FINALIST - 2020 PADDINGTON ART PRIZE

What an honour to be selected as a finalist in this year’s Paddington Art Prize with my work ‘In Love and War -Archibald Fountain Hyde Park’ amongst such an amazing line up of Australian artists. The exhibition of national finalists will be exhibited at Defiance Gallery Paddington Sydney and the winners will be announced on Thursday 29th October 2020. Congratulations to all the finalists! and a huge thank you to the highIy esteemed panel of judges Ross Laurie, Rhonda Davis and Jeanette Siebols for selecting my work. I cannot wait to see their selection.

See selected finalists here

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The Paddington Art Prize is a $30,000 National acquisitive prize, awarded annually for a painting inspired by the Australian landscape. Established in 2004 by Arts Patron, Marlene Antico OAM, this National prize takes its place among the country’s most lucrative and highly coveted painting prizes.

 The prize encourages the interpretation of the landscape as a significant contemporary genre, its long tradition in Australian painting as a key contributor to our national ethos, and is a positive initiative in private patronage of the arts in Australia.

Marlene Antico OAM, created the Prize in order to assist with the monetary difficulties that often impede artists from showcasing their works. As an art student, gallery owner and volunteer guide at the AGNSW for over 10 years, she has underscored her commitment to supporting contemporary Australian artists, aware, of the financial concerns that prevent many artists from devoting themselves entirely to their art practice.

In 2017, Chris Antico, Marlene’s son joined as Principal Co-sponsor of the prize. The Paddington Art Prize appreciates the ongoing generosity of the following key sponsors and supporters: Marlene Antico OAM, Chris Antico, UNSW Art & Design, The Sydney Art Store, Sofala Cottage, Charvin Oils, Lucio’s Italian Restaurant, Defiance Gallery,  Nock Art Foundation, Tracey Deep Floral Sculptures, Valiant Hire and Woollahra Municipal Council.

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A $30,000 Annual National Acquisitive Prize for a painting inspired by
the Australian Landscape

Sponsored by Marlene Antico OAM.

We also have five non-acquisitive prizes listed below:

HONOURABLE MENTION PRIZE

a $3,000 prize  sponsored by Chris Antico (Co-Principal Sponsor)

HIGHLY COMMENDED PRIZE

$1,000 prize

DEFIANCE GALLERY AWARD

 Two artists selected from the 2020 submissions will be chosen by Directors Campbell Robertson-Swann &  Lauren Harvey, and offered an exhibition with Defiance Gallery at Mary Place, Sydney in 2021.

NOCK ART FOUNDATION PRIZE

 Michael Nock will offer the TWO above mentioned selected artists a 3 week Residency at “Giverny”, Queenstown, New Zealand. With artist studios and airfares included.

UNSW ART & DESIGN PRIZE

will offer a chosen artist the opportunity to create a limited edition print

with Master Printer, Michael Kempson.

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD

$1,000 gift certificate from Theresa Sarjeant of Fine Art Imaging

‘In Love and War - Archibald Fountain Hyde Park’ 2020, Mixed media and photomontage on Saunders Waterford Paper, 150cm x 100cm

Parks are landscapes. They often feature structures that tell narratives about the built history of our landscape. With the looming 100 year anniversary of the Archibald Prize I painted the famous Archibald Fountain in the iconic Hyde Park. It’s location, a junction point called ‘Birubi Circle’.

DR JULIE KEYS - ACCLAIMED AUSTRALIAN AUTHOR REVIEWS 'COME SHOWER WITH ME'

Feeling extremely humbled and privileged to have struck up a wonderful friendship with the amazing Australian author Julie Keys, whose debut novel The Artist's Portrait which was shortlisted for The Richell Prize for Emerging Writers in 2017 and published by Hachett Australia is going gangbusters. Julie became fascinated by my art and my journey as an artist and attended my exhibition Come Shower With Me currently on at The SHAC Robertson NSW. She was kind enough to put pen to paper and write a review. Read about it here.

Louisa Chircop – Come shower with me

I met Louisa on Instagram. She followed me. I followed her back. She posted photos of artwork. Hers. Striking images with elements of the surreal that centred on scenes of her showering.  I pressed the screen to get a closer look. But those phones, they’re just not big enough. 

I’d developed a fascination for visual arts. This happened while I was doing background research for a novel I was writing.  I became absorbed – went to exhibitions, listened to talks, sat in on workshops, poured myself into textures and scents and images, taking in the debates and controversy on what made art and artists great, all the while wondering if  I was really getting it.  That whole visceral reaction people talked about eluded me. I felt distant, aloof until I came across something of Rothko’s from the 1930’s; streamlined bodies standing on a subway their heads curved forward like hooks.  My chest thumped. I sucked in a breath. The next time was over a painting by Vida Lahey.

