the veteran Australian artist John Olsen <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/john-olsen-says-archibald-prize-win-is-the-worst-decision-ive-ever-seen-20170728-gxl4ze.html">attacked</a> the awarding of the Wynne Prize to Betty Kuntiwa Pumani for <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2021/30364/">Antara</a>, a painting of her mother’s Country. </p>
<p>He claimed the “real” Australian landscape tradition was represented by artists such as <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/gruner-elioth/">Elioth Gruner</a> and <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/whiteley-brett/">Brett Whiteley</a>, while Pumani’s painting was of “a cloud cuckoo land”. </p>
<p>From memory this may have been the year that the gallery changed the design of the exhibition spaces so that the most exciting Wynne entries – almost all by Indigenous artists – filled the large central court.</p>
<p>As a young man in the 1950s, <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/248880479?searchTerm=Art%20students%20protest%20Archibald%20Prize">Olsen had demonstrated</a> against the reactionary conservatism of the Trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW; in his old age he objected to their openness to new ideas. </p>
<p>Both Olsen’s pomposity and the dreariness of an Australian landscape tradition that colonises the land was mocked by Abdul Abdullah in his painting <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2019/30070/">A Terrible Burden</a>, a Wynne finalist in 2019. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459244/original/file-20220422-18-jv9qcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459244/original/file-20220422-18-jv9qcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459244/original/file-20220422-18-jv9qcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459244/original/file-20220422-18-jv9qcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459244/original/file-20220422-18-jv9qcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459244/original/file-20220422-18-jv9qcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459244/original/file-20220422-18-jv9qcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459244/original/file-20220422-18-jv9qcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Abdul Abdullah, A terrible burden (2019). Oil on linen. 180 x 240.5 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of the Artist and Yavuz Gallery’</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Abdullah has expressed surprise at Olsen’s strident defence of the conservative tradition of Australian landscape as his own paintings are so abstract, although he tells me “his cultural contribution doesn’t hold a flame to Ken Done, who is very good at painting ‘place’.” </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-think-archie-would-be-pleased-100-years-of-our-most-famous-portrait-prize-and-my-almost-50-years-watching-it-evolve-161575">'I think Archie would be pleased': 100 years of our most famous portrait prize and my almost 50 years watching it evolve</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Origins of the prize</h2>
<p>As with its more famous partner competition, the Archibald Prize, the Wynne is not quite what its benefactor envisaged. </p>
<p>Richard Wynne’s will originally designated the Art Society of NSW as the body to administer the prize, not the Art Gallery of NSW. In 1895, shortly after Wynne’s death, the Art Society experienced an acrimonious split when a number of artists led by <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/roberts-tom/">Tom Roberts</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Ashton">Julian Ashton</a> established a rival body, The Society of Artists. </p>
<p>By the time the prize was first awarded in 1897 the executors, Perpetual Trustees, decided it was more prudent to have it administered by the Art Gallery than a group of squabbling artists.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458503/original/file-20220419-144614-5wo0gn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An oil painting. Gum trees lean in the wind." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458503/original/file-20220419-144614-5wo0gn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458503/original/file-20220419-144614-5wo0gn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458503/original/file-20220419-144614-5wo0gn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458503/original/file-20220419-144614-5wo0gn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458503/original/file-20220419-144614-5wo0gn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458503/original/file-20220419-144614-5wo0gn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458503/original/file-20220419-144614-5wo0gn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The winner of the first Wynne Prize in 1897. Walter Withers, The Storm, 1896.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of New South Wales</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The tensions between artists is perhaps one reason why for many years there was no formal exhibition of entries. <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/1897/">Walter Withers</a> was awarded the first prize in 1897 for a painting that had already been bought by the Art Gallery. As he wrote <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/9783645?searchTerm=Wynne%20Prize#">to the Argus</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I was unaware that such a prize existed until I read the telegram in your issue of November 24, announcing the honour that had been done to my work.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A search through both the National Library’s <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/search/category/newspapers?keyword=Wynne%20Prize&l-artType=newspapers">Trove</a> and the Art Gallery of NSW’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/">digital archive</a> shows that, as with all art prizes judged by a committee, on many occasions considerations other than merit influenced the judges’ decisions.</p>
<p>In 1898 the Trustees began the practice of both visiting Art Society exhibitions and inviting interested artists to deposit their offerings for consideration. This was also the first year the prize was awarded to <a href="https://www.daao.org.au/bio/william-lister-lister/personal_details/">William Lister Lister</a>, a stalwart of the Art Society (later renamed the <a href="http://www.royalart.com.au">Royal Art Society of NSW</a>). He was awarded the prize a total of seven times. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458504/original/file-20220419-76445-ck9kux.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Oil painting. Gum trees hit by golden sunlight." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458504/original/file-20220419-76445-ck9kux.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458504/original/file-20220419-76445-ck9kux.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458504/original/file-20220419-76445-ck9kux.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458504/original/file-20220419-76445-ck9kux.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458504/original/file-20220419-76445-ck9kux.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458504/original/file-20220419-76445-ck9kux.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458504/original/file-20220419-76445-ck9kux.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The winner of the 1906 Wynne Prize. William Lister Lister, The golden splendour of the bush.
(circa 1906).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of New South Wales</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With the exception of the 1898 award, Lister Lister was a trustee and therefore a judge on each of the other six times he won. He was not alone in this. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/long-sydney/">Sydney Long</a>, a fellow trustee and fellow member of the Royal Art Society, was awarded the Wynne in 1938 and 1940. The only artist to be awarded the Wynne more often than Lister Lister was the South Australian, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Heysen">Hans Heysen</a>, who was awarded the prize eight times. Heysen, from South Australia, exhibited with the Society of Artists.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460700/original/file-20220502-26-pl9qsx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460700/original/file-20220502-26-pl9qsx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460700/original/file-20220502-26-pl9qsx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460700/original/file-20220502-26-pl9qsx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460700/original/file-20220502-26-pl9qsx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460700/original/file-20220502-26-pl9qsx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460700/original/file-20220502-26-pl9qsx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460700/original/file-20220502-26-pl9qsx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hans Heysen, An afternoon in autumn, 1924. Watercolour, 46.8 x 63.3cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© C Heysen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For many years, it is fair to say many of the decisions governing the Art Gallery of NSW were a fine balance between two competing factions, with each taking it in turn to award the various prizes to their members and supporters. </p>
<p>In 1899, the young <a href="https://www.daao.org.au/bio/george-lambert/personal_details/">George Lambert</a>, associated with the Society of Artists, was awarded the Wynne for his heroic painting of horses ploughing through mud, <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/1899/">Across the Black Soil Plains</a>. He was also awarded the NSW Government’s newly established Travelling Art Scholarship, a recognition of his precocious talent. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458515/original/file-20220419-19-zq3all.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Oil painting, looking down to a valley" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458515/original/file-20220419-19-zq3all.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458515/original/file-20220419-19-zq3all.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458515/original/file-20220419-19-zq3all.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458515/original/file-20220419-19-zq3all.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458515/original/file-20220419-19-zq3all.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458515/original/file-20220419-19-zq3all.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458515/original/file-20220419-19-zq3all.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Elioth Gruner, Valley of the Tweed, 1921.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Art Gallery of New South Wales</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The eccentric nature of the management of the prize led to the situation in 1921 when the Trustees commissioned Elioth Gruner to paint <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/1921/20819/">The Valley of the Tweed</a>, with the prize as a part of the commission.</p>
