Twenty-seven years ago the S.H. Evin Gallery launched the ‘Salon des Refusés’, in the tradition of the renegade French Impressionists of the 1860s who held a breakaway exhibition from the French Academy. The exhibition is an alternative selection to the official Archibald and Wynne Prize finalists at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
This year’s judges included: Steven Alderton, Director & CEO, National Art School; Michael Rolfe, CEO Museums & Galleries NSW; and Jane Watters, S.H. Ervin Gallery Director. Together they selected 34 works for the ‘alternative’ Archibald Prize, and 17 from the Wynne Prize based on quality, diversity, humour and experimentation.
The Salon des Refusés follows the tradition made famous by Napoleon III in Paris. He insisted that the huge number of works which had been rejected by the Academy for that year’s Salon, be displayed for the public to view and judge. The very first Salon des Refusés included works by Manet and Pissarro.
From 12 May to 29 July 2018, visitors to the annual ‘Salon des Refusés’ exhibition at S.H. Ervin Gallery can vote for their favourite artwork in the Holding Redlich People’s Choice Award. The winner will be announced on Thursday 26 July.
Andrew Sullivan, Omar Abidin (musician/social worker)
Salon Archibald Selection:
JOHN BARTLEY, Self Portrait
MICHAEL BELL, Self portrait with Larry’s carrot
NATAHSA BER, Nic (Nic Plowman, artist)
MAX BERRY, Self portrait
KATE BEYNON, Lucky Charms: Self portrait with son Rali
CYNTHIA BREUSCH, Portrait of musician Jim Silk
TOM CARMENT, The observant Vanessa Berry (Vanessa Berry, author)
ABBY CHAMBERS, Claire & Sean and the art life project (Claire Healy and Sean Corderio, artists)
PETER CHURCHER, Self portrait
SAMUEL CONDON, Life’s a blur (Todd Sampson, television presenter)
LUKE CORNISH, Maggie (Maggie McKenna, actress)
TONY CURRAN, Limiting Entropy (Lachlan Brown, poet/lecturer in English Literature)
HELENE GROVE, Still Missing the Mog (self portrait)
CRAIG HANDLEY, The Twelfth of Never (Louis Nowra, playwright, novelist, screenwriter)
RICHARD HEALY, Abdul (Abdul Abdullah, artist)
EDWARD HUMPHREY, Geoff K. Gray (auctioneer)
YVETTE KIDDLE, Sakkie in front of his farm (Sakkie Pretorius, Deputy Vice Chancellor Macquarie University)
RICHARD KNAFELC, It was not a hypnagogic state – Visions before midnight 1 (self portrait)
KEVIN McKAY, Where the light and the darkness divide – Jumaadi (Jumaadi, artist)
MARIE MANSFIELD, The hyper-realist (Nick Stathopoulos, artist)
ELLIOTT NIMMO, Cherrychalina (Kate Alstergren, curator and artist)
CHRIS O’DOHERTY, Self portrait with staring eyes
JASON PHU, me in the future as the 5th reincarnation of the bush ranger Sam Poo riding a radioactive tassie tiger into the sunset
RODNEY POPLE, Gai Time (Gai Waterhouse, horse trainer)
THOM ROBERTS, Dodley builds skyscrapers (Philip Cox AO, architect)
SALLY RYAN, Portrait of the artist’s son (Ben Ryan, artist)
STEVE SALO, Historia – Self portrait
NICK SANTORO, Excuse me… just letting you know that backpacks have to be worn on the front or carried in a hand… (or cloaked at front of house) (self portrait)
NIGEL SENSE, Sixteen Faces of Kram (drummer/singer in band Spiderbait)
WENDY SHARPE, Self portrait with ghosts
CATHY STAUGHTON, Catherine Bell Lady Hot Dress (artist and academic)
ANDREW SULLIVAN, Omar Abidin (musician/social worker)
ROBYN SWEANEY, Doug and Margot (Hon. Doug Anthony AC CH and Margot Anthony AM, former politician, patrons, pianist, philanthropists)
CAROLINE THEW, Lindy Morrison OAM Drummer, the Go Betweens
Salon Wynne Selection:
JO BERTINI, White River Route
TONY COSTA, Angophora 3
SINEAD DAVIES, Cul de sac
KEN DONE, Night garden
PETER GARDINER, Apostle (south)
MARK HOWSON, Two trees touching
TJUNGKARA KEN, Seven Sisters
ROSS LAURIE, Mustering in Bob’s Reserve
JULIAN MEAGHER, Wapengo
KATHRYN RYAN, Falling Light
PETER SHARP, Gibbous Moon
PETER STEVENS, North Coast River
ROBYN SWEANEY, Understory
ANN THOMSON, Newhaven III
OLIVER WATTS, Paperbark Swamp
EDWIN WILSON, Boogarem Falls
PHILIP WOLFHAGEN, Autumn Noctuary; an elegy for M.C.W.
