KILGOUR PRIZE 2018

Geoffrey BREEN
born 1942 Sydney NSW
Lunchtime in the park  2018
oil on plywood
122 x 181 cm
Artist collection

This picture is based on things I do and things I think about almost everyday.

Filippa BUTTITTA
born 1969 Sydney NSW
Pru as Joan of Arc and The Battle to End Abuse  2018
oil on canvas
132 x 145 cm

Rachel COAD
born 1971 Lake Grace WA
Mumtaz III  2017
oil on linen
170 x 220 cm

From Coad's recent series of paintings called 'Restoration'. An ambitious series of portraits which endeavours to capture the expressions that occur in the moment before a response to an idea or a question is articulated. In a return to the themes which dominated Coad’s 2014 series, Juncture, the artist endeavours to describe another unguarded moment in human interaction.

By identifying and combining many facets of one moment, Coad's muted and intense works delve deeper into subconscious thought and uncover an unhindered engagement with the inner-self. Coad’s figures engage with outer situations, rather than with the viewer. Of this, Coad says, “We all find ourselves in conversations where, in a moment, we are observing rather that participating. I seek to recreate the dynamics in the observed moment.”

James DRINKWATER
born 1983 Waratah NSW
Allegory 2  2017
oil and collage on canvas
240 x 180 cm

In the cannon of allegoric figurative paintings the Artist places his wife and children engulfed by industry and newcastle topography. Loaded with historical iconography- silos, factory's and churches Drinkwater endearingly renders his loved ones within a working class framework.

Sarah GOSLING
Born 1984 Box Hill VIC
My Death? (self portrait)  2018
oil and pencil on canvas
112 x 92 cm

Following the birth of my first child 6 years ago I had a traumatic experience in which I believed I was dying. During this I was overwhelmed by an unbelievability that I was actually experiencing my own death. MY death? Is this really MY death? It's hard to fathom the actual disappearance of ourselves. Death is something that happens to other people. After years of holding this experience within myself, I have allowed it to come to the surface and that is this painting.

Jeannine GREY
born 1961 Griffith NSW
Roxylouu RBF  2017
oil on canvas
100 x 75cm

Like many teenagers my daughter Roxylou at 14 years of age spends the winter school holidays mostly curled up on the lounge with her mobile phone, favourite blankey and wearing that same fake fur collar coat she wears even when the mercury soars to 40 degrees. The school term and her desire to attend the nearest CAPA high school means winter has her catching a bus in the cold and dark of the early morning. Holidays are not overseas travel or visiting tourist spots but sleeping and resting. She admonished me for capturing her 'Resting Bitch Face' because she is a warm and loving daughter with a great capacity for care and compassion towards others. But when the school holidays roll around this is her  - she doesn't want to be disturbed and couldn't help the RBF when I dragged her from her room to the lounge for this portrait.

David GRIGGS
born 1975 Sydney NSW
Palm Tree Dual Come Back  2018
oil on canvas
228 x 183cm

Craig HANDLEY
born 1964 Sydney NSW
the Divisionist  2018
oil on linen
21 x 26 cm

The Divisionist, he stops, he decides what's in and what's out, he checks Instagram, Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Fit Bit, sleep patterns, heart rate, stocks and socks. He checks his chance in all these realities and then he moves on...

Jacqueline HENNESSY
born 1977 St Leonards NSW
The Dress I and II  2017
oil paint on Belgian linen
121.9 x 182.8 cm

The Dress I and II is a diptych oil painting on Belgian linen taken from a series of work investigating figurative painting’s capacity to represent the liminal experience of being in the world as a female self.  A self that is at once both the subject and object of its lived experience - the invisible subject “I” and the visible object “my body”.  Referencing photographic images of the artist’s own body, The Dress I and II seeks to point to the lived experience of self as a metaphysical or spectral essence arising in the gap ‘betwixt and between’ the lived dualisms of object/subject, visible/invisible, form/formless.  Belgian linen is stained with layers of thin washes of raw umber and lead white to gradually develop transparent, fragile, and ghostly images of the female form that emerge as they dissolve into the ground.  The fragmented figures occupy a liminal space, located somewhere between the material world of form (which the viewer occupies), and some other unseen and unknowable internal space.  The transparent dress serves as a visual metaphor for the state of flux between the external and the internal that defines the experience of being both female and being a self in the world.  The tension and oscillation between the dualities at play in the Dress I and II, acknowledge and invite further meditation on the betwixt and between nature of being in the world as an embodied female self. 

