The King’s 35th Annual Art Show

The King’s Art Show this year marks its 35^th anniversary of celebrating the works of budding and leading Australian artists such as former Archibald winners, Ben Quilty, John Olsen, Euan Macleod and Geoff Dyer, as well as Jun Chen (2013 King’s Art Prize winner), Aida Tomescu, Nicholas Blowers and 2014 King’s Art Show feature artist, Martine Emdur.

The King’s Art Show will officially launch with the Gowan Brae Exhibition Gala Opening Night event on Friday, 22 August at the King’s School’s Gowan Brae mansion. Yes, that’s right! The Victorian manor that featured in Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 blockbuster film, The Great Gatsby.

The pinnacle of the gala evening red-carpet event will be the announcement of the 2014 King’s Art Prize winner. This year marks the 20^th anniversary of the Prize – a $20,000 acquisitive award. The Prize is given to an Australian-resident artist represented by a commercial gallery and judged the artist of the best contemporary artwork featured in the King’s Art Show.

The finalists are selected by an appointed King’s Art Prize panel and an esteemed special guest judge makes the final decision on each annual Prize winner. The 2014 King’s Art Prize special guest judge is Edmund Capon AM, OBE – art scholar, former Director of the Art Gallery of NSW (1978-2011) and current Chair of the Board of 4A Centre for Contemporary Asia Art.

This year’s 13 finalists are; Tim Johnson, Guy Maestri, Jenny Sages, Elisabeth Cummings, Yukultji Napangati, Liz Coats, Michael Taylor, Joe Furlonger, James Drinkwater, Peter Sharp, Fiona Lowry, Ildiko Kovacs, and Neil Frazer.

The King’s Art Show will not only include the exhibition of this year’s King’s Art Prize finalist artworks but also 1,000+ etchings, photographs, sculptures and fine paintings for private-purchase and public-viewing across three exhibitions during the King’s Spring Festival on the weekend of Saturday 23 August and Sunday 24 August; the Gowan Brae Exhibition, the Horrocks Hall Art Exhibition, and the King’s Art Prize Retrospective.

The King’s Art Show 2014 feature artist is Martine Emdur – one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists, acclaimed for her representations of movement in water, experimenting with the nuances of light, shadow, scale and protean buoyant movement. An original Martine Emdur painting will be auctioned for charity during the Gowan Brae Gala Opening event. All funds raised from the Charity Auction will be donated to Westmead Children’s Hospital. In 2013, $18,000 was raised for the worthy cause.

Today, the King’s Art Show is a premier event on the Australian Arts calendar and the cornerstone of the King’s Spring Festival – an annual weekend celebration of arts and community which is open to the public on the picturesque grounds of The King’s School, and which typically attracts more than 35,000 attendees.

The King’s 35th Annual Art Show
Gowan Brae, The King’s School
23 to 24 August, 2014
North Parramatta, Sydney