Art Prize Catalogue

2O24 ART PRIZE FINALISTS

The King’s School has a wonderful heritage of supporting contemporary art within Australia. The King’s School Art Prize was established in 1994 to encourage the careers of emerging contemporary Australian artists. This significant acquisitive prize celebrates a 30 year anniversary thanks to the ongoing generosity of The King’s School Fathers’ Association who have continued to sponsor the Art Prize since its genesis. Through this initiative, the boys and community of The King’s School enjoy the benefit of a wonderful collection of paintings that form a rich and immersive learning experience.

The celebrations are tinged with some sadness, however, with the recent passing of Sue Hewitt, a fine art consultant, art valuer and former Managing Director, Deputy Chairman of Christie’s. Sue played a pivotal role in the establishment of The King’s School Art Prize and remained a supporter of the Prize each year, right up until her passing in February of this year. The Art Prize Gala Dinner will be an opportunity to honour Sue’s life and to share some words of tribute for her contribution to King’s.

The King’s School Student Art Prize returns for 2024. This Prize was established by The Fathers’ Association in 2023 to further encourage a passion and appreciation of art in the Preparatory students. I encourage you to visit the Preparatory School Administration Centre to view the work of the finalists.

We welcome you to The King’s School Art Prize Exhibition and trust that you will be captivated by the selection of work on display.

Peter Allison Head of The Preparatory School

ROBYN STACEY

The King’s School Art Prize Winner 2023

Jane Watters is the Director, Galleries of the National Trust of Australia (NSW) and Director, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Gadigal land (Sydney) a role that she has held since 2001. The S.H. Ervin Gallery is one of Sydney’s leading public art galleries and presents the work of Australian artists, past and present in engaging exhibitions. She has curated many important exhibitions, managed major touring exhibitions and has judged many art prizes including the Portia Geach Memorial Award, NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize, Calleen Art Prize and the Gallipoli Art Prize, and has contributed to committees and advisory roles. Her professional experience commenced following studies in visual arts, art administration and education, and working in the commercial gallery sector. Jane has served on the board of Regional & Public Galleries Association of NSW and is alumnus of the Museum Leadership Program and recipient of two Gordon Darling Travel Grants. She is an advocate of contemporary, modern and historical Australian artists and cultural heritage, women artists and supports the Uluru Statement of the Heart.

GUEST JUDGE JANE WATTERS

DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL TRUST OF AUSTRALIA (NSW) AND S.H. ERVIN GALLERY

The King’s School has been a proud supporter of the arts for many years. This year, the School will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the awarding of The King’s School Art Prize.

The King’s School Art Prize is a prestigious and anticipated art prize within Sydney. The acquisitive award is currently valued at $20,000. It was established in 1994 and attracts entries from leading contemporary artists from across Australia.

Former winners include Steve Lopes, Peter Churcher, Nicholas Harding, McLean Edwards, Pepai Jangala Carroll, Aida Tomescu, Ben Quilty, Jun Chen and Cassaria Young Hogan.

All finalists’ artwork will be for sale, except for the 2024 Art Prize winner. If you are interested in purchasing one of these finalists’ pieces, please express your interest via email to mlt@kings.edu.au

A personal appointment for viewing will then be organised. Alternatively, general viewing of Art Prize finalists is available on Thursday 29 May to Saturday 1 June 8.00am to 4.00pm in Horrocks Hall.

2O24 ART PRIZE FINALIST'S PROFILE

ZICO ALBAIQUNI

FABRIZIO BIVIANO

JANIS CLARKE

MICHELLE BELGIORNO

MARK MAURANGI CARROL

MILMINYINA DHAMARRANDIJI

2O24 ART PRIZE FINALIST'S PROFILE

BLAK DOUGLAS

DAVID EASTWOOD

PAMELA HONEYFIELD

MEL DOUGLAS

DEAN HOME

CLIFFORD HOW

2O24 ART PRIZE FINALIST'S PROFILE

JEREMY KIRWAN-WARD

LORI PENSINI

DAVID RALPH

LOUISE OLSEN

AL POULET

JULIA ROCHE

2O24 ART PRIZE FINALIST'S PROFILE

MARINA ROLFE

YVETTE TZIALLAS

ALLIE WEBB

LLEWELLYN SKYE

KATE VASSALLO

ZOE YOUNG

2O24 ART PRIZE FINALISTS

‘PENDONGENG SENYAP DARI TIMUR’