Cliff HOSKING
born 1938 Brisbane QLD
Caitlin - Looking to the Future  2017
watercolour on crescent watercolour board
50 x 37 cm

This is a watercolour painting of one of my daughters. I titled it (with a romantic turn of mind) 'Looking to the Future' - she being of a more practical nature suggested 'Waiting for the Snow!'. While I have been a watercolourist for over 30 years, mostly painting landscapes and seascapes, recently I have become interested in exploring portraits and figures-in-landscape in watercolour, technically a quite difficult task but I am entranced by the transparency and luminosity that can be achieved.

Peter LANKAS
born 1957 Czechoslovakia
Winter swim  2018
pigment, oil, chalk, egg -white on board
40 x 50 cm

This work continues my fascination with the ordinary and the everyday. A narrative which comes from my interaction with suburban surroundings and becomes embedded in an atmospheric moment, concerned with light, colour, movement and a sense of place, often an action taking place, which is subtly layered with personal or social elements of that time. Most of my work is executed 'alla prima', completed in one session to capture a moment and not get caught up in unnecessary changes, refinement or detail which for me, lose the initial energy, mood or concept felt.

The "Winter swim" captures a windy crisp, light saturated night at Merewether baths, with the figure ready to test the water temperature, contemplating a swim. I have always loved the haunting beauty of winter night swims with a sense of mystery, drama and danger of the night ocean experienced in total safety of the baths.

All recent work is painted with studio made paint, using simple ingredients of the early Masters, a method of oil painting where no solvents, dryers, varnishes and modern chemicals are used in the painting process, only natural ingredients of organic oils, pigments, chalk and egg-white.

Fiona LOWRY
born 1974 Sydney NSW
we will know it more than ever  2018
acrylic on canvas
123 x 101.5cm

“there is a place in the heart that
will never be filled
a space
and even during the
best moments
and
the greatest times
times
we will know it
we will know it
more than
ever
there is a place in the heart that
will never be filled
and
we will wait
and
wait
in that space.”

 ― Charles Bukowski

Marie MANSFIELD
born Christchurch, New Zealand
Insomnia 2018
oil on board
51 x 41 cm

I was an insomniac for five years and it impacted almost everything I did including my painting practice. I found when I had the energy I would paint fast giving my paintings an energetic quality but used a subdued colour palette. When I painted portraits I would imbue my subjects with a slightly resigned or reflective quality. This painting is a self portrait recording what it feels like when I don’t get a decent sleep…luckily those days are behind me.

Steve MAY
born 1969 Melbourne VIC
The Year From Hell  2018
oils and enamels on wood
60 x 50 cm

This painting sums how I felt when I painted it. I wasn't in the best of moods and felt depressed due to some personal uncertainties in my life.

Fiona McMONAGLE
born 1977 Letterkenny Ireland
Family Portrait No. 2  2017
oil on linen
105.5 x 74.5cm

My art draws heavily upon my suburban upbringing.   By exploring the familiar  of  the suburban I try to depict the ambiguity of the known and perceived  that make up our urban landscapes. Although my subjects are often known to me, I will treat them as anonymous archetypes and as a representation of universal experiences.

I was born in Ireland in 1977 and was raised in Australia. This work ‘Family Portrait No.2’ draws on the quirks of growing up Irish, Catholic in the outer western suburbs of Melbourne.

Rachel MILNE
born 1978 Cambridge England UK
Self Portrait in Drawing Room, Newcastle Art School  2018
oil on board
60 x 50cm

I wanted to paint a self-portrait in the Drawing Room at Newcastle Art School. I imagine there are not a great number of Drawing Rooms still used for the purpose they were intended and for me this is a particularly magnificent one. I paint quickly and this was completed in one six hour sitting while different classes moved and shifted around me.

The space is so huge and as I wanted to capture something of the scale the portrait itself ended up quite small within the composition however it’s hard to express how at home I feel in this environment, and I feel the room itself became an extension of the portrait. I often paint to claim some sort of ownership over a space and this is somewhere I wanted to place myself in paint, pinning down the room, it’s use and my presence.