<p>The cosy duopoly of the art societies was challenged in 1943 after William Lister Lister’s sudden death. </p>
<p>Instead of replacing him with another representative of the Royal Art Society, the minister for education, Clive Evatt, appointed his sister-in-law, the collector and painter of modern art, <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/evatt-mary-alice-10132">Mary Alice Evatt</a>, to be the first woman trustee in the gallery’s history.</p>
<p>In January 1944, Evatt advocated for <a href="https://www.daao.org.au/bio/william-dobell/personal_details/">William Dobell</a>’s portrait of Joshua Smith to win the Archibald Prize. The following year she voted for the Wynne to go to <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/herman-sali-19482">Sali Herman</a>’s urban landscape, <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/1944/">McElhone Stairs</a>, a painting with a complete absence of gum trees, painted by a Jewish immigrant who exhibited with the Contemporary Art Society.</p>
<p>The Wynne continued to reward interesting paintings when Russell Drysdale won with <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/1947/">Sofala</a> (1947), and Lloyd Rees for <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/1950/">The Harbour from McMahon’s Point</a>(1950). </p>
<h2>A changeable landscape</h2>
<p>By the early 1960s, the old exhibiting societies were less relevant to artists trying to establish a career. But the new dealer galleries understood the value of prizes to their artists’ profiles. </p>
<p>The new superstars of Australian art, John Olsen, Fred Williams and Brett Whiteley, began to be listed as prize winners. </p>
<p>The Wynne was still very much a “boy’s club”, as if the Australian landscape could only be captured by one gender. Lorna Nimmo had won in 1941, but her watercolours did not appeal to the Trustees. </p>
<p>It took until 1971 for Margaret Woodward to be the next woman winner, with her painting, Karri Country. </p>
<p>She was followed in 1994 with Suzanne Archer’s Waratah Wedderburn. </p>
<p>(While the prize is most well known for its landscapes, figurative sculptures can also enter, and <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/380.1986/">Rosemary Madigan</a> had won with her classic stone torso in 1986.)</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458743/original/file-20220420-13790-vevdwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458743/original/file-20220420-13790-vevdwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458743/original/file-20220420-13790-vevdwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458743/original/file-20220420-13790-vevdwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458743/original/file-20220420-13790-vevdwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458743/original/file-20220420-13790-vevdwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458743/original/file-20220420-13790-vevdwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458743/original/file-20220420-13790-vevdwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ann Thomson, Yellow sound. Oil on canvas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of the artist</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ann Thomson was awarded the 1998 prize with her abstract painting, <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/1998/">Yellow Sound</a>, which may have encouraged the Trustees to cast their net wider. For the following year the Wynne Prize was awarded to Gloria Tamerre Petyarre. </p>
<p>This bastion of the Australian landscape tradition was never the same again. </p>
<p>Easily the most memorable painting to be awarded the Wynne in recent years was in 2016, when the Ken family collaborative painted <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2016/29796/">Seven Sisters</a>, the grand narrative of protecting country.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458525/original/file-20220419-21-7aed3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sweeping Indigenous landscape painting in reds, greens and purples" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458525/original/file-20220419-21-7aed3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458525/original/file-20220419-21-7aed3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458525/original/file-20220419-21-7aed3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458525/original/file-20220419-21-7aed3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458525/original/file-20220419-21-7aed3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458525/original/file-20220419-21-7aed3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458525/original/file-20220419-21-7aed3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ken Family Collaborative (Tjungkara Ken, Yaritji Young, Maringka Tunkin, Freda Brady, Sandra Ken), Seven Sisters, 2016. Acrylic on linen. 240 x 150 cm (each), 244 x 303.5 cm (overall)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of the Artists, Tjala Arts and Jan Murphy Gallery</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although some non-Aboriginal artists have won this century, Aboriginal art continues to dominate. The gallery now also hosts the Roberts Family prize, specifically for work by Indigenous artists. </p>
<p>What we are seeing here in this oldest, and potentially crustiest of art prizes, is concrete evidence of a whole new tradition of Australian art – or rather evidence that the oldest tradition is using art as a means to reclaim the land.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-favourites-show-aboriginal-art-can-transcend-social-divisions-and-art-boundaries-143827">Australians' favourites show Aboriginal art can transcend social divisions and art boundaries</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179764/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Mendelssohn has in the past received funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australia Council. </span></em></p>
In 1895 the Wynne Prize was proposed as an award for a ‘landscape painting of Australian scenery’. Today it is more likely to be given to an Indigenous artist’s explanation of Country.
Joanna Mendelssohn, Principal Fellow (Hon), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/95936
2018-05-04T02:03:49Z
2018-05-04T02:03:49Z
The 2018 Archibald, Sulman and Wynne prizes show a changing of the guard
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217686/original/file-20180504-153869-dwwwt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Detail from Tom Polo
'I once thought I'd do anything for you
(Joan)'
acrylic on canvas
152.5 x 101.5cm
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist Photo: AGNSW, Felicity Jenkins</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Archibald Prize, which is in the process of being judged at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, has always been more about social history than art. The works hung are usually a fair selection of the interests of the <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/about-us/people/agnsw-trust/">gallery trustees</a> who judge the prize. </p>
<p>On this measure, in 2018 the judges have shown their admiration for the introspection revealed by self-portraits as well as portraits of artists, actors and supporters of the arts, while bypassing possible images of corporate Australia. This favouring of the arts over business or politics for Archibald subject matter is not new; what is new (or at least fairly recent) is how the exhibition has been hung.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217688/original/file-20180504-153869-1u441fs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217688/original/file-20180504-153869-1u441fs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217688/original/file-20180504-153869-1u441fs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217688/original/file-20180504-153869-1u441fs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217688/original/file-20180504-153869-1u441fs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217688/original/file-20180504-153869-1u441fs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=983&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217688/original/file-20180504-153869-1u441fs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=983&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217688/original/file-20180504-153869-1u441fs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=983&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jamie Preisz.
‘Jimmy (title fight)’
oil on canvas
153 x 116.5cm</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist Photo: AGNSW, Jenni Carter</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For over 90 years the Archibald Prize exhibition made life extremely easy for those wishing to predict the winner. Most of the entries were displayed in rooms easily defined as being for the also-rans. These included novelty entries painted as a humorous riff on the notion of great art, earnest academic portraits by those hoping to get an official portrait commission, as well as young artists who had been selected for the first time. </p>
<p>The only room that counted was in the middle of the exhibition space. This was where the podium was set up to announce the winner. </p>
<p>If a work was moved to the inner sanctum on the morning of the prize it was a sure sign that an outsider had won. In 2016 this cosy arrangement changed when Louise Hearman’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2016/29709/">Barry</a>, hanging in the outer court, was awarded the prize. Puzzled journalists could not at first locate it. The painting had been hung on an outside wall as the curator, Anne Ryan, valued aesthetics over tradition.</p>
<p>This year Ryan has eliminated all the old hierarchies. The central room is probably the least likely place to find the 2018 Archibald Prize winner. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217698/original/file-20180504-83693-w6l5x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217698/original/file-20180504-83693-w6l5x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217698/original/file-20180504-83693-w6l5x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217698/original/file-20180504-83693-w6l5x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217698/original/file-20180504-83693-w6l5x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217698/original/file-20180504-83693-w6l5x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217698/original/file-20180504-83693-w6l5x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217698/original/file-20180504-83693-w6l5x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Archibald Prize 2018 finalist.