(The Silent Storyteller from the East)

ZICO ALBAIQUNI | Ames Yavuz

Oil and Giclee on Canvas

140 x 105cm, $12,000

Oil on Linen

125 x 64cm, $2,600

“The genesis of this work draws from moments spent accompanying my mother on her hospital visits. She recounted childhood stories of her father and her home in Ciamis - a colonial Dutch architectural marvel - nestled in the Eastern Priangan. Each year, the façade would be transformed into another colour, embodying my grandfather’s resistance to, and liberation from, the confines of colonial whitewashed walls. Selecting colours that comforted the community, he would welcome guests during Eid al-Fitr festivities. The house was filled with books, diverse in language and spanning myriad narratives from Western classics to Eastern tales. Within a single breath, my grandfather would merge stories - interpreting the West through an Eastern lens and deciphering the East through the eyes of the West. Kyai Haji Hasan Mustapa's verse resonates:

"Throughout seeking the south, only the north I encounter. Throughout seeking the east, only the west I encounter. Throughout seeking something, only nothingness I encounter.””

“As a lifelong Japanophile, I have spent many hours hiking in Japanese forests for mental and physical well-being to counter the pressures of life in Tokyo.

The Japanese have a term for such therapy, Shinrin Yoku or Forest Bathing, where one mindfully spends time in nature.

Hiking along a steep narrow path surrounded by tall straight Cedar trees helps clear the mind. Pausing along the way, one takes in the light filtering through the branches and recharges the soul.”

‘SHINRIN YOKU - FOREST BATHING I’’

MICHELLE BELGIORNO | Art Atrium

As a lifelong

Japanophile,

I have spent many

hours

hiking in Japanese forests for mental and physical well-being to counter the pressures of life in Tokyo. MICHELLE BELGIORNO

“Embedded with personal and cultural references, my paintings function as self-portraits in a particular moment in time.”

“In this work ‘Cairn’ I am exploring notions of spent time, where a preoccupation on the past informs the present. Reworking the conventions of Dutch still life painting, I incorporate everyday objects to examine my own self, the ways in which I have spent and lost time, and the things we consume. Familiar objects, loosely rendered, such as paper coffee cups, books and tourist mementos sit in contrast to a painterly almost colourless space. My paintings are ultimately monuments to the past.”

“Through my exploration of suburban identity and its connection to hauntology, I find the clothesline to be a poignant yet banal symbol. Once a ubiquitous feature of suburban landscapes, the clothesline evokes a sense of community and domesticity now tinged with a haunting absence. It serves as a marker of routine, becoming a focal point for intersecting narratives of domesticity, nostalgia, and the passage of time. Its presence evokes a sense of hauntology, where the past echoes into the present, reminding us of vanished moments and lost connections. This contemplation delves into the elusive essence of home and memory.”

‘CAIRN’ FABRIZIO BIVIANO | Arthouse Gallery

Oil on Belgian Linen

167 x 138cm, $11,000

‘ALL THE TOWERS WE JUMPED’

MARK MAURANGI CARROL | Nasha Gallery

Oil Enamel, Permanent Marker on Linen

198 x 168cm, $8,000

2O24 ART PRIZE FINALISTS

‘BLUE FENCE 2022’

JANIS CLARKE | Olsen Gallery

Oil on Linen

121 x152cm, $8,800

‘DHAMBADINY (MILMINYINA) 1205-23’

MILMINYINA DHAMARRANDIJI | M Contemporary

Earth Pigments on Stringybark

89 x 36cm, $9,900

"My paintings reveal places and moments that are internalised and condensed. ‘Blue Fence 2022’ freezes a moment as a distilled memory, refracted and replayed, deciphered and dwelled in."

