Sydney-based artist Tom Carment has won the 2014 NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize, claiming the $20,000 Prize from 41 other finalists. Carment’s Afternoon Shadow, William Street was selected as the winner by this year’s judge Ms Anne Ryan, Curator of Australian Prints at the Art Gallery of NSW, and announced as the winner at an awards ceremony at the Parliament overnight.
Best known for his portraits and landscapes, Carment has been developing and refining his style since first starting out in the 1970s. Over the years his works have been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions including the Archibald Prize, the Sulman Prize and the Dobell Drawing Prize.
“Plein air painting is just about all I do,” he says. “About thirty years ago I started to realise that the pictures I did outside had more life to the ones I worked up from drawings in the studio. I felt they were fresher, more honest. Since those times I haven’t really had a studio where I paint. My studio is in a series of bags and backpacks.”
Reflecting on his winning plein air painting, Carment says; “For the last thirty years I’ve been based in Darlinghurst and Kings Cross. A good thing about living here is that you walk a lot, and the best way to see things is on foot. The subject for Afternoon Shadow, William Street was spotted on my route back home from the city; a wall never meant to be exposed, revealed by a recent demolition. In late summer afternoon light, half covered in shadow, it fascinated me.”
Afternoon Shadow, William Street will now become part of the permanent collection of the NSW Parliament, joining previous winners of the Prize Guy Maestri, John Bokor, Isabel Gomez, Rodney Pople, Euan Macleod and Noel McKenna.
2014 NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize
Parliament of NSW
Until 1 August, 2014
Sydney
Image: Tom Carment, Afternoon Shadow, William Street, oil on linen, 100 x 87cm