Paul Jackson
‘Alison Whyte, a mother of the renaissance’ oil on linen
147 x 179cm</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist Photo: AGNSW, Jenni Carter</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is, however, where visitors can find Mathew Lynn’s stylish but austere portrait of NSW Premier <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2018/29970/">Gladys Berejiklian</a>, Paul Jackson’s theatrical <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2018/29923/">Alison Whyte, a mother of the renaissance</a> and Robert Hannaford’s large <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2018/29938/">self-portrait</a>, which hangs opposite the small <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2018/29972/">Self-portrait</a> by his daughter Tsering Hannaford. The most interesting painting in this room is easily Jamie Preisz’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2018/29937/">Jimmy (title fight</a>) which is a slightly gritty portrait of the rock star, awarded the Packing Room Prize. The Packing Room Prize winner is usually not given such prominence.</p>
<p>Viewers need to look throughout the whole exhibition and use their eyes to discover which works are most likely to be on the judges’ short list. </p>
<p>One little gem is Guy Maestri’s small but intense <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2018/29974/">The fourth week of parenthood (self-portrait)</a>. It is a painting that speaks of angst and sleep deprivation. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217689/original/file-20180504-153888-r41v55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217689/original/file-20180504-153888-r41v55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217689/original/file-20180504-153888-r41v55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=746&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217689/original/file-20180504-153888-r41v55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=746&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217689/original/file-20180504-153888-r41v55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=746&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217689/original/file-20180504-153888-r41v55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217689/original/file-20180504-153888-r41v55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217689/original/file-20180504-153888-r41v55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Guy Maestri.
‘The fourth week of parenthood
(self-portrait)’
oil on linen
78.5 x 63.5cm</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist Photo: AGNSW, Mim Stirling</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Self-portraits are a popular subject, perhaps because artists know the subject best, and also because they are always available. This year’s selection includes James Powditch’s finely self-absorbed <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2018/29966/">Narcissist, the anatomy of melancholy</a>, Yvette Coppersmith’s mannered <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2018/29954/">Self-portrait, after George Lambert</a>, Angela Tiatia’s ethereal <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2018/29971/">Study for a self-portrait</a>, and Vincent Namatjira’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2018/29950/">Studio self-portrait</a>, which is characterised by his dry sense of humour. </p>
<p>While most portraits have some foundation in reality, Marc Etherington has wandered into fantasy with his whimsical self-portrait with dog, <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2018/29948/">Me and Granny</a>. He is yet to own a dog, but plans to buy a whippet, which he will call Granny. The child-like naivete of this work is emphasised by its scale. Whippets are small dogs, but Granny is painted as though she is almost as large as her imagined master.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217690/original/file-20180504-153914-1edsk5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217690/original/file-20180504-153914-1edsk5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217690/original/file-20180504-153914-1edsk5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217690/original/file-20180504-153914-1edsk5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217690/original/file-20180504-153914-1edsk5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217690/original/file-20180504-153914-1edsk5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217690/original/file-20180504-153914-1edsk5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217690/original/file-20180504-153914-1edsk5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marc Etherington.
‘Me and Granny’
acrylic on canvas
143 x 163.5cm</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist Photo: AGNSW, Jenni Carter</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Portraits of artists, actors, collectors and dealers dominate the exhibition. There is one judge, Yvonne East’s tightly restrained portrait of <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2018/29969/">The Honourable Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC</a>, which hangs next to Salvatore Zofrea’s very relaxed and decorative study of <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2018/29925/">Sally Dowling, QC</a>. The pair make a curious partnership.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217686/original/file-20180504-153869-dwwwt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217686/original/file-20180504-153869-dwwwt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217686/original/file-20180504-153869-dwwwt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217686/original/file-20180504-153869-dwwwt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217686/original/file-20180504-153869-dwwwt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217686/original/file-20180504-153869-dwwwt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217686/original/file-20180504-153869-dwwwt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217686/original/file-20180504-153869-dwwwt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1138&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tom Polo.
‘I once thought I’d do anything for you
(Joan)’
acrylic on canvas
152.5 x 101.5cm</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist Photo: AGNSW, Felicity Jenkins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of all the portraits of artists, the one that most stays in mind is Tom Polo’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2018/29978/">I once thought I’d do for anything for you (Joan)</a>, a portrait of Joan Ross. It is painted in the fluorescent yellow that has long dominated her art, while the artist is dressed in her signature black. Despite limiting himself to two colours (or perhaps because of it), there is a visual extravagance about this work, as he successfully evokes Ross’s acute gaze, the way she deconstructs the world around her. </p>
<p>The trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales read The Conversation, so nominating my preference would be a kiss of death. It is worth noting, however, that unlike the Packing Room Prize where the head packer, Brett Cuthbertson, has a 52% vote, the trustees must vote in an exhaustive preferential process. This means the result is almost always a compromise.</p>
<h2>The Sulman Prize</h2>
<p>As is the way of things, Angela Tiatia, who is exhibiting in the Archibald, is also the judge of the Sulman Prize. While the Archibald and Wynne are judged by the trustees, the Sulman is always judged by an individual artist. As a result the works selected to hang in the Sulman Prize are often livelier and sometimes quite risky. </p>
<p>This is certainly the case with this year’s exhibition. Abdul Abdullah’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/sulman/2018/29986/">Untitled</a> asks the question posed by every unrepresented minority, “Why can’t I be angry?”, while <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/sulman/2018/29990/">Joan Ross</a> decapitates the hawk captured by Midshipman Ross on the Sirius in 1788. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217691/original/file-20180504-153869-11c0ceh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217691/original/file-20180504-153869-11c0ceh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217691/original/file-20180504-153869-11c0ceh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217691/original/file-20180504-153869-11c0ceh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217691/original/file-20180504-153869-11c0ceh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217691/original/file-20180504-153869-11c0ceh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1088&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217691/original/file-20180504-153869-11c0ceh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1088&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217691/original/file-20180504-153869-11c0ceh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1088&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joan Ross.
‘Future Hawke (what have we done to you)’ hand-painted digital collage
111 x 79cm</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist Photo: Felicity Jenkins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One corner shows an outstanding group of abrasive art, the kind of work that may well have disconcerted any committee selection. David Griggs’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/sulman/2018/29989/">Diaspora is a word, so is holy crap</a> could be described as a meditation on a bull’s skull, while Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/sulman/2018/29982/">Trio of selves at the proverbial gym</a> manages to insert photographs of meat (and other meals) into a complex collage of beefcake. </p>
<p>The most satisfying work of all is Jason Phu’s painting, fully titled <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/sulman/2018/29996/">On the bbq were a thousand thousand generic meat sausages that the hand of Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, calmly turned. She was unperturbed by the vicious spitting oil. Shaking her warm empty can she yelled out ‘can someone get me a beer?’</a>. Phu’s robust anarchic approach to art is reminiscent of the best work of Adam Cullen. I understand his Archibald entry was rejected by the trustees, a consequence of consensus decision-making. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217692/original/file-20180504-153891-1fc3k8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217692/original/file-20180504-153891-1fc3k8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217692/original/file-20180504-153891-1fc3k8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217692/original/file-20180504-153891-1fc3k8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217692/original/file-20180504-153891-1fc3k8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217692/original/file-20180504-153891-1fc3k8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1071&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217692/original/file-20180504-153891-1fc3k8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1071&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217692/original/file-20180504-153891-1fc3k8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1071&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jason Phu.
