Martin King has been crowned the winner of the inaugural $5,000 acquisitive Gippsland Print Award for his relief etching Dawn Survey – Indigo (2015).
The winning work references the genres of still life and natural history painting. His work, depicting the tail feathers of a lyre-bird, is drawn from observation and modified by imagination. As a ‘synthesis of opposites’, the work reflects on a number of things – human and animal, life and death, beauty and macabre, and nature and ‘nature morte’.
The judging panel comprised, Gallery Director Anton Vardy, Gallery Curator Simon Gregg, and guest judge Melissa Keys, an independent curator and Senior Exhibitions Manager with NETS Victoria.
In awarding the prize the judges praised the technique showed by King, and the work’s remarkable sensitivity and boldness. They noted the ‘lyrical and poetical’ nature of the work, which ‘transcended time’ while also cleverly reflecting on the process of printmaking itself through its references to carbon ink and paper.
The Gippsland Print Award is a new biennial prize for Australian printmaking. The inaugural Award attracted 256 entries from around Australia, from professional and amateur artists alike, and includes examples of every kind of print process from the more traditional etching and linocut, to works that include flashing LED lights and digital manipulation. King’s Dawn Survey – Indigo was automatically acquired by the Gippsland Art Gallery is currently on show, along with the other 255 entries at the Gallery.
Gippsland Art Gallery
Until 22 November, 2015
Victoria
Martin King, Winner of Gippsland Print Award 2015 standing in front of his winning work; Dawn Survey – Indigo, 2015, relief etching on paper, 90 x 134cm
