Perth Royal Show prize

I'm a little late writing about this, but my painting "Bantam Rooster" took out the Packers' Prize at this year's Perth Royal Show Agricultural Award, after winning the Wagin Woolorama Best Oil or Acrylic plus the Agricultural Award in March.

Bantam Rooster

30x40cm oil on board. 

 © Andy Dolphin
SOLD

Woolorama wins!

I enjoyed great success at Wagin Woolorama this year, winning three prizes.

My studio painting Bantam Rooster took out first prize in the oil and acrylic category while my plein air painting Narpyn Cottage, winter morning was awarded second prize in the same category.

Bantam Rooster

30x40cm oil on board. 

 © Andy Dolphin
SOLD

Narpyn Cottage, winter morning.
Plein air. 38x35cm oil on board.
© Andy Dolphin

Bantam Rooster also won the Agricultural Award. This means it will now have to travel to the Perth Royal Show in September to be exhibited and judged with all other Agricultural Award winners from around the state.

Here I am with Woolorama Art Award coordinator Natala King...

The major award went to Perth artist Casss Gartner for her watercolour painting An Early Morning Walk.

Australian Artist - second prize!

I was very pleased to read the news that I'd taken out second prize in Australian Artist Magazine's "Seascapes, Rivers & Lakes" Art Prize Challenge No. 52, with my entry "South Coastal".

My painting depicts a location near Denmark, on the south coast of Western Australia. I told the story of it back in February, this year, as part of my Evolution of a Seascape series of articles.

While the location is real and the painting is true to the place, there were quite a lot of design decisions employed to make it something more than "just like a photo".

Winners and finalists are featured in the June, 2013 edition of Australian Artist Magazine.

Congratulations to first-place getter Jayne Henderson from Victoria, third-place getter Craig Addley from Queenlsand and to all the finalists.

Controversy in art awards - a good thing?

Who decided the art world must be constantly embroiled in controversy in order to survive? 

It is with some trepidation that I write this article, as my meaning can so easily be misconstrued. But I'll be as careful as I can and give it a go anyway.

I recently attended the opening ceremony and presentation evening of the Great Southern Art Award, in Albany. The venue for the event, the Vancouver Art Centre, is beautiful. The exhibition is well hung, well lit (mostly) and looks great. As is usually the case in open competitions, the work on display crosses the gamut from expressionist to realist, "traditional" to "modern" and from relative beginner to professional.

Before going further, I should disclose that I have an entry in the exhibition and that I did not win a prize but that's not what I'm writing about. It is, however, why I'm approaching this with trepidation.

During the opening speeches, one official commented that the judges' choices were likely to be controversial. She added that this was a good thing because controversy means that "people are talking about art".

From Duchamp's urinal to Mapplethorpe's explicitly homo-erotic photographs, the "art world" is no stranger to controversy and there's no doubt some of these controversies generate a lot of public conversation. And for major art events such as Australia's Archibald Prize, which is no stranger to controversy, the resulting conversation may well serve to increase public awareness.

So is controversy always a good thing?

To paraphrase a comment by a friend, should we bulldoze native forests because the resultant controversy would get people talking about conservation?

While there will always be questions about pieces selected for prizes (I refuse to dismiss art as mere "objects" as has become the fad), perhaps the biggest controversy from the local art award I attended will be that the two highly-credentialled judges decided not to award a prize in one of the categories. Although I'm aware that some competitions have a "no prize" clause, this is the first time I've seen it invoked and I would usually expect it to apply only if there were too-few entries or if the entries were seriously sub-standard.

I don't have the exact wording of the judges' comments about that category but at the time, I distilled them down to "you all need to try harder". Had I entered that category I would likely have been deeply offended and this would be a very different article, written with no trepidation at all. I might add that the entry form for this particular event does not appear to include a "no prize" clause.

To be clear, the question for me is not whether prizes should go to abstract or representational art, as I long ago accepted that it is subjective and not everyone thinks or sees like I do – and just as well because the world would be a boring place indeed if all art looked the same. My question is whether the conversation that results from controversy is necessarily a good thing for art at all.

Do we have to be cruel to be kind?

Can we assume that any publicity is good publicity, especially in this social-media-age where public commentary can be swift and fierce and have even major corporations back pedalling in an effort to pull themselves out of a controversial mire. Of course, if you're big enough, you'll probably ride the storm until it passes.

