$70,000 Aqualand Sculpture Award winner

Congratulations to regional Western Australian artist Tony Davis, recipient of the $70,000 acquisitive Aqualand Sculpture Award for his seven-metre-high Jarrah timber and steel work Folly Interstice, part of this year’s Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi.

Davis was humbled on hearing of his win: “I have been an artist for all of my adult life and this award validates my development and practice over a long period of time . . . It is especially rewarding because the sculpture Folly Interstice, due to the pandemic, has been waiting in the wings for two and a half years and as we emerge, I see it in a new light, as a beacon of hope for the future. The sculpture is interactive and I hope the public will enter its space and engage with its positive energy.”

Folly Interstice explores Donald Judd’s assertion, “if it’s not functional, it must be art”; a folly, intimating a compressed space within and complementing a secret place in discourse with the organic language of wood, with all its archives and unread stories.

Tony Davis, Folly Interstice. Sculpture at Sea, Bondi 2022. Photograph: Henri Fanti

This year’s judging panel included Terence Maloon: Director, Australian National University Drill Hall Gallery and Former Senior Curator, Special Exhibitions, Art Gallery of New South Wales; and Wendy Teakel: artist, former Head of Sculpture, Australian National University, School of Art and Design.

Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, one of Australia’s leading cultural events and the world’s largest free-to-the-public outdoor sculpture exhibition, features over 100 artworks from Australian and international artists along the spectacular 2km Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk.

A highlight of the 2022 exhibition is a showcase of artworks by sculptors from Ukraine, which will raise funds for Ukrainian refugees and those displaced by the war. The Ukraine Showcase features four sculptures by Dmitriy Grek (Contemplation), Egor Zigura (Colossus Holds Up the World), Nikita Zigura (Global Warming) and Oleksii Zolotariov (Zolotar) (Wind Rose) and is curated by Viktoria Kulikova, Art Director at Abramovych Art Agency, Kyiv.

For the first time, visitors to Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi will have the opportunity to explore the exhibition using the official Sculpture by the Sea App. The GPS-enabled app offers a free, interactive way for visitors to easily navigate around the various Sculpture by the Sea exhibitions and discover details about the artworks and the artists who created them. Content will be available once this year’s exhibition opens. The app gives users the option to “like” an unlimited number of artists’ sculptures, creating a personal shortlist of favourite sculptures ready to be voted for in the popular Allens People’s Choice Award. Visitors can also unlock access to audio tours of thirty sculptures within the exhibition.

While the exhibition is free-to-the-public, Sculpture by the Sea is, for the first time in Sydney, asking all visitors to make a voluntary contribution to help fund the exhibition and to ensure it can continue well into the future. Donations can be made in person to the Welcome Teams or via the app or online at sculpturebythesea.com/donate.

The exhibition runs until 7 November 2022. Davis’ winning sculpture will be gifted for permanent public display for Sydneysiders and visitors to enjoy, with the location to be announced.

sculpturebythesea.com

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