Jack Lanagan Dunbar awarded the 2019 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship

Sydney artist Jack Lanagan Dunbar has been awarded the ‘2019 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship’ for his body of work entitled Pantheon, which combines personal experiences of history and memory while referencing the mythologies and legendary figures of antiquity.

Jack Lanagan Dunbar, Hades, 2019, patina, acrylic paint, vinyl-based paint, chinagraph, lacquer on copper sheet mounted in timber frame, 45.5 x 56.5cm. Collection of Suzanne Chee

The Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship is awarded annually to a young Australian painter aged between 20 and 30 years and includes a three-month residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris and $40,000 funding to further the recipients’ art education while in Europe.

This year, the prestigious national painting prize had 116 applicants from across Australia, which were shortlisted to nine finalists. In the end, guest judge and artist Gemma Smith selected chose Lanagan Dunbar as the winner.

For Pantheon, Lanagan Dunbar’s layered mark making combines patina, acrylic paint, vinyl-based paint, chinagraph and lacquer on copper sheet. Smith was impressed by the timeless quality of his work.

‘Jack’s paintings are sumptuous and poetic. I was drawn to the way his paintings are at once deeply thoughtful and spontaneous. Full of allusions to classical mythology whilst simultaneously caught up in the moment, with the immediacy of mark making.

‘Jack uses a confounding combination of materials ­ the result is fascinating and alchemical. He has already developed a strong art practice and I¹m sure that an extended period in Europe will have an extraordinary and ongoing impact on his work,’ Smith said.

The 2019 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship finalists are; Amelia Carroll (ACT), Bridie Gillman (QLD), Claudia Greathead (VIC), Jack Lanagan Dunbar (winner) (NSW), Larizza Macatiag (VIC), Thea Anamara Perkins (NSW), Nick Santoro (NSW), Lani Shea-An (ACT), and Myles Young (NSW). A selection of their works will be on display at the Brett Whiteley Studio from 20 September to 20 October 2019.

artgallery.nsw.gov.au/brett-whiteley-studio

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