‘On the bbq were a thousand thousand
generic meat sausages that the hand of
Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, calmly
turned. She was unperturbed by the
vicious spitting oil. Shaking her warm
empty can she yelled out 'can someone get
me a beer?“
acrylic on linen
250 x 180cm</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist Photo: Felicity Jenkins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The Wynne Prize</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217694/original/file-20180504-153873-hf1ztw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217694/original/file-20180504-153873-hf1ztw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217694/original/file-20180504-153873-hf1ztw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217694/original/file-20180504-153873-hf1ztw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217694/original/file-20180504-153873-hf1ztw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217694/original/file-20180504-153873-hf1ztw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1147&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217694/original/file-20180504-153873-hf1ztw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1147&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217694/original/file-20180504-153873-hf1ztw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1147&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Detail from Noel McKenna.
‘Door, Hunter Valley’
oil and acrylic on door
204 x 77 x 9.5cm</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist Photo: Felicity Jenkins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Wynne Prize for Australian landscape was first held in 1897 and is the oldest of the prizes. Like the Archibald, it can be described as a Federation project, an assertion of the validity of the Australian landscape at a time when “civilised” taste looked to England. </p>
<p>Although there is a delightful piece of whimsy in Noel McKenna’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2018/30023/">Door, Hunter Valley</a>, ethereal beauty in Fiona Lowry’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2018/30041/">A silence</a> and a revival of 19th-century seascape painting in Tim Storrier’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2018/30029/">At sea (for Pamela)</a>, Western traditions are very much in the background.</p>
<p>For the third successive year the Wynne is dominated by Aboriginal voices. There are the precise shaped bark paintings by <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2018/30002/">Gunybi Ganambarr</a> and <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2018/30004/">Yalanba Wanambi</a>, and Phyllis Thomas’s <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2018/30008/">My stolen sisters from Gija country</a>, which is of the place where her stolen sisters lived. </p>
<p>But dominating the central room are the work of artists from the APY Lands, with Betty Kuntiwa Pumani’s magnificent <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2018/30017/">Antara</a> as well as works by the redoubtable Ken family.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217696/original/file-20180504-153869-x1pfhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217696/original/file-20180504-153869-x1pfhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217696/original/file-20180504-153869-x1pfhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217696/original/file-20180504-153869-x1pfhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217696/original/file-20180504-153869-x1pfhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217696/original/file-20180504-153869-x1pfhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=945&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217696/original/file-20180504-153869-x1pfhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=945&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217696/original/file-20180504-153869-x1pfhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=945&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Betty Kuntiwa Pumani.
‘Antara’
acrylic on linen
250 x 200cm</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist Photo: Mim Stirling</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Last year John Olsen, who started his artist career as a student protesting against conservative trustees (before becoming a most conservative trustee himself), loudly objected to the presence of this art and these artists. He claimed Betty Kuntiwa Pumani’s winning painting existed in <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/john-olsen-says-archibald-prize-win-is-the-worst-decision-ive-ever-seen-20170728-gxl4ze.html">“a cloud cuckoo land”</a>. Olsen’s entry <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2018/30036/">The tree of life</a> is installed in the same room as works by the APY Land artists. It is an exquisite curatorial rebuff.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95936/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna Mendelssohn has in the past received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>
The lively reconfiguring of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman exhibitions means it is harder to work out which paintings the judges are considering as potential winners.
Joanna Mendelssohn, Honorary Associate Professor, Art & Design: UNSW Australia. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/81326
2017-07-23T20:08:16Z
2017-07-23T20:08:16Z
Politics of landscape: the 2017 Wynne Prize finalists
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179127/original/file-20170721-24021-1x2x9mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wynne Prize 2017 finalist James Drinkwater, 'Passage to Rungli Rungliot', oil on hardboard, 180x360cm</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist Photo: Felicity Jenkins, AGNSW</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/">Wynne Prize</a> is bestowed upon the best landscape painting of Australian scenery or best figure sculpture. This year, over a third of the finalists - 15 out of 42 - are Indigenous artists, and 11 are from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands in central Australia. </p>
<p>In fact there is an entire room dedicated to Aboriginal landscape paintings. It is unusual to have such a large portion of the Wynne dedicated to these works, and disorienting to discover them separated from the rest of the exhibition. Presenting these works on their own draws attention to the difference of Indigenous art within the wider Australian art sphere rather than integrating it.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179128/original/file-20170721-23983-1ge3ln5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179128/original/file-20170721-23983-1ge3ln5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179128/original/file-20170721-23983-1ge3ln5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179128/original/file-20170721-23983-1ge3ln5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179128/original/file-20170721-23983-1ge3ln5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179128/original/file-20170721-23983-1ge3ln5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179128/original/file-20170721-23983-1ge3ln5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179128/original/file-20170721-23983-1ge3ln5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wynne Prize 2017 finalist.
Angus Nivison, ‘Pernicious’, acrylic spray-paint and charcoal on paper, 205 x 154.5 cm</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist Photo: Felicity Jenkins, AGNSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the forecourt, a simultaneous exhibition, installed only this week, includes more works by APY Lands Art Centre artists. They were selected from the gallery’s permanent collection, and may have been pulled out to complement the Trustees’ selection for the Wynne. This is heartening, and no doubt heartfelt, but focusing on increasing the representation of a marginalised group can result in a compromise of the standard of works selected.</p>
<p>Overall, this year’s Wynne prize standard is as haphazard as previous years. This is perhaps partly the result of the Trustees behaving like curators, rather than prize selectors. Choosing a large number of finalists from the same remote region may have seemed like a means of strengthening the visual experience for visitors, whilst also complementing the showcasing of their permanent collection, but hanging them together creates a sense of tokenism. </p>
<p>Luckily, a truly alluring work diverts my attention from pondering these issues. It is a <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2017/29900/">Nyapanyapa Yunupingu</a> landscape, hung in an unassuming position, just outside the main room of Indigenous finalists. Yunupingu’s artworks are synaesthetic rather than only awakening a single sense. They sing and shudder.</p>
<p>The paint leaps from the bark and confounds my vision with images of other wildlife. The white forms, which are either wildflowers, humans or other vertebrate creatures are all of those species at once, as they dance across the dirt. Spend a little time in front of her painting and the gallery starts to melt away and be replaced by cicadas, a breeze rushing through spinifex grass and the distant sound of people murmuring.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179121/original/file-20170721-6436-vqh7b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179121/original/file-20170721-6436-vqh7b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179121/original/file-20170721-6436-vqh7b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179121/original/file-20170721-6436-vqh7b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179121/original/file-20170721-6436-vqh7b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179121/original/file-20170721-6436-vqh7b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179121/original/file-20170721-6436-vqh7b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179121/original/file-20170721-6436-vqh7b5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wynne Prize 2017 finalist.
