2008 Art prize winner revealed

29/08/08

Brisbane based artist, Scott Redford, was last night announced the winner of the coveted Sunshine Coast Regional Council and Sajen legal, $20,000 Sunshine Coast Art Prize, to a record crowd at the Caloundra Regional Art Gallery. Sunshine Coast Council Mayor, Bob Abbott, said the calibre of artists who entered the competition and were selected to be one of the 40 finalists, was testament to the unbridled success of the art competition which is now in its third year. “I congratulate Scott on his win – it is hugely rewarding for this Council to be able to award artists for their passion and their talent,” Cr Abbot said.
“The Sunshine Coast Art Prize is a signature cultural event on the coast which has again attracted a high quality art from across the nation. “I would like to thank both the wider community for their enthusiastic response to this prize and principal partner Sajen legal for their unwavering support.” The Prize this year was judged by Julie Ewington, Curatorial Manager of Australian Art at Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art. On her selection of the winning work Ewington said ‘Scott’s current painting has taken his familiar preoccupation with Queensland beach culture, and the beach as a myth-making place in Australia, to a new and curiously ecstatic place.
He has fused abstract expressionist painting with blue sea-scape references. It’s as if the experience of painting is being conflated with the thrill of surfing inside a fine tube wave on a sunny day. The Reinhardt of the title might be the name of Redford’s mythical surfer, but it is also the name of the renowned American, Ad Reinhardt, great painter and great theorist of post-war art. In all of this, it’s clear that Scott is privileging culture here, now, in Queensland, on the coast. Current painting from here and now, taking its place in art history, on a world stage. Funky, passionate, quite gorgeous, I find Reinhardt’s Silver Instant Painting to be the award winner from a highly competitive field. And hope that successive visitors to the Gallery will enjoy it in the years to come. The winning work, titled Reinhardt's Silver Instant Painting, was chosen from works submitted by 400 artists from across the nation. 40 finalists were selected for the prize exhibition. Scott Redford received $15,000 and a four-week residency at Maleny to the value of $5,000.
The following finalists were also recognized in the judging: The $2,000 Highly Commended Prize was awarded to Peter Alwast for his Clouds, oil on poly cotton painting. The judge described Peter as ‘an idiosyncratic multi-media artist whose distinctive vision is growing stronger with each year. His allusive, complex paintings, in dialogue with his animations, scope the skies above his native Gold Coast, while considering the life that unfolds beneath it.’ The $1,000 Commended Prize went to Bronek Kozka for There’s something about … . Judge Julie Ewington commented that ‘indeed there is something very strange other-worldly about this remarkable photograph. Rendered in the increasingly popular photographic and print media of inkjet printing, Bronek’s masterly There’s something about… appears at first glance to be a bleached and re-rendered image drawn from a pictorial publication of the 1950s or 1960s, perhaps one of the canonical mass-media magazines such as the one held by the ‘father’ figure in the image.’ The Sunshine Coast Art Prize exhibition runs until 5 October. The Caloundra Regional Art Gallery is open everyday during the Prize from 10am to 4pm and entry is free. Enquiries: (07) 5420 8299. ends Background information about SCAP SCAP is a national contemporary painting and 2D art prize presented by the Sunshine Coast Regional Council and principal partner Sajen legal. As an acquisitive prize, over time this initiative will build a significant art collection for the Sunshine Coast.
The winner receives $15,000 plus a four week residency in Maleny on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland valued at $5,000. The non-acquisitive people’s choice prize valued at $2,500 is announced at the end of the exhibition. The prize is open to all Australian artists working in any 2D medium. The 40 finalist were chosen from 400 applicants submitted to the pre-selection panel. SCAP online SCAP Online is a new initiative that offers a virtual view of the exhibition. Anyone on the web can navigate through the exhibition and see the art works on the Gallery walls. They can even nominate their peoples choice and purchase a work. It is an exciting initiative. To experience it go to: http://www.scap.org.au/virtualscap/index.htm