Alice PALMER
born 1991 Sydney NSW
In His Own Unhurried, Winding Hours, Portrait, Eldrix  2018
oil on canvas
180 x 140cm

I painted Eldrix over the course of 11 sittings, working only from life. He and his family, originally from Cameroon, live in Florence, Tuscany, where I painted this portrait.

I was immediately drawn to the calm confidence that he transposed from one life to another, his ease of existing within a world of four different languages. There is a close sense of connection with the sitter when there is an extended period of observance and conversation, and his dignified, hard working nature became important to the life of this painting.

My gratitude and thanks to Eldrix for his time, his story and his vulnerability in this pose. It is this intimate psychology that my extended period of training in Florence, Italy, is focussed on, which I believe to be better explored when working from a live model only. My hope is to pursue portraiture, figurative and plein-air landscape painting as I begin my career as a young artist, and to bring Academic Atelier training to Australian artists and contemporary art spaces.

Amanda PENROSE HART
born Brisbane QLD
Reggie  2018
oil on linen
41 x 35 cm

I went to NZ with Chris and a bunch of others this gave me the opportunity to draw Chris over 2 weeks.

Lori PENSINI
born 1970 Narrogin WA
Pride and Prejudice  2018
oil on canvas
101 x 121 cm

Inspired by the recent discovery of the indigenous lineage to our family.  My 4th great grandfather migrated from England in the 1830’s  where upon he gained prominence as a grazier in the South West of Western Australia.  He worked closely with the local nooongar tribes realising the value of their bush knowledge and natural ability with livestock, and went on in time to create a conservation park to secure native food sources for them as well as sanctuary from local authorities. Two of his sons married noongar women with one, Mary, bearing 12 children. 

Our family over time, was not immune to the social & political prejudices of the colonial era and began to see aboriginal liaisons as a shameful threatening thing. and all acknowledgement of noongar ties were  suppressed.  We sadly lost contact and knowledge for many generations.

This painting is of my cousins Tyler and Georgia set in Yangerdin noongar country of our pioneering home. They sit as one, deliberately painted in the same cloth. The folds and stripes are continuous to represent the bridging  & rebuilding of cultures and acknowledgement of shared blood.

Rodney POPLE
born 1952 Launceston TAS
Botany Bay 2018
tempera on linen
203 x 207 cm

Glen PREECE
born 1957 Sydney NSW
Portrait of the artist with black dog  2017
oil on canvas
152 x 61 cm

This painting shows me standing amongst the many voices heard and emotions felt when giving up alcohol after many years of abuse. This is the first portrait I have done since being sober.

Jordan RICHARDSON
born 1993 Hornsby NSW
The Colossus  2017
oil on linen
167.5 x 152 cm

The concept for this painting came from a drawing I made when I was in kindergarten. Tasked with depicting a giant after being read Jack and the Beanstalk and with an A4 piece of paper at my disposal all I drew were feet as the rest would not fit on the page.

I found out about this story only a few years ago and realised that as a 6 year old I was cleverer then than I am currently. The imagery of this painting is a homage to this idea as well as paying tribute to Goya's paintings of the Colossus. The narrativity however stems from something which is psychological. The painting is a self portrait, one without a head. There is an element of violence in cutting off or negating ones head but for me there is a significance as this act signifies a great desire. As someone who is often visited by depression the idea of subtracting ones head brings some kind of relief.

The painting works as a kind of therapy, it satisfies this strange urge, as well as allowing me to express some kind of ambiguous and difficult narrative. This in turn permits me to explore the way my paintings are constructed, my technique, paint application, the viscosity and transparency of paint. All of these concerns are a constant throughout my practice, the driving force.

Michael SIMMS
born 1987 Adelaide SA
Paul Capsis III  2017
oil on canvas
85 x 60 cm

Paul Capsis is one of Australia’s most acclaimed singers and actors. Winner of five Helpmann Awards, he has performed with leading theatre companies across the country. Notable productions include Cabaret, Angela’s Kitchen, Boulevard Delirium, Resident Alien and Little Bird. Capsis has released four albums and won a Film Critics Circle Award for his role in the1998 film Head On.