Milminyina was born in 1960 at Wirrwawuy, near Yirrkala and Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula, at the very northeastern tip of the Northern Territory and belongs to the Djambarrpuynu clan. She began painting on barks in 2022 exploring the theme of the songlines associated with ceremonies connected to Dhambandiny (Death or Deaf Adder) on Bremer Island. The island has estates belonging to her Djambarrpuynu clan including a sacred site dedicated to the serpent Dhambandiny. The epic song poetry of this area focuses upon a natural spring and a ceremonial sand sculpture. Her arm of the Djambarrpuynu clan is numerically small in this locale. She is the senior custodian of this songline and her bark paintings use the adder as the central feature of her works.

My work explores and interweaves the creative possibilities of this liminal space, where the form is not just a support for drawing; but a three-dimensional drawing itself. MEL DOUGLAS

‘SOLD

(OUT)’

BLAK DOUGLAS | Art Atrium

Synthetic Polymer Paints/Crushed Shells on Linen 100cm diameter, $17,000

"'SOLD (OUT)' is a parody of the notion of dot painting and it’s ultimate exploitative nature commensurate with ‘being an Aboriginal artist’. Also, the double entendre here is the abstraction of the red dot at point of sale aside artworks on commercial gallery walls. The cultural circle of life represented by the circular linen stretcher and the tradition by the red ochre base layer. The signal red acrylic overlay with crushed shells representative of; where we are (in the modern sense of art) and what our cultural obligations require. The cracking of this layer be the ‘rebirthing’ or awakening of such understanding."

“Objects and drawings are often thought of as two separate entities. My work explores and interweaves the creative possibilities of this liminal space, where the form is not just a support for drawing; but a three-dimensional drawing itself. Using the unique qualities of the material, and the rich potential of mark making on and with glass, I am using line as a way to inform, define and enable three-dimensional space.”

Throughout her career Douglas has pursued work that has been praised as ‘quiet, but strangely energetic and animated’ and as evidence of ‘her commitment to creative experimentation and evolution with the always challenging medium of glass.

‘SUPERIMPOSE I, II & III’

MEL DOUGLAS | Sabbia Gallery

Framed Glass Drawings on Glass

62.5 (h) x 1950 (w) x 4 (d) cm, $19,800 set of three

Can be sold individually on request

2O24 ART PRIZE FINALISTS

'PEDESTAL’

DAVID EASTWOOD | Robin Gibson Gallery

Acrylic on Polyester

61 x 56cm, $4,000

‘DAUGHTERS OF THE STORMY MOUNTAIN’

"Digitally manipulated 3D models scanned from a sculpture and piece of drapery form the basis for this painting. The objects pictured are virtual, detached from the physical world despite their semblance of material solidity. They occupy a simulated realm of jarring colours and illusory pattern in seemingly infinite space. The painting demonstrates a protracted process of mediation from source to image. It features the base support of a missing sculpture, the source of which is a plaster studio prop reproduced from a plaster bust in a Danish museum, which is in turn a copy of a marble head from the classical Roman era held in the Louvre. A torso and pedestal were later introduced to the plaster copy in Denmark, while the Louvre work is itself thought to be a fragment copied from a lost equestrian bronze statue from the Hellenistic period. Such a convoluted pedigree, erased in the painting, characterises the contested histories frequently associated with statuary from the past. Pedestal reflects the precarity of monuments as contentious objects and conveys a sense of loss, disconnection and distortion inherent in relics. Staged in a visually discordant scene and seemingly dislodged, the phantasmic effigy is depicted in a manner that does not correspond with authenticity, appearing instead as an incongruous figment; implausible and artificial."

"Inspired by the sensuality of everyday objects, the Italian Baroque period and ancient Chinese ceramics, my work is an exploration of the still life genre where ‘visual poems’ present a harmony between the ephemeral, earthly divinity and spiritual transcendence. ‘Daughters of the Stormy Mountain’ is a delicate balance of natural beauty and man-made objects. The ceramic bowl in the centre of the work serves as a landscape within a still life, while the flowers, in all their incandescent elegance provide a counterbalance; they will eventually decay and fade, representing the temporal nature of life."