Controversial competitions:

Some competitions have a long history of awarding prizes that may be considered controversial outside of a small section of the art world. These awards can draw the ire of the viewing public and may well generate conversation, including letters to the media. But does the controversy elevate art in the community or devalue it?

In the past I have avoided some art competitions simply because they seem to court controversy or, at the very least, to discourage representational artists. Regardless of style or genre, I wonder how many of those artists who had entries in the non-awarded category in the local event will bother to enter the same competition in the future after being told, explicitly, they aren't good enough.

As an artist, there's little point paying entry fees to competitions that you have no genuine chance of competing in because you paint in a non-confronting style. Not only are you unlikely to take home a prize, but these competitions are less likely to attract buyers of your type of work. People who look for beauty and majesty in art aren't being attracted to controversial exhibitions, they're being turned off by them.

Where are we headed?

Perhaps the biggest concern for me is that the "controversy is good" mantra is self-perpetuating. When controversy is considered important, each exhibition must strive to be a bit more bizarre than the last. Over time, it becomes less and less about art and more and more about controversy until, finally, we end up with Piss Christ.

Let me finish by saying that I am open to disagreement. If you strongly disagree with me and think that controversy really is the foundation of art, then by all means accept my commentary as a part of the conversation that this "controversy" has generated and welcome it, therefore, as a positive contribution to that foundation – in which case, I guess, you really don't disagree with me at all :)


RELATED:

Art Controversy Follow-up
ArtSpeak - making a mark

Exhibition and a win

Two big stories for this blog update so I'll have to choose which one to mention first.

I'll make a decision and start with my exhibition.

The joint exhibition with Sue Hartley opened at West Cape Howe Wines last Thursday night. It was one hell of a day leading up to it. It was cold (snow was predicted on the nearby Stirling Range), wet and windy. So it was a great surprise to see people take the drive out of town to attend.

A couple of red dots got the evening off to a nice start and everyone enjoyed the log fire, the food and the new-release wines that were on offer.

Thanks to West Cape Howe and to everyone who came along and made it a great night.

The exhibition is part of the Southern Art & Craft Trail which includes exhibitions right across the Great Southern.

In other news, I took out first prize at the 2012 Plantagenet Art Prize with my studio painting Knight's Canola.

That's me, on the right, with judge John Greeuw. And here's the painting...

Knight's Canola 

37x50cm oil on board.  
© Andy  Dolphin
SOLD

I want to thank the Plantagenet Shire for their continued support of the annual event and the Plantagenet Arts Council who put in a lot effort to get the exhibition together. There's some great work on show, including a wonderful exhibit of art from students of Mount Barker Community College and an amazing display of fantasy pieces from the local pottery group.

Highly Commended

This weekend's trip to Williams was to pick up two paintings I'd entered in the 2010 Gateway Expo exhibition. The theme was "Rustik Memories" so naturally I sent shed paintings.

When my wife unpacked them today, she discovered a 'Highly Commended' certificate on 'Shed in Spring'! I had no idea as the exhibition had finished the day before I went and all paintings were packed ready for collection.

(Shed in Spring. 54x30cm oil on panel. © 2009, Andy Dolphin

Highly Commended - Williams Gateway Expo, 2010)

SOLD

(Detail of Shed in Spring. © 2009, Andy Dolphin)

I love this detail section, especially the subtle simplicity of the house in the background. That warm glow on the posts, with the strong reflected light, is really what this painting is about. (My apologies for the reflections in the dark areas of these photos).

This shed has provided me with two paintings so far. For years I drove by it almost every day. It always caught my eye and I photographed it a few times from a distance, in different light, and stopped on the side of the road once and sketched it. Eventually I did a painting from one of those photos, with my sketch as additional reference. Later I went and found the owners (they don't live in the house right behind the shed) and asked if they'd mind me jumping the fence and taking more photos. 'Shed in Spring' is the result, painted from one of those photos.

You can see the first painting I did of this same shed in my opening blog post. Despite the main subject being the same, these are two very different paintings.

It was lucky I acted when I did as the owners have since removed all the old fencing and painted the entire shed in Red Oxide. It just isn't the same any more.

This is my second 'Highly Commended' this month. My 'Shed in Summer Light' received the same honour at the Mount Romance Centennial Art Prize in Albany in early April.

(Shed in Summer Light. 70x37cm oil on panel. © 2010, Andy Dolphin 
Highly Commended - Mount Romance Centennial Art Prize, 2010)

I posted a step by step for this painting in the early days of this blog.