The $30,000 Dobell Drawing Prize has a rich history of celebrating some of Australia’s most renowned artists, and you don’t have to hand over a cent to head down to the gorgeous gallery inside the sandstone walls of the National Art School to check out all of this year’s finalists. Curated by Lucy Latella, the exhibition features 56 artworks from an exciting cross-section of established, mid-career and early-career artists, selected from 965 nationwide entries.
Now in its 24th year, this biennial art prize celebrates the enduring importance of drawing in contemporary art practice, with a focus on technique, innovation and expanded approaches. The selected works span various media – from coloured pencil, charcoal, chalk and watercolour to clay, human hair, aluminium, LED, and video – and consider a range of themes including domesticity and social dynamics, environmental care, and impacts of climate change and colonisation.
NAS alumna Rosemary Lee took out the prize this year – her winning work ‘24-1’ depicts an urban landscape in Sydney’s Inner West, and the judging panel praised her work for the way it “observes tonal and compositional profundity in everyday life”.
The judges also said: “We were most impressed by the level of visual intensity the artist has achieved in this complex work, both through its vibrant colour and in the extraordinary detail of the composition. The artwork’s exploration of the urban landscape and gentrification of the Sydney suburbs of Ashfield and Summer Hill, has produced an image which combines two landscapes, a construction and a demolition site. The artwork captures a broader sense of transience, and the omnipresence of construction sites and urban renewal in our cities today.”
The finalists exhibition is showing at NAS Gallery, Darlinghurst, until June 21. While you’re in the neighbourhood, we recommend also wandering over to Qtopia Sydney (the world’s largest queer history museum, located in Darlo’s old cop shop) and finishing up with a sundowner around the corner at Darlo Bar (unless the night takes you down to Oxford Street’s best gay bars).
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