27th Annual Wallace Art Awards 2018 winners

The 27th Annual Wallace Art Awards 2018, with prizes totalling over $275,000, will be presented by The Governor-General, The Rt Hon Dame Patsy Reddy, at the Pah Homestead, TSB Wallace Arts Centre on Monday 3 September 2018 at approximately 7pm.

This year the Wallace Arts Trust received 515 entries from which 83 were selected as finalists. From the finalists, a selection have been chosen for the Award Winners and Travelling Finalists exhibition, and the remaining works are represented in the Salon des Refusés.

The annual Wallace Art Awards profile outstanding examples of contemporary New Zealand art. Through establishing the awards in 1992, Sir James Wallace aimed to foster, honour and support the practices of visual artists. Over the years, some of New Zealand’s most prominent artists have entered and won, and the residencies awarded to the winners have transformed their careers. Past winners have included Bill Hammond, Fatu Feu’u, Elizabeth Thompson, Gregor Kregar, Sara Hughes, Judy Millar and André Hemer.

The Awards are, collectively, the richest available to New Zealand artists. Differing from other major art prizes, the Wallace Art Awards provide broadening experiences to the six major winners by way of residencies. Artists can submit work in the mediums of painting, sculpture, audio-visual, print, photography, drawings or interdisciplinary arts. As well as the six residencies there are three monetary prizes and one non-monetary prize.

The Awards are also an essential part of the Wallace Art Trust Collection’s trajectory, with a selection of the winning works added to the 9,000-strong Collection, with many other finalists’ works also being acquired each year.

Judges
Esteemed members of the arts community Linda Tyler, Mark Braunias and Joyce Campbell were judges for the Wallace Arts Trust Paramount Award, the Kaipara Wallace Arts Trust Award and the Wallace Arts Trust Vermont Award. The judges for the Fulbright-Wallace Award were Linda Tyler, Simon Morris and Richard Maloy. The judges for the BSR Wallace New Zealand Residence Award were Andrew Drummond, Simon Ogden and Deborah Rundle.

27th Annual Wallace Art Awards 2018 winners

Wallace Arts Trust Paramount Award
Imogen Taylor, Refusal To Yield (2018) Acrylic on hessian, 1100 x 2050mm
Imogen Taylor receives a six-month residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York, USA.

Judges comment: “Taylor’s references to Bauhaus, Cubism and Modernism combined with her assured handling of colour and composition make for a bold, memorable, confident and deeply informed painting.”

Kaipara Wallace Arts Trust Award
Peata Larkin, They Don't Speak My Language (2018) Acrylic on embroided silk, 1015 x 2200 x 55mm
Peata Larkin receives a three-month residency at the Altes Spital in Solothurn, Switzerland.

Judges comment: “This work is delicate, intelligent and considered. Larkin’s clever use of the painted medium and interweaving of materials results in a quiet yet seductive visual quality.”

Wallace Arts Trust Vermont Award
Andrea du Chatenier, Untitled (Celestial Blue Cave Drawing) (2018) Porcelain, glaze and earthenware clay, 600 x 500 x 400mm
Andrea du Chatenier receives a three-month residency at the Vermont Studio Centre in Vermont, USA.

Judges comment: “Andrea du Chatenier’s brave materiality and bold abstraction pushes the ceramic medium beyond plausibility. This work is a little bit magic, fragile and gutsy all at once.”

Fulbright-Wallace Arts Trust Award
Emma Fitts, Unknown Cloak (2018) Hand-dyed woollen underlay, 1500 x 1100mm
Emma Fitts receives a ten-week residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts in San Francisco, USA.

Judges comment: “There was consensus from the selection panel that Emma Fitts was the best fit for the Headlands residency: she is very open to the artistic process and where it could take her project, ‘The Ideal Museum’. They agreed her project would be fully inspired by the Headlands environment and she would truly take advantage of the experimental aspect of the Headland’s space.”

British School at Rome Wallace New Zealand Residence Award
Lucy Meyle, Duck and Snail Ramps (2018) Plywood, paint and screws, both 1800 x 1120 x 500mm
Lucy Meyle receives a three-month residency at the British School at Rome in Rome, Italy.

Judges comment: “Meyle’s dislocations annotate present possibilities with an uncynical humour. Meyle combines elements of sculpture, design and installation practice, drawing, photography, video, zine publication and images from the algorithm to open up space where questions and answers sparkle in a comedic calculus of predication.”

Martin Tate Wallace Artist Residency Award
Richard Maloy, Attempt 14 (2014) Unique colour photograph, 1200 x 800mm
Richard Maloy receives a three-month residency in Vladivostok, Russia.

This Award, the third time it will have been conferred, is an initiative of Martin Tate, New Zealand's Honorary Consul in Vladivostok. This residency is by invitation only and is given to a senior artist who is unlikely to apply for a Wallace Art Award.

First Runner-up Award
Brett Graham, 90 00' S 00 00' E (2018) Oak, 2000 x 2000 x 300mm
Brett Graham receives $2,500.

Judges comment: “Big themes, big finish - a powerful use of materials. Graham’s ability to abstract cultural ideas into strong sculptural statements, combined with the seriousness of a mid-career artist makes him a deserving winner.”

Second Runner-up Award
Yvonne Shaw, The Residual No. 8 (2017) Pigmented inkjet print, framed, 594 x 891mm
Yvonne Shaw receives $2,500.

Jury Award
Paul McLachlan, Blue Lion (2018) Rubber, merino, mohair, linen, acrylic and polyester yarns, 1600 x 2170 x 50mm
This prize is non-monetary.

The People’s Choice Award of $750 is announced at the end of the Award Winners and Travelling Finalists exhibition.

Exhibition dates
The Award Winners and Travelling Finalists exhibition will be exhibited at:

Pah Homestead, TSB Wallace Arts Centre, 4 September 2018 – 4 November 2018
Pātaka Art + Museum, Porirua, 16 November 2018 – 24 March 2019
The Suter Art Gallery, Nelson, 13 April 2019 – 9 June 2019
The Centre of Contemporary Art, Christchurch, 22 June 2019 – 1 September 2019
Wallace Gallery Morrinsville, 19 September 2019 – 10 November 2019

The Wallace Arts Trust is excited to announce the inaugural South Island tour of the Award Winners and Travelling Finalists exhibition, where selected works will be exhibited on South Island shores for the first time. Sarah McClintock, Curator and Collection Manager at the Suter comments, “The Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatū is thrilled to host the Wallace Art Awards touring exhibition. A fixture in New Zealand’s arts calendar the Wallace Art Awards showcases some of the best contemporary artists in Aotearoa and we are excited to be part of bringing this exhibition to the people of Nelson.”

The Salon des Refusés will be exhibited at the Pah Homestead, TSB Wallace Arts Centre from 4 September to 28 October 2018.

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