Finalists announced in $10,000 portrait prize
FROM more than 220 entries, 68 artists have been chosen as finalists of the 2020 Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize.
Lismore Regional Gallery announced the finalists, saying they illustrate the diverse ways in which the human form can be captured.
The award was open to all media, meaning that painting, drawing, video, photography and ceramic works will all be on display when the show opens to the public on November 7.
The winner of the $10,000 award will be announced, online, on Friday November 6 by judge Abdul Abdullah, who was a finalist in the 2020 Archibald Prize.
The announcement said: “Artists included in the finalist list come from all states of Australia, and the Northern Rivers, with its healthy creative spirit representing 40 per cent of the artists on display”.
Subjects include a range of known people such as Uncle Jack Charles, artist Guy Maestri, political scientist and biographer Professor Jenny Hocking, classical pianist Simon Tedeschi, film maker Kriv Stenders and musician Warren Ellis.
Locally, there are a large number of sitters known among the wider community featured including Bundjalung cultural worker Rhoda Roberts, drag performer Maude Boate (Michael Gates), NORPA Artistic Director Julian Louis, visual artist Karla Dickens and the late Aunty Dorrie Gordon.
The gallery said there were a lot of self-portraits this year.
Lismore Regional Gallery Director, Brett Adlington, said: ‘It is unsurprising, that in this most challenging of years, many works offer intimate glimpses into the domestic space. Some of these are self-portraits, while others are of partners. The unifying factor is a sense of the artist looking inward into a safe space.’
The 2020 Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize is supported by Northern Rivers-based company Hurford Hardwood and continues until Sunday January 31.
Audiences will have their chance to have their say in the Peoples Choice Award, with the winning artist receiving $1000 from the Friends of Lismore Regional Gallery.
Finalists for 2020:
Denise Alison
Louise Allerton
Ann Arora
Marjan Bakhtiarikish
Konrad Bock
Renè Bolten
Karen Jane Borger
Jacob Boylan
Amanda Bromfield
Filippa Buttitta
Foong-Yue Cheah
Molly Darvall
Michelle Dawson
Janine Dello
Peter Derrett OAM
Dawn Duncan-Smith
Facing Australia (Raimond De Weerdt and Karen Donnelly)
Kathryn Fenton
Rikki Fisher
Miriam Fraser,
Todd Fuller
Shirley Gibson
Anna Glynn
Amala Groom
Michèle Heibel
Hilary Herrmann
Martyn Hodge
Nicole Kelly
Sadami Konchi
Elena Larkin
Susan Ma
Ali Marshall
Samuel Massey
Shannon McCulloch
Genevieve Memory
Zilpha Menghetti,
Libby Moore,
Anh Nguyen
Antoinette O’Brien
Arion Ocean
Jessica O’Connor
Miriam O’Grady
Travis Paterson
Ana Pollak
Jamie Preisz
Marian Quigley
Caitlin Reilly
Gwen Robson
Matthew Sansom
Lynn Savery
Loribelle Spirovski
Fleur Stevenson
Lisa Stonham
Robyn Sweaney
Joe Swepson
Fiona Taylor
Lenny Thurgate
Seabastion Toast
Datsun Tran
Edward Trost
Melanie Valentine
Asher Veling
Jacklyn Wagner
Rudiger Wasser
Harry Westera
Edwin Wilson
Caroline Zilinsky
Michelle Zuccolo.
