Home → Associated Groups → Wattspace → Exhibition 11.07

2007 Annual Student Acquisitive Art Prize

29 August - 16 September 2007

Exhibition to be opened and prizes awarded by judges, Gil Docking, inaugural Director of Newcastle Region Art Gallery (1958-1965), and Lisa Corsi, Director of ARTCELL on Thursday 30 August 2007 at 6.30pm

Curated by Laura Jardine

“The festival of the Post-Obvious”

The Theme

The Post-Obvious is an imaginary word but also a celebratory term. It is apt in describing light-heartedly the varying genres and conglomerate artistic practices that contribute to contemporary art today. This idea has informed the theme for the 2007 Annual Student Acquisitive Art Prize which is a mixed bag show designed to showcase contemporary practices that mix alternative, innovative means with traditional techniques, historical influences and current conceptual associations.

The Prize

This year prize money totaling $3,000 is on offer to students. UoN Services Limited has once again generously supported the Annual Student Acquisitive Art Prize with a donation of $2,500. FordComm has strengthened this amount with a further $500. This prize money will be divided into four categories where artworks that best respond to the theme in 2-Dimensional or 3-Dimensional terms will be eligible for one of four $600 cash prizes. The overall Acquisition winner will receive a further $600 and will be acquired into the art collection of the University Union.

The Judges

This year Gil Docking, inaugural Director of the Newcastle Region Art Gallery (1958-1965), was asked to judge the prize. Mr Docking is a very significant figure in the cultural history of Newcastle. Many of the decisions he enacted during the infancy of Newcastle Region Art Gallery were progressive and have influenced the emergence of the gallery’s collection to this date. Lisa Corsi is the second judge for the Prize. Lisa is a young emerging curator who is currently the Director of ARTCELL which is described as the first freelance collections and project management service of its kind for the visual arts and crafts industry. Lisa also co-curated SafARI, 2006, which is the fist multi-venue fringe group exhibition to accompany the Biennale of Sydney and was the Curatorial and Collections Manager for Sherman Galleries, Sydney, during 2003-2006.

The Sponsors

Many thanks to our Sponsors, UoN Services Limited, FordComm, Maggies at Newcastle, Bluetongue Brewery and Tamburlaine Wines.

Some of the sixty-four entries…

Andrea Bruno Nostalgia del Ayer (detail) digital photomedia on perspex; Belinda Howden Face Feel - from the Extreme Makeover Series (detail) timber and wool; Cheryl Farrell Floating (detail) acrylic and oil on board

Daniel Smith Quirky Friends (detail) enamel on perspex, bolts and nuts; Darryl Bowes The Pacific in a plastic bag (detail) installation; Grant Vercoe Internationalist (detail) oil on board

Hugh Doyle It's hard being this good at art (detail) oil on canvas; Jacob Swab Don't Shoot (detail) acrylic and aerosol on canvas; Joan Dawson Fragmernt of history (Stockton) (detail) acrylic on canvas

Robin Skerly Untitled acrylic on canvas; Shane Westernhagen Things to do (detail) oil on canvas; Taryn Raffan Untitled lithograph

and the winners were:

2D Section

Lucas Grogan Antirarrk 1 - 6 (detail) photocopy drawings

Ruth Feeney Untitled (detail) acrylic ink, cotton, assorted papers and fabrics

3D Section

Anka Smiley Degrees timber, paper, metal

Andrea Bruno Nostalgia del Ayer digital photomedia on perspex

and the Overall Prize for the 2007 Annual Student Acquisitive Art Prize was awarded to:

Anka Smiley
Degrees timber, paper, metal

This work is now part of the collection UoN Services Limited (formerly University of Newcastle Union Limited)

Catalogue Essay by Laura Jardine

In October last year Newcastle Region Art Gallery revealed the exhibition Strange Cargo. It was a show exemplifying the strange, wonderful and confusing temperament consistent with associations of contemporary art. Patricia Piccinini’s Surrogate stood as a centre piece for comments and revelations into contemporary art. For the artist, this hairy, somewhat ugly ‘wombat-rat’, represented a concerned comment on the state of the endangered hairy-nosed wombat. But for the audience reception of the work was a constant contradiction as old and young alike received the artwork with mixed responses. Surprisingly, many of the older generation found the work hinged on humour while the younger ones were baffled and curious. It is a focal piece because this reaction perfectly illustrates the way in which contemporary art produces slippery meanings and harbours a contrary nature.

Across the road at Watt Space, this year’s Annual Student Acquisitive Art Prize themed ‘The festival of the Post-Obvious’ is a show that was facilitated with the intention of surveying the nature of contemporary art practice. The purpose of the show is to dissect the characteristics of our current practice and to look at this climate with a grain of humour. The motivation was to provide a celebration of contemporary art practice showcased through a cross section of artworks from the students of the University of Newcastle.

The response was diverse, intelligent and evolving which is a reflection of the flavour of the students developing practice. The participation of students from first year through to post-graduate students signals that growth for each artist is at a varying point.

Annemarie Murland has reached what could be called the zero point. Situated in The Locker Room, Murland’s Philistine 1 rediscovers the connotations of Malevich’s Black Square. Both works purposely invite a multitude of interpretations as there is no commitment of subject matter nor intention. Theories of these works can then branch into issues of form, essence of paint and the idea that concept overarches the outcome. But beyond all of this, after the considerations of suggestive theories and with years of practice building up behind them, perhaps both artists reached a point where there was no more theories but just humour. Murland’s addition of the pancake is a witty, mindful suggestion that painting is a piece of cake.

Also present in this space is Belinda Howden’s vegetable peeler which is tinted with humour but in this case with the flavour of pop. Random, ambiguous, and keeping the found-object tradition alive, it is an artwork we would associate as post-modern. But is it? It is submerged in a modernist, white cube space and works successfully within this aesthetic. It has a strong visual affinity with other works including the clean lines of Grant Vercoe’s Internationalist. Vercoe’s aqua palette is reminiscent of David Hockney’s California scenes and sets the tone for this room which reminds the viewer of the tastes and treats of a candy store. A candy store where we can pick and choose what we like is an analogy close to the concept of contemporary art. That is, we can select theories from history, techniques from modernism and approaches from post-modernism to create a mixed bag of what is contemporary art.

Laura Jardine, curator

Thank you to the sponsors of the

2007 Annual Student Acquisitive Art Prize:

UoN Services Limited ABN 22 121 393 306
FordComm
Maggies at Newcastle
Tamburlaine Wines
Bluetongue Brewery