City of Melville’s 2016 Art Award “blows” us away

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the City of Melville Art Awards with a $14,000 prize pool.

The City of Melville 2016 Art Awards showcased 280 artworks, aiming to acknowledge and encourage students, emerging and established visual artists in the community by providing an opportunity to exhibit and sell their work to the public.

Each year, prizes are awarded to outstanding works across several categories.

The City of Melville’s 2016 Art Award winners have been described by the judges as a celebration of Melville’s iconic locations, thought provoking and beautiful, and simultaneously absurd and convincing.

City of Melville Mayor Russell Aubrey opened the 40th Art Awards on Friday 21 May 2016, with a special VIP and Awards evening celebrating the community’s dedication and artistic talents.

“Congratulations to our 2016 winners, their creative flair and brilliance within their chosen medium ensured they received a proportion of the $14,000 total prize pool,” said Mayor Aubrey.

“’I’m blown away with this year’s exhibition and thank all entrants for ensuring the 40th Art Awards Exhibition is yet again a brilliant showcase of artist talent within our community.

“I truly believe the judges had a hard time selecting the winners this year.”

Matthew Thorley

The acquisitive Open Award was awarded to multi-disciplinary artist Matthew Thorley for his work Built Nostalgic (2015). His work was described by the judges as “a sleek contemporary work that is both a beautiful object and a distilled image of the urban landscape”. The winning work will now be permanent housed in the City of Melville Art Collection.

Through the use of a heavily saturated and unexpected colour palette to interpret light and its effect on positive and negative space, Thorley focuses on detail while utilising automated precision and visual manipulation to shape and produce his works. Inspired by contemporary architecture’s reduction of elements and an emphasis on form, Thorley extrapolates selective aspects concerned with the study of light interacting with reflective surfaces. Striving for a mechanically refined aesthetic he elevates materials such as perspex and polycarbonate into a new realm of appreciation and understanding.

 

Other winners include: 

Works on Paper: Shelter by Rory O’Neill. The work commended as “an intense snapshot of a very familiar view, executed with confidence to convey an atmospheric vision.”

3D Sculpture/Textile: Photon Cannon by Tony Formentin – “A poetic and playful assemblage that is simultaneously convincing and absurd.”

Youth (ages 15-18): Forever More by Lauren Joyce – “An ambitious and accomplished work by a young artist. Its closely observed textures and surfaces tackle both presence and absence.”

Work by City of Melville Resident: Jumping Blackwall by Ben Sherar – A celebration of one of Melville¹s iconic locations and its enduring allure.”

 

www.melvillecity.com.au/arts

Image: Open Award winner Matthew Thorley with his work Built Nostalgic and Mayor Russell Aubrey.

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