Ben Quilty wins 2012 Redlands Westpac Art Prize

The winners of the 2012 Redlands Westpac Art Prize were announced this morning at the National Art School, Sydney. Ben Quilty has been awarded the established artist award ($20,000), for his portrait Dad, with young Sydney artist Kelly Doley winning the emerging artist award ($10,000), for her work The Learning Centre: 49 Things Learnt About Humans.

Judge Rachel Kent said that in selecting Ben Quilty as the recipient of the 2012 Redlands Westpac Art Prize, she was drawn both to the artist’s technical mastery of paint and his choice of subject matter.


Ben Quilty, Dad, 2012, 190 x 140cm, Oil on Linen

‘Based in regional New South Wales, Quilty is known for his paintings addressing themes of masculinity, youth, and the rites of passage from childhood to maturity. Often his subjects are family and friends, painted with a characteristically spare, impasto style – thick, textured sweeps of paint against an unadorned background, in which the contrast of shadow and light creates visual depth,’ said Ms Kent.

Emerging Artist category winner Kelly Doley is a founding member of Sydney performance/video collaboration Brown Council. Doley’s solo practice preferences collaboration and exchange with people and imagines possible futures and ways of life.

Curated by Lindy Lee, the prize features works by 47 contemporary artists from Australia and New Zealand.

2012 Redlands Westpac Art Prize
May 3 to August 2, 2012
National Art School Gallery

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