The winners of the 2014 Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize were announced last Friday at an opening event held at the National Art School Gallery in Sydney.
Awarded the $25,000 established artist prize was respected Australian-Indigenous artist Vernon Ah Kee for his charcoal drawing on canvas entitled Lex Wotton, 2013. Emerging Western-Sydney based artist Tom Polo was awarded the $10,000 emerging artist prize for his site-specific installation entitled Heads are turning/Swimming in the muck/The future of honesty, 2014.
National Art School curator, Judith Blackall, one of the judges of the established artist award, said: “Vernon’s masterful drawing technique of charcoal and acrylic paint on canvas goes from strength to strength. This portrait is particularly powerful as it shows Lex Wotton – who the artist knows well as he is married to Vernon’s cousin – in profile, with an intense gaze. Importantly, the story behind the portrait is of great significance, both personally for the artist and politically for Australia.
“Lex Wotton was blame as an instigator of the Palm Island riots in 2004, related to the brutal death in police custody of Mulrunji (Cameron) Doomadgee. Wotton was vilified by the authorities and the media, and he’s not allowed to look directly at the camera. The story behind the work of Aboriginal deaths in custody provides a powerful reminder and area of study for students, staff and parents of Redlands for years to come and the importance of discussing what happened on Palm Island.”
Emerging artist award judge Fabian Byrne of Redlands School noted the strong competition this year but says that they were won over by Tom Polo’s site specific installation. The work, entitled Heads are turning/Swimming in the muck/The future of honesty, is a large-scale wall painting created by the artist directly onto the gallery wall during installation of the exhibition.
Both of the winning artworks are acquired into the permanent collection of Redlands, in accordance with the Prize tradition. Over the past two decades, Redlands has amassed an impressive collection through the Prize acquisitions, including works by some of Australia’s most respected names such as Callum Morton, Ben Quilty, Imants Tillers, Julie Rrap, Rodney Pople, Sally Smart, Lindy Lee, Gordon Bennett and Tim Johnson.
NAS Gallery
11 April to 15 May, 2014
Sydney
Vernon Ah Kee, Lex Wotton, 2013
Tom Polo, Heads are turning/Swimming in the muck/The future of honesty, 2014
Photo: Peter Morgan