Melbourne painter Peter Wegner has won the 2013 Gallipoli Art Prize with his striking oil painting Dog in a Gas Mask, amongst 35 finalists whose works are on display until 5 May at the Gallipoli Memorial Club in Sydney.
Now in its 8th year, the $20,000 Gallipoli Art Prize is awarded to the work that best expresses the Gallipoli Club’s ‘creed’ – “We believe that within the community there exists an obligation for all to preserve the special qualities of loyalty, respect, love of country, courage and comradeship which were personified by the heroes of the Gallipoli Campaign and bequeathed to all humanity as a foundation of perpetual peace and universal freedom.” Australian, New Zealand and Turkish artists are invited to interpret the creed as it relates to any armed conflict in which Australia has been involved.
“My image of a dog with a gas mask is as much about the bond that exists between man and dog as it is about the hideousness of war. From 1915 onwards, gas was used as a weapon of war and the mateship that we associate with Gallipoli spirit was extended to the dog. Speciality masks were made for the canine (as well as for horses). The relationship between man and dog has played an important role in conflicts right up to the present time in Afghanistan. In the heat of battle dogs were used as messengers, sentinels and on patrol. They also were used by the Red Cross to search for wounded soldiers and were just as important as moral boosters for soldiers,” says winner Peter Wegner “I feel that this image represents all the qualities that exist in mateship including the values of respect, loyalty, and comradeship. In a time of war these human qualities extended to the care and guardianship of one of man’s best mates – an often forgotten member of the forces.”
Peter Wegner (b.1953) from Melbourne’s Diamond Creek has been an exhibiting painter, sculptor and draughtsman for more than 30 years. Wegner famously painted his friend Graham Doyle more than 100 times since they met in art school in the 1980’s. He was awarded the Doug Moran Prize in 2006 and his work is held in the collections of the National Library of Australia, the National Portrait Gallery, the State Library of Victoria and several regional and tertiary galleries. For the last three years he has been working on a series of portraits of surviving WWII veterans known as ‘The Rats of Tobruk’, most of whom are now in their 90s.
The judges also commended Garry Dolan (Woombye, QLD) for his work Quick Mum, Over here, I think I have found him which shows the moment the descendant of a fallen soldier discovers his ancestor’s grave at Villers Bretonneux, Maryanne Wick (Wollongong, NSW) for her haunting, fragmented work Ancestral Ghosts which was inspired by a visit to the Gallipoli peninsula and Peter Gardiner (Newcastle, NSW) for Light horse which shows an exhausted soldier on horseback in a post-Apocalyptic landscape of utter desolation.
“Unlike most other prizes which have delineated themes of portraiture, landscape or still life, the Gallipoli Art Prize compels the artist to examine the qualities of the creed to create an original and sincere work that represents respect for the ANZAC commemoration and the other campaigns since 1915,” says judge Jane Watters, director of S.H. Ervin Gallery “It is this spirit that makes the prize somewhat enigmatic but at the same time so relevant. This year entries were received from artists from across the nation and internationally.”
The Gallipoli Art Prize commenced in 2006 and will be conducted annually inclusive of the Centenary Year in 2015. The acquisitive Gallipoli Art Prize aims to create a significant collection to commemorate the spirit of the Gallipoli campaign and all those who have served during the following century. The Club sponsors a parallel version of the competition in Turkey, honouring the friendship between former adversaries.
The 2013 Gallipoli Art Prize
Gallipoli Memorial Club, 12 Loftus St, Circular Quay Sydney
24 April to 5 May, 2013 (except for Anzac Day & 30 April)
Image: Peter Wegner, Dog in a Gas Mask, oil on canvas
