Melbourne-based artist, Moya McKenna, has won this year’s $15,000 ‘Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize’

Moya McKenna, Boombox, 2018, oil on canvas, 86.5 x 122.5cm – Winner of the 2018 Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize
The 2018 judging panel included: Charlotte Day, Director, Monash University Museum of Art; Annika Kristensen, Senior Curator, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art; and Nicole Salvo, Assistant Curator, the Gallery at Bayside Arts and Cultural Centre. In awarding the prize, the trio celebrated the anthropomorphic qualities of McKenna’s painting Boombox (2018) and how it captivated their imaginations.

Moya McKenna with her work, Boombox, 2018 – Winner of the 2018 Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize
‘The more we looked at the painting, the more it revealed itself,’ said Salvo.
‘With both abstract and figurative qualities, the imagery of the painting is hard to pin down. It works at a distance and at close range with a surprising level of detail.
‘The composition extends beyond the edge of the canvas and gives the work a pulsating energy that is reinforced by the gestural brushstrokes and the open, ambiguous subject matter.’
This year’s $3,000 Local Art Prize was awarded to Georgie Mattingley for her painting Toilet still life (2017), inspired by traditional techniques used in the 1920s and 1930s, before colour photography was commercially available.

Georgie Mattingley, Toilet still life, 2017, oil on silver gelatin print, DiBond, 120 x 90cm – Winner of the 2018 Local Art Prize
The ‘2018 Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize’ will be displayed at The Gallery at Bayside Arts and Cultural Centre, Brighton Town Hall, until 8 July 2018. The winner of the $1,000 People’s Choice Award will be announced at the conclusion of the exhibition on Friday 13 July.
The Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize (BAAP) is an annual painting prize and exhibition that aims to increase opportunities for participation in the arts and cultural program of Bayside, Melbourne. It aims to foster a sense of identity, pride and place through a community event and enable the acquisition of exceptional artworks for the Bayside City Council Art and Heritage Collection.