 When I first saw Paul perform, I was blown away by his electrifying stage presence and versatile voice - and was therefore ecstatic that a chance meeting in a café lead to him sitting for this portrait. My goal was to capture his spellbinding, grand and theatrical aura he carries on stage, alongside his raw honesty and uncompromising nature off stage.

Anthony SLATER
born 1940 Matlock UK
Passengers  2018
oil on canvas
167.5 x 220.3cm

The subject of Seurat’ Bather’s, working people relaxing on the banks of the Seine, has always had a hold on me.  This painting, also of ordinary people at leisure, has its origins in Seurat’s masterpiece.  Only these people are not relaxed they are alert, perhaps even anxious. 

Peter SMEETH
born 1949 Griffith NSW
"A Light in the Dark" Kate McClymont, Investigative journalist  2018
oil on canvas
100 x 75cm

Kate McClymont is one of Australia’s best-known Investigative Journalists and is a shining light in the dark regions of corruption in politics, business, the arts and sport.

She is highly respected as a proficient Journalists and also as one of the bravest persons in the country, taking on the criminally rich and powerful despite repeated threats on her life..

Kate is a wonderful role model for young people in general and particularly for those intending to make a career in Journalism.

Loribelle SPIROVSKI
born 1990 Manila Philippines
In a darkened room  2018
oil on canvas
45.5 x 45.5 cm

My husband, the concert pianist Simon Tedeschi, and I work in the same room. As such, I am privy to his practising process and consequently to the intense and even punishing nature of learning complex music for live performance. Simon, like many artists, is notoriously tough on himself and so as his spouse, I see the side of him that many do not - the dark introspection, the striving to get deeper and deeper into the music and the rigours of exposing himself artistically to large amounts of people. It is in this contradictory state of performing - both intimate and spectacle-like - that I wish to capture him in this portrait.

Susan SUTTON
born 1946 Geelong VIC
Conversations 2017
oil on linen
100 x 100cm

All ages come together in a relaxed common bond, communicating Australian style in the wide open spaces of a sun drenched beach. The comforting paraphernalia of food, drink, towels, extra clothing, shelters, chairs and surfboards are carried to meeting points. Conversations are free and easy, continuing well into the late afternoon. 

Mark TWEEDIE
born 1982 Perth WA
A dream like this is hard to wake from #2  2018
oil on canvas
127 x 122 cm

I have a long-held attachment to family photo albums. When I was five my family split in two and albums ceased to be made; the albums that remained are treasured and serve as a record of our time together. For my recent body of work I have incorporated photo albums as source material to explore lineage and domestic family life, capturing authentic moments in time, set against the enduring narratives of love and loss. A dream like this is hard to wake from #2 is based on an old polaroid; a nonna and nonno together, but soon to be apart.

Natasha WALSH
born 1994 Darlinghurst NSW
Within the Studio (self-portrait) 2017
oil on marble
10 x 10cm

This painting came about after being secluded in my current suitcase sized studio for the last few months, where I have been exploring the nature of the self-portrait. Beginning to feel quite trapped within this self reflecting space, I conceived of this painting where my painted self is likewise trapped within the studio which has folded in on itself inside a convex lens.

The natural distortion of my face, created by the lens, serves as a reminder of both the paintings Constructed representation of the ‘self’ and the way in which our perception of 'self’ is always mediated through a lens.

Anthony WILLIAMS
born London, British Isles
Robin Giles of Kotara  2018
oil on canvas
46 x 69.5 cm

Robin Giles, mother of my wife Jane and matriarch of an extensive family is depicted in this painting during the last days of her independence. As she has inevitably aged Robin is in need of attention and has gone into care.  Prior to that move and while convalescing at her home in Kotara I proposed doing this painting. Robin was very keen, told me that she knew all about the Kilgour Prize and where would I like her to sit.  So here she is portrayed in the evening light at her dinning table that was typically strewn with local newspapers. Mentally astute though ageing Robin enjoyed the challenge of cryptic crosswords. Even though the body may not be so agile the mind can still turn somersaults.  This painting is all about those apparent contradictions; resilience underlays frailty, there is compassion tempered firmness and humour balances poignancy. Abstract concepts given expression in portraiture.