A common theme with my work is the emotive connections I experience within specific isolated landscapes in my home state of Tasmania. This work is no exception. CLIFFORD HOW

‘RESILIENCE AND BEAUTY’

PAMELA HONEYFIELD | Defiance Gallery

Oil on Linen

125 x 155cm, $6,800

‘SECLUDED’

CLIFFORD HOW | Arthouse Gallery

Oil on Linen

153 x 183cm, $24,000

“‘Resilience and Beauty’ is an attempt to encapsulate the untamed wilderness of the Australian Outback, to paint a landscape which is both unruly and serene. Inspired by my trips to the East MacDonnell Ranges in the Northern Territory, my work invites viewers to immerse themselves in the raw beauty of our land, where nature's resilience is evident in every rugged terrain and tranquil vista. Taking in its beauty as you walk the trail of wild overgrown grasses, to then be delighted by the unexpected cluster of blood red flowers that punctuate the desert.”

“A common theme with my work is the emotive connections I experience within specific isolated landscapes in my home state of Tasmania. This work is no exception.

‘Secluded’ looks at not only the larger aspects of a vast wilderness, but the smaller more intimate features that it comprises.

The small isolated island nestled in a quiet bay of an ancient lake supports endemic flora and reminds us of its fragility and vulnerability despite its strength in withstanding the natural elements.

The necessity in preserving such fragile ecosystems is of upmost importance.”

2O24 ART PRIZE FINALISTS

‘COLLAPSING SPACE #10/24'

JEREMY KIRWAN-WARD | Gallery 9

Acrylic on Canvas

153 x 122cm, $12,000

The most recent work of an ongoing series, ‘Collapsing Space #10/24’, refers to a volume of time enclosed by the overlapping planes of closeness and beyond, of memory and longing.

"When we listen to music, it's not only about what we hear, but how we feel the sounds."

‘ONE RED PLUM WARMS THE MISTY AIR 2, 2024’

LOUISE OLSEN | Olsen Gallery

Mixed Media on Linen

136 x 110cm, $15,000

Living and working on Dharawal country, South of Sydney, inspires and sustains my passion. AL POULET

‘NORTH OF THE BLACK STUMP’ LORI PENSINI | Gallerysmith

Oil on Linen

110 x 100cm, $7,750

‘GOLDEN ORB WEAVER’

AL POULET | Wagner Contemporary Gallery

Charcoal, Acrylic and Spray Paint on Canvas

157 x 189cm, $12,000

“‘North of the Black Stump’ is a self reflective portrait of me as a young woman heading North into the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia to be a cook and jillaroo on my husband’s cattle station ‘Wyloo’. A million acres 1800 kms from home was a world away. A land of contradiction, hours and hours of flat nothingness giving way to the everything of rugged ranges and ancient rivers. It speaks of a life rich in colour and a woman’s best friend being her own grit and determination.”

“‘Golden Orb Weaver’ captures the ever-changing moments of a life on the fringe of society by me a silent observer and artist.

I am drawn to life-experiences where there are moments of clarity and I seek places that excite my interest and therefore inform my paintings. Living and working on Dharawal country, South of Sydney, inspires and sustains my passion.

This painting captures my experience with the Golden Orb Weaver, a seasonal spider that signals the end of the summer and seems to capture the last golden rays of the hot sun around the studio before it is forgotten. These spiders build vast golden webs with impressive strength high and low between the trees harvesting insects and stringing them up for their offspring to eat.”

2O24 ART PRIZE FINALISTS

‘THE (CRYSTAL) BALLROOM’

DAVID RALPH | Gallery 9

Oil on Canvas

86.5 x 81.5cm, $9,900

Oil, Mixed Media on Canvas

122 x 153cm, $8,500

“‘The (Crystal) Ballroom’ is an evocation of a place as a portrait of a person's psyche via the atmosphere of a particular room they created. This is related to the 18th and 19th century genre of ‘interior portraiture', which can be seen in the work of the Danish interior painter Vilhelm Hammershoi (1864-1916).