Half a dozen years later I was trying to get a better look at Louisa’s work on a dodgy phone beneath poor lighting. Something had caught my attention. I was curious. The paintings, it turned out, were part of an exhibition. Come shower with me.  I DM’ed Louisa.

I have not lost that awkward, slightly uncomfortable feel of going to an exhibition and of being around art. Not that I want things too sweet. I crave art that widens my eyes, gives me that cold shiver, makes me want to look. The gallery was light and warm. I relaxed. It was an easy space to be in and Louisa’s work encouraged me to stand closer, stand further away, scrunch my eyes, hold out my hand, see everything.

Showering is mostly a solo activity for me, a sanctuary, a place of contemplation. But there I was being invited to join Louisa in that private moment when thoughts disassembled, dripped from your hair and fingers and swirled around your skin, ingesting body parts with tarry thick ideas before they disappeared down the plughole if you didn’t get hold of them. I walked the shape of a U in the gallery absorbing pieces of  Louisa’s gaze, bold fragments, exchanging energy in my own conversation with each canvas, craning my neck for one last look before I moved onto the next one.

Then, I found the artist, the flesh and blood one. This was the first time Louisa and I had met in real life. There were no profound questions from me. My head was full of  thoughts and impressions and sensations that I needed to process. The questions would come later – after I’d had time to stew on it. What I did instead was position Louisa in front of the largest canvas, took photos then got someone to take photos of the two of us together, tourist style – post shower. And for some reason that seemed exactly the right thing to do. 

Louisa Chircop – Come shower with me

The SHAC, Robertson

February 22nd to March 16th

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MUD LITERARY PRIZE 2020. A story about art, murder, and making your place in history.

'An intriguing read with compelling descriptions of early 20th-century Sydney in all its squalor, debauchery and fascinating historical detail.' Who Weekly

Read More about Julie Keys here.

'COME SHOWER WITH ME' - SOLO EXHIBITION OPENING 22nd FEB 2020 @shac_robertson

Pen in the Date!…Please join me at the opening of my solo exhibition 'Come Shower with Me' at the SHAC (Southern Highlands Artisans Collective) in Robertson in the wonderful community of the Southern Highlands - which we all know has recently been through a terrible period of the recent bushfires. It's a great opportunity to visit the area, and support the local businesses doing it tough (from buying a coffee to booking a place to stay for the weekend) like at the Robertson Hotel who are proud sponsors of The SHAC. Alternatively join me at Robertson Pub for a drink and an early dinner after the show.

Exhibition to be officially opened by award-winning Sydney Artist Halinka Orszulok Saturday 22nd February 2020 at 2pm at The SHAC (NEXT TO THE BIG POTATO) Exhibition continues and closes Monday March 6th 2020 at 4pm

PLEASE NOTE: the Official opening with drinks and opening address by award winning artist Halinka Orszulok will be Sat 22nd Feb 2020, However the exhibition will be open to the public from Friday 21st Feb 2020 if you happen to be already in the area.

The event is free but please RSVP here to give us an idea with numbers.

Drinks and nibbles provided.

If you can't make the opening you are welcome to drop in Gallery hours are Friday-Monday 10am-4pm

All works for sale. Works will also be available for purchase in an online catalogue coming soon.

enquiries@theshac.com.au

Enquiries: Patsy Peacock (President)
patsy@theshac.com.au
0614 0299 8644

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

‘Come shower with me’ invites viewers into the intimate world of Sydney based artist Louisa Chircop. As the title of her exhibition suggests, Chircop not only utilises the idea of the history of women’s activity in the bathroom but also uses the concept of showering to parallel her creative process in an ode to free association and surrealism, similarly the way ideas come to mind in the shower.

Through Chircop’s experience and interest in art history and psychological phenomenons, she explores the human condition creating images that are illicit in nature, rendered with complex meaning and hints of the shadow self. Chance encounters are played out repositioning women in art history whilst simultaneously positioning herself in relation to history, creating a metaphorical allegory about our present time.

Chircop is comfortable as chameleon, every image is a reconstruct of thought drawn from a stream of subconscious detritus into the reservoir of her conscious awakening. She creates with the inquisitive mind of an octopus foraging through its shady garden on the ocean floor. Every work, a token re-cleansing of the body, mind and spirit is an attempt to navigate existential pathways through the world resurrecting the female image from the grave of western art.