HAYDEN FOWLER, OWEN LEONG AND EMILY SANDRUSSI SHORTLISTED FOR THE BLAKE PRIZE

Image: Owen Leong, Cutting (diptych), 2014, archival pigment on cotton paper, 100 x 143cm, edition of 2

Congratulations to Hayden Fowler, Owen Leong and Emily Sandrussi - all of whom are finalists in this year's distinguished Blake Prize and were selected from over 1000 entries.

Now in its 63rd year, the prestigious award is handed out annually by The Blake Society with the aim of challenging artists to investigate ideas and issues surrounding spiritual thought and religion in contemporary art and literature. Open to all faiths, artistic styles and media, the prize seeks to unearth the multitude of ways in which notions of faith can be explored in contemporary conversations.

Hayden Fowler's interdisciplinary practice reflects on the consequences of the increasing separation between humanity and nature at a time when it is becoming more and more difficult to define what is natural. He has been shortlisted for his mesmerising video artwork, New World Order. 

Owen Leong has been shortlisted for his artwork, Cutting (diptych), which depicts the artist's mother and father holding an orchid cactus entombed in wax. Also known as 'Queen of the Night', this plant can take up to a year to produce a flower that only blooms for a single night. Planted by his parents in the home where he was born, it has been nurtured and regrown from cutting to cutting and used by the artist's grandmother to make a healing soup.

In her suite of artworks, Domino Theory, Emily Sandrussi has been inspired by old photographs taken by her stepfather during the Vietnam War, which she has scanned and deliberately altered via digital corruption. Domino Theory is a poignant contemporary 'momento mori' which is both deeply personal as well as universal.

Image: Emily Sandrussi, Untitled, 2013, from the series Domino Theory, pigment inkjet print, 100 x 100cm 

  

Bloodmilk and Domino Theory can be seen at Artereal Gallery until 20 December.

The Blake Finalist Exhibition is presented at UNSW Galleries from Friday 12 December - Saturday 31 January 2015.

2013 BLAKE PRIZE

Stevie Fieldsend_Cauter_2013

Congratulations to Liam Benson, Stevie Fieldsend, Hyun-Hee Lee and Ken + Julia Yonetani all of whom are finalists in the 2013 Blake Prize. 

The 2013 shortlist includes two works by artists based in the ACT; 44 by artists based in NSW; three artists in the NT; two artists in QLD, three artists in TAS; 11 artists in VIC; three artists in SA; four artists in WA and one artist based overseas (USA). 

This year, the Blake Society has increased the Blake Prize Award category– taking the total prize pool for the awards to $35,000. The 73 finalists are vying for three awards: the 62nd Blake Prize ($25,000), the MUA Blake Prize for Human Justice ($5,000), and the John Coburn Emerging Artist Award ($5,000). 

The art prize this year is judged by Carriageworks Director Lisa Havilah, COFA’s Senior Lecturer in the School of Art Theory and Art Education, Dr Jay Johnston, and 2012 finalist Tim Johnson, a prominent artist known for his spiritual iconography.

The winner of the Blake Prize will be announced on 17 October whilst the exhibition of finalists can be seen at COFA Gallery until 16 November.

 Liam Benson_Santa_2013

Hyun-Hee Lee_Confessions_2013

Ken + Julia Yonetani_Sense of Vision_2011

HYUN-HEE LEE WINS THE 2012 JOHN COBURN EMERGING ARTIST AWARD!

Hyun-Hee Lee_Homage (detail)_2012_acrylic on paper on canvas on board panels_153 x 153cm

 

Artereal Gallery is excited to announce, that for the second year in a row, an Artereal artist has won the John Coburn Emerging Artist Award!

Artereal Gallery would like to congratulate Hyun-Hee Lee on winning the 2012 John Coburn Emerging Artist Award! The prestigious $5,000 award which comes under the auspices of the Blake Prize was announced yesterday morning, with the official opening of the Prize taking place last night at S.H. Ervin Gallery. 

Hyun-Hee was awarded the prize for her work Homage, which relates to her conversion from Buddhism to Catholicism and the respect and gratitude she has for both religions. 

The Blake Art Prize judges, Associate Professor Roland Boer, Felicity Fenner and Hossein Valamanesh commented on the way in which "this perceptive work engages with translatability, and the increasing interstitial nature, or in-between-ness, of religious life. Each panel contains texts of the New Testament translated into Korean. These texts are cut into strips and then folded and knotted into small bows and attached in a complex overlay. Some have traces of the individual seal of the writer, although their identity is not clear (as with most sacred texts). Spirituality is found inevitably at intersections. In each new location, they are enculturated, operating as the bridges between cultures." 

The 2012 Blake Art Prize received over 1,100 entries respectively this year from which 57 finalist were selected. These works will be exhibited at S.H. Ervin Gallery from 9 November to 16 December 2012. 

To see a catalogue of available works by Hyun-Hee Lee please contact the gallery. New work by Hyun-Hee Lee will also be exhibited as part of our upcoming group exhibition Paint, which opens on 5 December 2012.