The Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award (JADA) is Grafton Regional Gallery’s flagship biennial art prize sponsored by the Friends of Grafton Gallery.
This years judge, Peter McKay, Curatorial Manager of Australian Art at Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, had the task fo selecting the winner and recommending works to acquire for the Gallery’s collection of contemporary drawing. On Friday 2 October, at a special online opening event, Teo Treloar’s work titled This is Impermanence (2019) was announced as the winner.
Teo Treloar, This is Impermanence, 2019, graphite pencil on paper. Courtesy the artist and Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane
The graphite pencil drawing reflects on multiple ideas, including Treloar’s own experience with depression and anxiety, contemporary concepts of masculinity, the master engravings of Albrecht Dürer, and the existential literature of Franz Kafka. The drawings featured in the work are intended to present a speculative visual platform for viewers to engage with; allowing them to deconstruct the image and find meaning on their own terms. Treloar’s drawing is a manifestation of these experiences and ideas.
Sarah Tomasetti, Kailash North Face IV, 2019, oil, graphite and incision on fresco plaster. Courtesy the artist and Australian Galleries, Melbourne and Sydney
The two works recommended by McKay to be acquired to the Gallery collection of contemporary drawing are:
Sarah Tomasetti’s work titled Kailash North Face IV (2019) which pays homage to the pilgrimage route at the base of the most sacred of peaks on the Tibetan Plateau; and, Noel McKenna’s work titled Hamlet (2020) depicting a French bulldog from Noel’s neighbourhood.
Noel McKenna, Hamlet, 2019, ink on paper. Courtesy the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney
Gallery Director, Niomi Sands said ‘The JADA celebrates drawing in all its forms, from the expressive and the abstract, to hyper-realism that is beyond belief. The winning work evokes a poetic and emotional response to our environment and the human condition. It is an outstanding artwork and a valuable addition to the Gallery collection. Many of the finalists selected, question and challenge the notion of the traditional drawing, while others provide a contemporary perspective that reinvigorate those traditions, we are thrilled that the tradition of excellence continues with the 56 artists selected for the exhibition which celebrates Australian contemporary drawing at its finest.’
The JADA finalists’ exhibition is on display at the Grafton Regional Gallery in New South Wales until 22 November 2020.