My painting however goes beyond pure representation into a visceral realm of expressive and experimental technique, the painting reveals a layered physical and psychological space somewhere between memory, fantasy and reality as a vision, whilst evoking the ballroom's physicality in its layers of faded fresco and scarred walls.”

Julia Roche explores her immediate surroundings situated in the ever-changing landscape, bearing witness to the emotive and sublime qualities of the environment. She lives on Wiradjuri country near Mangoplah in regional New South Wales. As land custodians, Roche and her family are learning about, and respect the changing cycles of the ecosystem and the disquieting power of nature.

‘Gums Ascending’ was painted plein air on an elevated part of their property. Guided by the elements, Roche focuses on what she feels. In this work, the trees are floating into the sky - they exist as elements, spilling in, drifting off, being light. And the sky exists as a record of the wind.

Roche hopes to elicit conversations about our relationship with the environment, encouraging a shift away from transient, fleeting associations towards more sustained, symbiotic connections. Her layering processes and intuitive gestural marks are abstract transfigurations of the real and the illusory, evoking the essence of place and marking a moment in time.

‘GUMS ASCENDING’

JULIA ROCHE | Defiance Gallery

I explore the interwoven relationships within nature, drawing inspiration from the poignant shift between seasons, particularly the arrival of Autumn. MARINA ROLFE

‘FEATHERS IN AUTUMN ATTIRE’

MARINA ROLFE | Arc One

Oil on Linen

106.7 x 137.2 cm, $6,600

‘STILLNESS IN MOTION’

LLEWELLYN SKYE | Wagner Contemporary Gallery

Acrylic/Oil on Canvas

112 x 183cm, $10,000

“In my painting ‘Feathers in Autumn Attire,’ I explore the interwoven relationships within nature, drawing inspiration from the poignant shift between seasons, particularly the arrival of Autumn. Positioned between abstraction and representation, the artwork combines various natural elements and becomes an exploration of the changing landscape, where every brushstroke reminds us of the shifting hues and textures of Autumn. As the crisp air announces the arrival of Autumn, I envision the world adorned in its seasonal attire, witnessing nature’s metamorphosis as birds gracefully dress in ‘Autumn outfits,’ their plumage is a symphony of russet, gold, and amber. Through my painting, I aim to transport viewers to a state of childlike wonder, where the beauty of Autumn unfolds before their eyes, inviting them to linger and explore the layers of emotions and meanings in shifts of colour and form.”

“Breathing Deeply. There's a shift. Everything is moving, shifting, changing. Chaos surrounds me, yet I feel grounded. I breathe. I centre myself. Growth. Uncertainty. A deeper breath. Surrounded by turmoil, I feel calm. I find peace. I breathe deeply again. Motion, movement, dance, I'm in my body, I'm dancing again. Motion. Reflection. Change.

Working primarily with oil paint in my studio, I'm interested in capturing the tension point between fragility and power, chaos and calm, acceptance and resistance. Inspired by nature, in particular florals, I revel in these dualities; challenging the notion of femininity, aesthetics and the canon of floral painting.”

2O24 ART PRIZE FINALISTS

‘LIFE GIVER’

YVETTE TZIALLAS | M Contemporary

Pen, Ink and Liquid Acrylic on Birch Plywood

153 x 123 cm, $7,800

“‘Life-Giver’ was created during a particularly difficult personal time for me when I was faced with the life altering news that my first transplanted kidney was in failure and I would either require dialysis or another kidney transplant to survive. When dealing with chronic illness the anxiety and constant thoughts about your mortality and quality of life are unending.

My visual work has always gone hand in hand with my lived experiences and the world around me. These elements interweave and co-exist together as I very much approach my practice as a form of self-therapy, a place I can escape to and give my conscious and subconscious thoughts freedom to have a visual voice. As I weighed up the gravity of my impending situation, I began to view both of these outcomes as forces to prolong my life and to continue doing what I love in the process.”

