2024: Wendy Sharpe AM
'Wendy Sharpe AM is one of Australia’s most acclaimed and awarded artists, she lives and works in Sydney and Paris.
She has won a long list of prizes, residencies and scholarships; These include: winning the Archibald Prize, the Sulman Prize, the Portia Geach Memorial Award, the Gold Award and many others.
She has been awarded many international residencies, in places as diverse as Antarctica and Egypt , and has also had residencies with the Australian Ballet, Opera Australia, Circus Oz and more.
Major commissions include , one from the Australian War Memorial as an Australian Official War Artist , the first woman since WWll
In in June and July this year she has a solo exhibition " Spellbound ' at the Art Gallery of NSW, and will be exhibiting at the Australian Embassy in Paris, later this year in September
Sharpe has held over 70 solo exhibitions around Australia and internationally. She exhibits in QLD at Philip Bacon Galleries Brisbane.'
photo by Nikki Mclennan
OUR PAST JUDGES
2023: Tim Storrier AM
Synonymous with the Australian art world, Tim Storrier AM has rightfully solidified his place within it, creating some of the most sought-after works by institutions and collectors alike. At just 19 years of age in 1968, Storrier was the youngest artist to win the Sulman Prize, later going on to win it again in 1984. His trajectory has remained on an upward tilt, winning the coveted Archibald Prize in 2012 with The Histrionic Wayfarer (after Bosch) and the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize in 2017 with a portrait of Mclean Edwards.
The beauty of Storrier’s work is born from his ability to isolate a moment in time and perfect it with intense detail. He has championed the expansive, vast and pared-back Australian landscape with vivid colour and poise. Drawing on the Romantics, Storrier fixates on five key elements; sublime landscapes, stars, fire, air and water, and their inextricable connection to our own mortality. Indeed, these have been the defining and driving forces behind Storrier's artistic practice. However, it is through his unmistakable obsession and subtle adjustments of these elements, he consistently delivers profoundly distinct experiences year after year.
Represented in all major institutions within Australia as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Storrier continues to establish himself as a major figure in Australian art. Notable exhibitions include: a retrospective at S. H Ervin Gallery, Sydney 2011; The Poetry of Detritus, Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane, Queensland, 2015; Difficult Pleasures, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany, 2017; An Itinerant’s Repose, Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane, Queensland, 2020 and his most recent offering, Voyager, Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane, Queensland, 2022 which was received with resounding success.
2022: Dr. Maryanne Coutts
Having studied at VCA between 1979 and 1981, the City Art Institute in 1984, in 1999 she completed a PhD at the University of Ballarat. She has exhibited extensively throughout Australia and overseas. In recent years she was awarded the Portia Geach Memorial Award in 2007 and has been a finalist in awards such as the Dobell Drawing Prize, Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing and the Kedumba Drawing Prize. Her work is held by several Australian regional and tertiary collections
Based in a lively drawing practice, Maryanne Coutts' work is increasingly an exploration of the relationship between drawing and time. Her work explores the fleeting and layered qualities of the passage of time through works on paper and animation as well as ritualistic daily projects such as Dress Code, where each day since 2013 she has made a drawing of what she wore that day.
More recently she was joint host of the 2020 SBS series "Life Drawing Live" alongside Wendy Sharpe and Rove McManus
2020: Tim Gruchy
Tim grew up in Bundaberg during the 1960s and 1970s going to both Bundaberg West State School and Bundaberg State High School
Now based in South Australia his extensive career spans the exploration and composition of interactive immersive multimedia through installation and performance, redefining it's role and challenging delineations between cultural sectors.
He's exhibited multimedia works, photography, video, music and performance since the early 1980s. Works are in private, corporate and museum collections, and the public art arena.
His installations and performances feature in international and Australasian institutions, festivals and public spaces.
He has exhibited in Africa, Australia, New Zealand, China, Taiwan, Holland, Belgium, UK, USA, Japan, France and Thailand
Currently a Distinguished Professor at Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts and Adjunct Research Professor, University of South Australia.
His research includes interactivity, the human computer interface and preformative interactives.
2019: LORRAINE KYPIOTIS
MA (Uni Syd.) BA. Dip Ed (Uni Syd.)
Lorraine is a Senior Lecturer in Art History and Theory at the National Art School. She is passionate about art, education and history and runs a number of programs which foster the building of skills, knowledge and values in the fine arts. Lorraine holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of Sydney in Renaissance Studies and is currently engaged in a Doctor of Philosophy in Art History at the University of Sydney.
Lorraine is also a frequent and popular guest lecturer at the AGNSW and is a regular guest on ABC Radio National’s Nightlife program