Nyapanyapa Yunupingu,‘Landscape’
natural earth pigments on bark, 78x193cm</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist
Photo:Jenni Carter, AGNSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The other stand-out work, and my pick for the most deserved finalist entry, is <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2017/29871/">Juz Kitson</a>’s poetically titled sculpture “That which provides safety and the possibility of growth, that which you can put your trust in”.</p>
<p>Testicle, bladder, labia, intestine or foetus? Kitson’s assemblage of fur, seed and porcelain shapes creates a sexualized and fetishistic object of worship. Think of a Game of Thrones cloak. Think of a death pyre of antlers. Think Haitian Voodoo ceremony. Think of a giant clitoris. Kitson’s work has all of these elements. </p>
<p>It sits outside human time and has the character of something that could have existed before human life and afterwards too. I couldn’t contain my curiosity about what materials Kitson used and so I messaged her on Facebook. The swift answer: Jingdezhen porcelain and Southern ice porcelain/terracotta clay along with paraffin wax, resin, polyester thread, merino wool, fox and rabbit pelt, Tibetan gazelle horns, teeth, echidna quills and Bodhi seeds.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179123/original/file-20170721-1588-sz5l36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179123/original/file-20170721-1588-sz5l36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179123/original/file-20170721-1588-sz5l36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179123/original/file-20170721-1588-sz5l36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179123/original/file-20170721-1588-sz5l36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179123/original/file-20170721-1588-sz5l36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1020&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179123/original/file-20170721-1588-sz5l36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1020&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179123/original/file-20170721-1588-sz5l36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1020&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wynne Prize 2017 finalist Juz Kitson ‘That which provides safety and the possibility of growth, that which you can put your trust in’,
Jingdezhen porcelain, Southern Ice porcelain, terracotta clay, paraffin wax, resin, silk thread, merino wool, fox and rabbit pelt, Tibetan gazelle horns, teeth, echidna quills, bodhi seeds, marine ply and treated pine,
200 x 133 x 50 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist
Photo: Mim Sterling, AGNSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A second reason Kitson’s work stands out for me is a political one: climate change. During an epoch of climate fear, and as we endure a lack of environmental leadership in Australia, there are many artists working to mediate these issues via their work. Art is a litmus test for public opinion and can be an effective way to disseminate important political ideas. </p>
<p>These ideas are mostly absent from the work of this year’s Wynne Prize finalists. Only Kitson’s brings to mind the concept of extinction, via the mass of horns, and nature’s deathly drive, through the overall image of a relic or artefact. Her work represents the remains of the human and the animal. It is futuristic, dark and a looming memorial for extinct species, one of which may be “the human” in years to come.</p>
<h2>Views of Australia</h2>
<p>There are some robust scenes of the Australian landscape in the finalist line-up. For instance, <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2017/29893/">John R Walker</a>, <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2017/29867/">Nicholas Harding</a>, <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2017/29884/">Angus Nivison</a>, <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2017/29864/">James Drinkwater</a>, <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2017/29898/">Joshua Yeldham</a> and <a href="https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2017/29897/">Philip Wolfhagen</a> all have highly competent and technically proficient paintings of conventional bushland scenery. </p>
<p>Several of these paintings draw upon classical compositions where the scene is framed by trees or picturesquely arranged around a “hero tree”. Or they comprise a composition where the view penetrates through recalcitrant scrub land. These are mostly patriarchal conventions of traditional landscape painting, which is a reminder of the prevailing <a href="https://theconversation.com/congratulations-natasha-bieniek-but-the-wynne-prize-is-deeply-flawed-44763">gender bias of previous Wynne prize exhibitions</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179124/original/file-20170721-15106-1eyo2wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179124/original/file-20170721-15106-1eyo2wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179124/original/file-20170721-15106-1eyo2wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179124/original/file-20170721-15106-1eyo2wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179124/original/file-20170721-15106-1eyo2wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179124/original/file-20170721-15106-1eyo2wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179124/original/file-20170721-15106-1eyo2wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179124/original/file-20170721-15106-1eyo2wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wynne Prize 2017 finalist Nicholas Harding, ‘Wilpena eucalypt and wattle’, oil on linen, 183x245cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© the artist
Photo: Mim Stirling, AGNSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Kitson and Yunupingu, conversely, do not rely on traditional conventions of landscape painting. They open a door to a deeper experience of the material world, to that particular matter of being. Somehow, they make physical the spiritual, they make seeing a more multi-sensual experience, and so they change our perception of the natural world.</p>
<p>Jux Kitson’s work also has an enormous amount of working labour, discretely visible in each and every carefully formed and cast porcelain part. It heralds a strong political point about the epoch of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-official-welcome-to-the-anthropocene-epoch-but-who-gets-to-decide-its-here-57113">Anthropocene</a> and the damage we have caused to the land. </p>
<p>Likewise, whilst in the gallery space, I was constantly drawn back to Yunupingu’s landscape. There, modest and silent, the bark painting calls me, in a personal way, into a desert scene where women walk across the sand dunes, and talk together for hours. It sends me into a spin of delirium, into a vortex to where there is a real experience of lakeside flowers, where I can hear the mourning groans of the land.</p>
<p>However, based on past experience, I suspect neither of these two powerful artists will win. Instead I contend that one of the brightly coloured APY Indigenous works, all hung together in the high-ceiling gallery space, will win the day. </p>
<p>They are big and bright and colourful. Whilst it is crucial that Indigenous art gains greater momentum in the ongoing accumulation of landscape imagery in Australia, it is also important to select artworks carefully for inclusion in the Wynne Prize exhibition and not to mistake politics for aesthetic value.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81326/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prudence Gibson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The standard of the 2017 Wynne finalists is as haphazard as previous years, hampered by a sense of tokenism and conventional landscapes, but works by Napanyapa Yunupingu and Juz Kitson stand out.
Prudence Gibson, Art writer and Tutor, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/44763
2015-07-17T03:19:55Z
2015-07-17T03:19:55Z
Congratulations Natasha Bieniek, but the Wynne Prize is deeply flawed
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88744/original/image-20150717-5111-10muzj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=265%2C1142%2C2444%2C1293&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The 2015 Wynne Prize winner is Natasha Bieniek, with Biophilia, oil on dibond.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Natasha Bieniek. Photography courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Today, Natasha Bieniek won the 2015 AU$50,000 Wynne Prize for her work, Biophilia (main image). This is happy news, considering the prize has been hounded by a history of gender inequality. Her work is a miniature painting, smaller than a Polaroid photo. It represents the artist’s love of the minute biological details of nature. </p>
<p>The nexus of science and art is a rapidly growing area of contemporary art and, as such, the winning work reflects a major BioArt trend around the world. It addresses an important theme in contemporary life: how do humans relate to nature in an increasingly digitised world. </p>
<p>Since 1897, the Art Gallery of NSW’s <a href="http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/">Wynne Prize</a> has been awarded for “the best landscape painting of Australian scenery in oils or watercolours or for the best example of figure sculpture by Australian artists”. </p>
<p>While this prize has consistently been a strange mash-up of media (painting and sculpture) and concept (landscape and figuration), the hybrid structure of the prize is the least of its worries. So what are the main ones?</p>
<p>The first is that, since 1900, 105 men have won the prize, as opposed to only 10 women (including Bieniek this year). Is that because women can’t understand the idea of nature? Is it because women are not muscular enough to be sculptors? The poor representation of women artists in this category is more bewildering than anything. The gender politics need to be redressed, as they have been this year, at least, with Bieniek’s work.</p>
<p>And if we look at the <a href="http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/wynne/2015/">2015 short-listed</a> Wynne entries, there were three major women artists whose works were equally deserving of the main prize.</p>
<p>First there was <a href="http://kwgallery.com/artists/aida-tomescu">Aida Tomescu</a>’s entry, Bribie (below). </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88721/original/image-20150716-5092-1i17k97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88721/original/image-20150716-5092-1i17k97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88721/original/image-20150716-5092-1i17k97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=724&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88721/original/image-20150716-5092-1i17k97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=724&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88721/original/image-20150716-5092-1i17k97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=724&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88721/original/image-20150716-5092-1i17k97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88721/original/image-20150716-5092-1i17k97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88721/original/image-20150716-5092-1i17k97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Aida Tomescu - Bribie, oil on linen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Aida Tomescu. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2001, Tomescu <a href="http://archive.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/media/archives_2001/2001_wynne_prize_winner/">won</a> the Wynne, and deservedly so. She paints hedonistic landscape experiences. Heavy applications of oil are palette-knifed or brushed onto the surface, exposing the layers of earthy sediment or the currents of seawater. </p>
<p>Her paint is sucking mud, salty claypan or icy aquamarine water. Her work gives us a sensuous and material experience of the environment. They are stories already inscribed on the land, in the marks left by crabs at night in the sand, or in the scribbly bark of the gum tree. </p>
