Fremantle Arts Centre have announced the winners of the 38th Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award. WA artist Alex Maciver was awarded the $15,000 Major Acquisitive Prize for his conceptual work Faces, Faces Everywhere, while Deidre Brollo from New South Wales took home the $5000 Non-Acquisitive Prize for her quietly understated artists’ book Fathom.
The last time the Major Acquisitive Award was won by a WA artist was in 2002 when Poppy van Oorde-Grainger took out the prize for her Digital Print Series.
The expert judging panel consisting of Maria Zagala, Matthew Ngui and Justin Trendall described Maciver’s work, which has been acquired by the City of Fremantle Art Collection, as “a bold and direct visual statement transcending traditional artmaking and the aesthetic of contemporary graffiti”.
Working on a dark background, Maciver transferred white paint from one canvas onto another, working the image up with a brush before re-printing it again, then finishing each work with
spray paint. His work references the American artist Sam Glankoff (1894–1982), who developed a technique that combined elements of printmaking and painting, and employed this method of repeatedly imprinting paint from one surface onto another as an intuitive, chance-oriented process.
“Alex’s work exemplifies the boundary pushing nature of this award,” FAC Curator Dr Ric Spencer said. “Inspired by contemporary street art, it also references art history and takes impetus from previous examples of blurring the lines between printmaking and painting. While utilising particular aspects of print, Alex’s work is confident, adapting to the ever shifting landscape which is graphic and visual communication.”
The judges said Brollo’s carefully crafted book was “a piece that masterfully exploits the power of narrative to open up our imaginative realm” with “sudden burst of visual intensity”. The judges also highly commended David Frazer’s virtuosic linocut Waiting for Rain, Alison Alder’s multi-part screen print Anyone Can Do It, Gladdy Kemarre’s The Awelye, Paula McLoughlin’s A convergence of north and south and EVOLVER by Samuel Tupou.
Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award 2013
Until 17 November, 2013
Alex Maciver, Faces, Faces Everywhere (detail), 2013, 45 x 90 x 2cm, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 1/1
