Hobart-based artist Alex Davern has won the tidal.18: City of Devonport National Art Award’s People’s Choice prize for his work Night Splash (2018), a pigment print on aluminium.
‘Night Splash depicts a poolside scene at night, with the image referencing a screenshot of a film on a digital device,’ says Devonport Regional Gallery Director Geoff Dobson. ‘Some visitors wondered where we had hidden the remote and I think the strong composition and the subtle humour is what really caught people’s minds.’
Alex Davern, Night Splash, 2018, pigment print and vinyl on aluminium, 93 x 93cm
Davern’s practice sits on the boundary between minimal abstraction and the representational. His artistic practice is driven by an ongoing interest in harnessing the emotional qualities of light through the depiction of architectural space and void. In addition to being included in tidal.18 2018 also saw Davern selected for two prestigious awards – the Glover Prize and the Hadley’s Art Prize.
The biennial tidal.18: City of Devonport National Art Award is sponsored by the Devonport City Council and the Friends of the Devonport Gallery and is currently valued at $15,000. The next award will take place in 2020 with artists residing in Australia invited to submit 2-dimensional artworks that reflect on tidal – the natural, cultural, personal or political concerns related to the sea and coastal regions.