<p>Tomescu’s paintings are rakings in the soil, stories that are dug up along with the minerals in the earth, they are stories that pile up like hills of landfill or are buried in graveyards. These are the complex stories, already there on the earth.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.jobertini.com.au/">Jo Bertini</a> was also shortlised this year, for Mound Spring (below).</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88619/original/image-20150716-32638-1r9nc21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88619/original/image-20150716-32638-1r9nc21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88619/original/image-20150716-32638-1r9nc21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88619/original/image-20150716-32638-1r9nc21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88619/original/image-20150716-32638-1r9nc21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88619/original/image-20150716-32638-1r9nc21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88619/original/image-20150716-32638-1r9nc21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88619/original/image-20150716-32638-1r9nc21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Jo Bertini - Mound spring, oil on canvas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Jo Bertini. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bertini’s paintings are the result of expedition trips to isolated regions of the Australian desert alongside biologists, botanists and environmental scientists from universities and museums around the world. </p>
<p>She heads off with satellite phone and a string of camels and paints the experience of isolation and loneliness that is the Australian interior. She comes home afterwards, muscled, her skin tanned and a new knowledge in her eye (a wildness) that is slightly frightening. </p>
<p>When she returns from her trips she talks about the bounty of the desert, its benevolence. This cornucopia is so contrary to the way we have understood the isolated interior, as painted by historical male counterparts such as <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/drysdale-sir-george-russell-12439">Russell Drysdale</a> or <a href="http://www.sidneynolantrust.org/about/sidney-nolan">Sidney Nolan</a>. </p>
<p>There is sometimes a bleak quality to Bertini’s work but it is both emotional and scientific, both empathic and measured. It is fiercely female. </p>
<p>Her work this year, Mound Spring (as pictured above), is a vertiginous desert edifice with a sole tree, stuck on its cliff edge. The tree is a forlorn and lonely reminder of the history of landscape painting, where an identifiable trope (a fallen tree, a tree stump or a view through trees) needs to be abandoned. </p>
<p>Nature, now, is a devastated, compromised and annihilated concept.</p>
<p>The third strong female contender for the Wynne Prize this year was <a href="http://www.kateshaw.org/">Kate Shaw</a>, with her work Anthropocene (below). </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88606/original/image-20150716-26296-1s7bw5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88606/original/image-20150716-26296-1s7bw5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88606/original/image-20150716-26296-1s7bw5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88606/original/image-20150716-26296-1s7bw5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88606/original/image-20150716-26296-1s7bw5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88606/original/image-20150716-26296-1s7bw5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88606/original/image-20150716-26296-1s7bw5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88606/original/image-20150716-26296-1s7bw5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Kate Shaw – Anthropocene, acrylic and resin on board.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Kate Shaw. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Shaw uses acrylic and resin to create reflective and mesmerising prisms of colour. This is landscape as kaleidoscope of fluorescent pinks. Colours bleed into one another on the painting surface in a swoon of childhood memories of the entire collection of Derwent coloured pencils. </p>
<p>But Shaw’s work is not merely a nostalgic tour of “colour-love”. Her work is perversely environmental. Perverse, because she creates an artificial world. Her luminous reds, lurid greens, high-vis yellow and patchwork pinks are man-made. Her trees leak into their background, her ice scenes are melting in a critical climate change epoch. </p>
<p>The title of her shortlisted work, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/16/-sp-scientists-gather-talks-rename-human-age-anthropocene-holocene">Anthropocene</a>, refers to a theme in philosophy, art and science in recent times. It is the period of time, since <a href="http://www.britannica.com/topic/industrialization">Industrialisation</a>, as measured by the top geological layer of the earth. </p>
<p>There, in the soil, littered with plastic refuse and a century’s worth of discarded machinery and an equivalent layer of harmful carbon, is the story of mankind’s effect on the landscape. </p>
<p>The painting is a view through the cave-like mouth of deep time. The earth is alive. It is monstrous and the gaping lips of death look out onto an idyllic view or scene that may not last for as long as we hope.</p>
<p>So what do these powerful examples of landscape painting, by women, tell us? </p>
<p>They tell us to stop overlooking women who paint vast scenes that are a challenge in different ways. These artists deserve closer attention.</p>
<p>The second problem with the Wynne Prize is that it always looks truly terrible, in situ. </p>
<p>A bit of figure sculpture (which the <a href="http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/about-us/people/agnsw-trust/">Trustees</a> clearly have trouble defining), a bit of landscape painting (and the parameters are becoming increasingly unbounded each year), and the result is no less than a mess. </p>
<p>From its inception until 1928, the prize was not exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW. Instead, the winners were selected by the gallery Trustees, who travelled to local exhibitions and studios and selected the winner, personally.
Perhaps this is the key to a re-invigoration of the Wynne Prize. Let’s not dump them all together like a horrifying kitchen table mess of spilt milk, soggy cornflakes and burnt toast. </p>
<p>Instead, let’s return to the original process of Wynne-awarding. Send the trustees out to select a winner and reward that work, alone. Hang it in the AGNSW, alone. </p>
<p>What gladdens the heart, this year, is that all four artists mentioned here (not least the wonderful winning work) managed to harness a love for painting and an equal love for the environment.</p>
<p><br>
<em>The Wynne Prize exhibition will show at the Art Gallery of NSW from July 18 - September 27. More details <a href="http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/archibald-wynne-sulman-prizes-2015/">here</a></em></p>
<h2>See the rest of the Wynne Prize finalists here:</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88732/original/image-20150717-5084-1c0h0bi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88732/original/image-20150717-5084-1c0h0bi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88732/original/image-20150717-5084-1c0h0bi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88732/original/image-20150717-5084-1c0h0bi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88732/original/image-20150717-5084-1c0h0bi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88732/original/image-20150717-5084-1c0h0bi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88732/original/image-20150717-5084-1c0h0bi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88732/original/image-20150717-5084-1c0h0bi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Christine Fontana - Mappa mundi: the known world, mixed media on Japanese rice paper.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Christine Fontana. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Felicity Jenkins.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88733/original/image-20150717-5089-edt0ul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88733/original/image-20150717-5089-edt0ul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88733/original/image-20150717-5089-edt0ul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=778&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88733/original/image-20150717-5089-edt0ul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=778&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88733/original/image-20150717-5089-edt0ul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=778&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88733/original/image-20150717-5089-edt0ul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=978&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88733/original/image-20150717-5089-edt0ul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=978&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88733/original/image-20150717-5089-edt0ul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=978&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Robert Malherbe – Blackheath street landscape, oil on linen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Robert Malherbe. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Guy Maestri – Black gold no. 5, oil on linen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Guy Maestri. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Max Miller –</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Max Miller. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88736/original/image-20150717-5080-z3zj2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88736/original/image-20150717-5080-z3zj2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88736/original/image-20150717-5080-z3zj2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=81&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88736/original/image-20150717-5080-z3zj2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=81&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88736/original/image-20150717-5080-z3zj2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=81&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88736/original/image-20150717-5080-z3zj2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=101&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88736/original/image-20150717-5080-z3zj2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=101&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88736/original/image-20150717-5080-z3zj2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=101&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Viola Dominello – On the river, watercolour on Moleskine diary.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Viola Dominello. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Karl de Waal – The channel series, mixed media.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Karl de Waal. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88737/original/image-20150717-24758-irzdwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88737/original/image-20150717-24758-irzdwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88737/original/image-20150717-24758-irzdwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88737/original/image-20150717-24758-irzdwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88737/original/image-20150717-24758-irzdwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88737/original/image-20150717-24758-irzdwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88737/original/image-20150717-24758-irzdwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88737/original/image-20150717-24758-irzdwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Susan J White – Approaching storm, acrylic wash, wax and watercolour on paper.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Susan J White. Photography courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88739/original/image-20150717-5092-98536i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88739/original/image-20150717-5092-98536i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88739/original/image-20150717-5092-98536i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88739/original/image-20150717-5092-98536i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88739/original/image-20150717-5092-98536i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88739/original/image-20150717-5092-98536i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88739/original/image-20150717-5092-98536i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88739/original/image-20150717-5092-98536i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Steve Burley – Chewton Bushlands, oilon board.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Steve Burley. Photography courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88615/original/image-20150716-32625-1mu01yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88615/original/image-20150716-32625-1mu01yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88615/original/image-20150716-32625-1mu01yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88615/original/image-20150716-32625-1mu01yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88615/original/image-20150716-32625-1mu01yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88615/original/image-20150716-32625-1mu01yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88615/original/image-20150716-32625-1mu01yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88615/original/image-20150716-32625-1mu01yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Jun Chen – Tropical forest II, oil on canvas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Jun Chen. