Art

In the Running for the Wynne

After sharing a rundown of the 2017 Archibald Prize Finalists last week, we couldn’t overlook the amazing entries in the running for The Wynne Prize this year.  A truly remarkable lineup of Australia’s best contemporary landscape painters, all under one roof!

Enjoy a scroll through some of the finalists for this slightly-less-hyped (though no less prestigious) award below, in the lead-up to the winner announcement this Friday,  July 28th.

Written
by
Lucy Feagins

Tim Storrier’s ‘At sea’ acrylic on canvas (200x300cm). Photo – Mim Stirling, courtesy of Art Gallery of NSW.

William Mackinnon’s ‘Landscape as self-portrait’ acrylic, oil and enamel on canvas (190 x 163cm). Photo –Felicity Jenkins, courtesy of Art Gallery of NSW.

Rowan Robertson’s ‘Sun shines in the rusty morning (Riverina, NSW)’ oil on linen (50x45cm). Photo – Jenni Carter, courtesy of Art Gallery of NSW.

Robyn Sweaney ‘Time and tide’ acrylic on linen (40x50cm). Photo – Jenni Carter courtesy of Art Gallery of NSW.

Mona Mitakiki & Naomi Kantjuriny’s ‘Kungkarangkalpa tjukurpa (Seven Sisters tjukurpa). Kapi tjukurla tjuta (many rockholes)’ acrylic on linen (200x200cm), and Ngupulya Pumani’s ‘Antara’ acrylic on linen (300x200cm). Photo – Jenni Carter, courtesy of Art Gallery of NSW.

Nyapanyapa Yunupingu’s ‘Landscape’ natural earth pigments on bark (78x193cm), as also featured in our profile of the artist, here. Photo – courtesy of Art Gallery of NSW.

John Murray’s ‘Bellinger River, Thora’ watercolour on paper (21x11cm). Photo – Jenni Carter, courtesy of Art Gallery of NSW.

Lucy Culliton ‘Love lies bleeding’ oil on canvas (244 x183cm). Photo – Mim Stirling, courtesy of Art Gallery of NSW.

Wawiriya Burton’s ‘Ngayuku mamaku ngura (my father’s country) minyma mingkiri tjuta (small desert female mice)’ acrylic on linen (240x200cm). Photo – Jenni Carter, courtesy of Art Gallery of NSW.

Writer
Lucy Feagins
26th of July 2017

The Wynne Prize is Australia’s most prestigious award for landscape painting, awarded annually by the trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW for ‘the best landscape painting of Australian scenery, or figure sculpture’.

This is an open competition, making for a brilliantly diverse lineup each year. Finalists are displayed in a hugely popular triple-bill exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW each year, alongside the Archibald and Sulman Prize exhibitions.

This year, over a third of the Wynne finalists are Indigenous artists, including  trailblazing artist Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, from North-East Arnhem Land, who our Indigenous Art columnists, Jessica Booth and Laetitia Prunetti of Willie Weston, profiled a couple of months ago. In her distinct style, Nyapanyapa’s work is softly rendered in pale natural pigments on bark, whilst other indigenous painters, such as Wawiriya Burton, adopt an entirely different approach, weaving dreamtime narratives with powerfully vivid colour that leaps off the canvas.

Elsewhere in the lineup, the Australian landscape is celebrated directly and figuratively, with a number of entries depicting complex, beautiful scenes of dense vegetation. We especially love John Murray’s intensely detailed watercolour work, ‘Bellinger River, Thora’ (at just 11 x 21cm!) and Lucy Culliton‘s ‘Love lies bleeding‘, both of which are mind-bogglingly detailed in their depiction of lush, vibrant foliage and flora.

The Wynne prize exhibition is on show at The Art Gallery of NSW until October 22nd – you can view the full lineup of shortlisted works here.

 

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