“‘Radiate’ was repetitiously and ritualistically built up slowly with thin layers of acrylic paint, applied by dragging a brush in a repeated radial direction. The colours obscure or merge as layered, changing visually over time in relation to one another. Similarly, as the chance-based geometric shapes layer, they slowly soften their hard edges.

Using the golden ratio to dictate the vertical form cutting through the painting, the transparent deep purple is intended to further complicate the colour. I wanted to push softness and ambiguity in this work, while creating complex and dense patches of colour. While making work, I like to consider chance in relation to agency, intuition and labour. My aim is to use the surface and material to capture and communicate time. I wanted the painting to have a sense of history and memory imbedded in it."

‘RADIATE’

KATE VASSALLO | Artereal Gallery

Acrylic Paint on Canvas

92 x 82cm, $2,500

There’s an incredible trepidation in tackling a subject matter that’s been on one’s list for a long time; often things are so perfect in nature it’s far too daunting a thought to grasp painting them.

ZOE YOUNG

‘SELF

PORTRAIT IN A BISTRO’

Linocut Relief Print on Somerset 300gsm

56 x 65cm, $3,500

“The experiments of the Cubists painters were keen to deconstruct the very object of looking by any means necessary. To distil the elements to their most basic forms, relying often on a mere silhouette to generate pictorial interest.”

“There’s an incredible trepidation in tackling a subject matter that’s been on one’s list for a long time; often things are so perfect in nature it’s far too daunting a thought to grasp painting them. Calla Lilies have fascinated me; my mother planted a sea of them outside our dining room so 2 huge windows overlooked them. It was such a beautiful room even when it was empty, but especially when it was full of life, with the sea of Lillies like a chorus in the background.

The ‘video’ label in the title refers to the fact that I often paint the same thing in 3 different sizes (script, video and cinematic) to explore how scale presents different problems to solve and how this affects the final composition.”

ALLIE WEBB | Olsen Gallery

‘LILI MARLENE (video)’

ZOE YOUNG | Sophie Gannon Gallery

Acrylic on Canvas

120 x 90cm, $12,500

2O24 ART PRIZE FINALISTS THE KING’S SCHOOL ART

PRIZE RETROSPECTIVE WINNERS

SINCE 1994 THE KING’S SCHOOL HAS, THROUGH ITS PRESTIGIOUS ART PRIZE, ACQUIRED THE WORKS OF SOME OF AUSTRALIA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL AND INNOVATIVE CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS.

2022

CASSARIA YOUNG HOGAN NGAYUKU COMMUNITY 1, 2021

2020

PEPAI JANGALA CARROLL WALUNGURRU

GUM AMONGST A TANGLE OF BUSH DEBRIS

SQUARES

Receive savings equal to the GST* and a 5 year/ 80,000km BMW Service Inclusive Basic Package^ when you purchase a selected new or demonstrator BMW from Parramatta BMW.

Parramatta BMW 40-52 Church Street, Parramatta. Ph (02) 7803 4002. parramattabmw.com.au MD 041203

Terms and conditions apply. Offer available at Parramatta BMW only for vehicles purchased and delivered by 30th June 2024. Excludes BMW iX2 and i5 models. Excludes fleet, government and rental buyers. Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer. Not redeemable for cash, non-negotiable or transferable. Offer must be presented at time of purchase to redeem. Parramatta BMW reserves the right to withdraw, change or extend the offer. Consult Parramatta BMW for further details. *Discount equal to the GST payable on the purchase of a vehicle at the manufacturer’s recommended drive away price from Parramatta BMW. GST will be included in the drive away price of the discounted vehicle and will be payable by the purchaser. ^BMW Service Inclusive – Basic offer is for 5 years/80,000km (whichever occurs first), and is based on the vehicle's condition-based service monitoring system for that period. Normal wear and tear and other exclusions apply. Visit bmw.com/en-au/offers-and-services/personal-services/serviceinclusive for terms and conditions. PARRAMATTA BMW PROUDLY SUPPORTING THE KING’S SCHOOL COMMUNITY.