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88740/original/image-20150717-24758-bkesdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88740/original/image-20150717-24758-bkesdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88740/original/image-20150717-24758-bkesdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88740/original/image-20150717-24758-bkesdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88740/original/image-20150717-24758-bkesdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88740/original/image-20150717-24758-bkesdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88740/original/image-20150717-24758-bkesdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88740/original/image-20150717-24758-bkesdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist James Drinkwater – Encrusting the marvellous heart, oil and collage on headboard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© James Drinkwater. Photography courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88741/original/image-20150717-5092-8azbs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88741/original/image-20150717-5092-8azbs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88741/original/image-20150717-5092-8azbs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88741/original/image-20150717-5092-8azbs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88741/original/image-20150717-5092-8azbs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88741/original/image-20150717-5092-8azbs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88741/original/image-20150717-5092-8azbs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88741/original/image-20150717-5092-8azbs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Niel Haddon - The first time again, oil and enamel paint on aluminium panel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Niel Haddon. Photography courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88743/original/image-20150717-5080-13gkmno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88743/original/image-20150717-5080-13gkmno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88743/original/image-20150717-5080-13gkmno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88743/original/image-20150717-5080-13gkmno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88743/original/image-20150717-5080-13gkmno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88743/original/image-20150717-5080-13gkmno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88743/original/image-20150717-5080-13gkmno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88743/original/image-20150717-5080-13gkmno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Nicole Kelly – Love letter to a friend, oil on polyester.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Nicole Kelly. Photography courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88618/original/image-20150716-32630-171rc1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88618/original/image-20150716-32630-171rc1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88618/original/image-20150716-32630-171rc1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88618/original/image-20150716-32630-171rc1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88618/original/image-20150716-32630-171rc1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88618/original/image-20150716-32630-171rc1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88618/original/image-20150716-32630-171rc1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88618/original/image-20150716-32630-171rc1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Ildiko Kovacs – Sunlit, oil paint on plywood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Ilkdiko Kovacs. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88747/original/image-20150717-5092-nqxcva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88747/original/image-20150717-5092-nqxcva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88747/original/image-20150717-5092-nqxcva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88747/original/image-20150717-5092-nqxcva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88747/original/image-20150717-5092-nqxcva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88747/original/image-20150717-5092-nqxcva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88747/original/image-20150717-5092-nqxcva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88747/original/image-20150717-5092-nqxcva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Tim McMonagle – Bed & stretch, oil on linen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Tim McMonagle. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88614/original/image-20150716-26314-1nudbsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88614/original/image-20150716-26314-1nudbsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88614/original/image-20150716-26314-1nudbsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88614/original/image-20150716-26314-1nudbsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88614/original/image-20150716-26314-1nudbsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88614/original/image-20150716-26314-1nudbsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88614/original/image-20150716-26314-1nudbsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88614/original/image-20150716-26314-1nudbsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Christopher McVinish – Quiet lives – Australia Day revisited, oil on linen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Christopher McVinish. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88748/original/image-20150717-5108-pgv3a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88748/original/image-20150717-5108-pgv3a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88748/original/image-20150717-5108-pgv3a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88748/original/image-20150717-5108-pgv3a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88748/original/image-20150717-5108-pgv3a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88748/original/image-20150717-5108-pgv3a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88748/original/image-20150717-5108-pgv3a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88748/original/image-20150717-5108-pgv3a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Julian Meagher – The fatal shore (island life), oil on linen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Julian Meagher. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88749/original/image-20150717-5108-1qr86aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88749/original/image-20150717-5108-1qr86aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88749/original/image-20150717-5108-1qr86aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88749/original/image-20150717-5108-1qr86aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88749/original/image-20150717-5108-1qr86aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88749/original/image-20150717-5108-1qr86aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88749/original/image-20150717-5108-1qr86aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88749/original/image-20150717-5108-1qr86aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Celia Morgan – Terra nullius, oil on linen board.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Celia Morgan. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88617/original/image-20150716-32656-hcmbm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88617/original/image-20150716-32656-hcmbm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88617/original/image-20150716-32656-hcmbm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88617/original/image-20150716-32656-hcmbm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88617/original/image-20150716-32656-hcmbm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88617/original/image-20150716-32656-hcmbm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88617/original/image-20150716-32656-hcmbm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88617/original/image-20150716-32656-hcmbm3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Michael Muir – Through the circle, oil on linen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Michael Muir. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88750/original/image-20150717-5080-1ggfdzq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88750/original/image-20150717-5080-1ggfdzq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88750/original/image-20150717-5080-1ggfdzq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88750/original/image-20150717-5080-1ggfdzq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88750/original/image-20150717-5080-1ggfdzq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88750/original/image-20150717-5080-1ggfdzq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88750/original/image-20150717-5080-1ggfdzq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88750/original/image-20150717-5080-1ggfdzq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist George Tjungurrayi - Untitled, acrylic on linen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© George Tjungurrayi. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88751/original/image-20150717-5111-c9b548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88751/original/image-20150717-5111-c9b548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88751/original/image-20150717-5111-c9b548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88751/original/image-20150717-5111-c9b548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88751/original/image-20150717-5111-c9b548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88751/original/image-20150717-5111-c9b548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88751/original/image-20150717-5111-c9b548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88751/original/image-20150717-5111-c9b548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Robert Hague – Shutdown, Carrara marble, stainless steel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Robert Hague. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88752/original/image-20150717-5084-skemqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88752/original/image-20150717-5084-skemqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88752/original/image-20150717-5084-skemqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88752/original/image-20150717-5084-skemqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88752/original/image-20150717-5084-skemqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88752/original/image-20150717-5084-skemqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88752/original/image-20150717-5084-skemqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88752/original/image-20150717-5084-skemqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Peter Jones – Kandos, acrylic on board.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Peter Jones. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88753/original/image-20150717-24758-1xhhex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88753/original/image-20150717-24758-1xhhex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88753/original/image-20150717-24758-1xhhex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88753/original/image-20150717-24758-1xhhex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88753/original/image-20150717-24758-1xhhex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88753/original/image-20150717-24758-1xhhex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88753/original/image-20150717-24758-1xhhex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88753/original/image-20150717-24758-1xhhex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Belynda Henry – Think about you, oil paint on canvas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Belynda Henry. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88610/original/image-20150716-26289-13l4jnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88610/original/image-20150716-26289-13l4jnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88610/original/image-20150716-26289-13l4jnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88610/original/image-20150716-26289-13l4jnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88610/original/image-20150716-26289-13l4jnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88610/original/image-20150716-26289-13l4jnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88610/original/image-20150716-26289-13l4jnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88610/original/image-20150716-26289-13l4jnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Jim Thalassoudis – The ‘Skipping Girl’, little Audrey, oil on linen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Jim Thalassoudis. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88754/original/image-20150717-5108-1fivkxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88754/original/image-20150717-5108-1fivkxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88754/original/image-20150717-5108-1fivkxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88754/original/image-20150717-5108-1fivkxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88754/original/image-20150717-5108-1fivkxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88754/original/image-20150717-5108-1fivkxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88754/original/image-20150717-5108-1fivkxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88754/original/image-20150717-5108-1fivkxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist what – Silver Birtch, oil on linen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© what. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88755/original/image-20150717-5074-1q72sr1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88755/original/image-20150717-5074-1q72sr1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88755/original/image-20150717-5074-1q72sr1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=180&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88755/original/image-20150717-5074-1q72sr1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=180&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88755/original/image-20150717-5074-1q72sr1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=180&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88755/original/image-20150717-5074-1q72sr1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=227&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88755/original/image-20150717-5074-1q72sr1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=227&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88755/original/image-20150717-5074-1q72sr1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=227&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Philip Wolfhagen – Alpine transect, oil and beeswax on linen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Philip Wolfhagen Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88756/original/image-20150717-24758-1owh8ck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88756/original/image-20150717-24758-1owh8ck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88756/original/image-20150717-24758-1owh8ck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88756/original/image-20150717-24758-1owh8ck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88756/original/image-20150717-24758-1owh8ck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88756/original/image-20150717-24758-1owh8ck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88756/original/image-20150717-24758-1owh8ck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88756/original/image-20150717-24758-1owh8ck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Robert Ryan – Belongil Field, oil on canvas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Robert Ryan. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88757/original/image-20150717-5080-fgwtpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88757/original/image-20150717-5080-fgwtpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88757/original/image-20150717-5080-fgwtpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88757/original/image-20150717-5080-fgwtpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88757/original/image-20150717-5080-fgwtpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88757/original/image-20150717-5080-fgwtpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88757/original/image-20150717-5080-fgwtpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88757/original/image-20150717-5080-fgwtpf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Michael Zavros - Weeping, oil on panel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Michael Zavros. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88758/original/image-20150717-5104-18dsn8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88758/original/image-20150717-5104-18dsn8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88758/original/image-20150717-5104-18dsn8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88758/original/image-20150717-5104-18dsn8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88758/original/image-20150717-5104-18dsn8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88758/original/image-20150717-5104-18dsn8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=698&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88758/original/image-20150717-5104-18dsn8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=698&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88758/original/image-20150717-5104-18dsn8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=698&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Theo Papathomas – Constructed landscape, oil paint and enamel on canvas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Theo Papathomas. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88760/original/image-20150717-5111-6w7a8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88760/original/image-20150717-5111-6w7a8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88760/original/image-20150717-5111-6w7a8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88760/original/image-20150717-5111-6w7a8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88760/original/image-20150717-5111-6w7a8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88760/original/image-20150717-5111-6w7a8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88760/original/image-20150717-5111-6w7a8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88760/original/image-20150717-5111-6w7a8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Luke Sciberras – Up Shit Creek, Gallipoli, oil on board.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Luke Sciberras. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88762/original/image-20150717-5108-v9enpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88762/original/image-20150717-5108-v9enpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88762/original/image-20150717-5108-v9enpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88762/original/image-20150717-5108-v9enpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88762/original/image-20150717-5108-v9enpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88762/original/image-20150717-5108-v9enpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88762/original/image-20150717-5108-v9enpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88762/original/image-20150717-5108-v9enpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist John R Walker – Flood Creek approaching Summer I, archival oil on polyester.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© John R Walker. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88763/original/image-20150717-5089-1zje4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88763/original/image-20150717-5089-1zje4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88763/original/image-20150717-5089-1zje4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88763/original/image-20150717-5089-1zje4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88763/original/image-20150717-5089-1zje4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88763/original/image-20150717-5089-1zje4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1223&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88763/original/image-20150717-5089-1zje4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1223&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88763/original/image-20150717-5089-1zje4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1223&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Ulan Murray – Vita in extremis, copper, stainless steel and black steel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Ulan Murray. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88764/original/image-20150717-5092-elu6ym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88764/original/image-20150717-5092-elu6ym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88764/original/image-20150717-5092-elu6ym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=832&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88764/original/image-20150717-5092-elu6ym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=832&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88764/original/image-20150717-5092-elu6ym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=832&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88764/original/image-20150717-5092-elu6ym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88764/original/image-20150717-5092-elu6ym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88764/original/image-20150717-5092-elu6ym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Louis Pratt – King Coal, coal, resin, fibreglass and steel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Louis Pratt. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88766/original/image-20150717-5108-7ykh9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88766/original/image-20150717-5108-7ykh9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88766/original/image-20150717-5108-7ykh9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88766/original/image-20150717-5108-7ykh9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88766/original/image-20150717-5108-7ykh9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88766/original/image-20150717-5108-7ykh9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88766/original/image-20150717-5108-7ykh9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88766/original/image-20150717-5108-7ykh9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Angus Nivison – Poet, acrylic and pigment on canvas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Angus Nivison. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88767/original/image-20150717-5104-1xp9zre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88767/original/image-20150717-5104-1xp9zre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88767/original/image-20150717-5104-1xp9zre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88767/original/image-20150717-5104-1xp9zre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88767/original/image-20150717-5104-1xp9zre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88767/original/image-20150717-5104-1xp9zre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88767/original/image-20150717-5104-1xp9zre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88767/original/image-20150717-5104-1xp9zre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Abdul-Rahman Abdullah – In the name, tinted silicone, urethane, steel gambrel and galvanised chain, editiion 1/3.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Abdul-Rahman Abdullah. Photography courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88615/original/image-20150716-32625-1mu01yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88615/original/image-20150716-32625-1mu01yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88615/original/image-20150716-32625-1mu01yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88615/original/image-20150716-32625-1mu01yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88615/original/image-20150716-32625-1mu01yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88615/original/image-20150716-32625-1mu01yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88615/original/image-20150716-32625-1mu01yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88615/original/image-20150716-32625-1mu01yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2015 Wynne Prize finalist Jun Chen – Tropical forest II, oil on canvas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Jun Chen. Photograph courtesy of © AGNSW, Diana Panuccio.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44763/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prudence Gibson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The Wynne Prize has been notoriously male-dominated. What does this year’s winning artwork by Natasha Bieniek tell us about the nature of this particular award and how we can improve it?
Prudence Gibson, Art writer and Tutor, UNSW, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.