The $50,000 acquisitive award was initiated and generously funded by Len Fox (1905-2004), commemorating the life and work of his uncle, painter Emanuel Phillips Fox (1865-1915). Known for his plein air, impressionist style, Fox’s paintings are characterized by vibrantly coloured landscapes and scenes of everyday life. The 2016 Len Fox Painting Award is an exciting opportunity for artists to interpret these qualities in a contemporary context.
From 170 entries to forty-three shortlisted finalists, Melbourne-based artist Prudence Flint has won this year’s ‘Len Fox Painting Award’ with her work Wash (2015).
Director of the Castlemaine Art Museum, Jennifer Kalionis commented, “In selecting Prudence Flint as the winner of this acquisitive prize, the 2016 judge Dr Rex Butler has awarded a contemporary Australian artist a generous $50,000 prize and benefited the Castlemaine Art Museum by adding this work to its collection. In his opening speech, Dr Butler drew favourable comparisons between the winning work, and E. Phillips Fox’s Bathing Hour (1909) which hangs in our Whitchell gallery”.
The 2016 judge was Dr Rex Butler (art historian, writer and Professor, Art History & Theory, at Monash University).
Flint has held solo exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, and Hobart. She was awarded Highly Commended in the 2014 Sunshine Coast Art Prize and the 2014 Portia Geach Memorial Award, which she won in 2010. She won the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize in 2004. She has been a finalist in numerous prize shows including; Archibald Portrait Prize, Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, Geelong Contemporary Art Prize, Salon des Refuses, Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize, R & M McGivern Prize, Darebin-La Trobe Acquisitive Art Prize, Gold Coast Art Prize, National Works on Paper, Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing, Rick Amor Drawing Prize and Paul Guest Prize. Her work is held in the collections of City of Port Phillip, Artbank, BHB Billiton, Gold Coast City Collection, University of Wollongong and numerous private collections in Australia and New Zealand. Flint is represented by Australian Galleries in Melbourne and Sydney and Bett Gallery in Hobart.
The 2016 shortlisted artists are:
Abdul Abdullah, Brian Armstrong, Alec Baker, Angela Brennan, Lynne Boyd, Kevin Chin, Marcel Cousins, Dario Falzon, Kenneth Felstead, Prudence Flint, Hannah Fox, Mark Fox, Marc Freeman, Janet Green, Naomi Hobson, Mark Howson, Jason Jones, Shane Jones, Ken Knight, Travis MacDonald, Robert Maclaurin, Jan McNeill, Lynn Miller, Karen Mills, David Moore, John Nixon, Mark Ogge, Theo Papathomas, Colin Pennock, Madeleine Peters, Shirely Purdie, Petra Reece, Jenny Rodgerson, Steve Salo, Bill Sampson, Ross Skinner, Jennie Stewart, Adriane Strampp, Liz Stute, James Tinsley, Robert Watson, Peter Wegner, Marcus Wills.
Castlemaine Art Museum
Until 31 December, 2016
Melbourne
Artist talk:
Sunday 30 October, 2016 at 2pm
Prudence Flint will discuss her winning work and her art practice more broadly, in an artist talk at Castlemaine Art Museum.
Prudence Flint, Wash, 2015, oil on linen, 108 x 90cm
Courtesy the artist and Australian Galleries, Melbourne