Jiawei Shen, Tri-Selves. Image courtesy of the SH Ervin Gallery.
Robert Kennedy - Salon de Refusés 2007
02 April 2007
In Conversation with Stephen Bradley
Curator, the Transfield Art Collection, Guest Judge, Salon de Refusés 2007
A curator with 15 years experience, including three years as the Curator of the Transfield Art Collection, Stephen Bradley was one of the judges of the 2007 Salon de Refusés: the alternative Archibald and Wynne Prize Selection, at the SH Ervin Gallery.
Unlike the Archibald, the Salon has no rules for selection so that works not chosen for the Wynne and the Archibald prizes are reviewed by the Salon judges. The other two judges were Jane Watters, Director, SH Ervin Gallery, and Barry Pearce, Head Curator of Australian Art, Art Gallery of NSW.
With the rapid process of judging an exhibition like the Salon, and given the number and varying styles of artworks reviewed, it's a daunting task.
As Stephen Bradley commented "an artist might spend many months developing a work for these prizes and a decision which can be made in a matter of seconds."
Several paintings of interest include the large work of artist Filippa Buttitta, titled Looking Forward – Portrait of the Hon. Morris Iemma. This image of the NSW Premier is a very different view from the one selected in the Archibald this year. It offers a perspective on the past, present and possible future of the Premier. There's quite an amusing full face grin on the Premier, with his hands portraying a link to his working class background.
It's a painting hard not to like because most politicians are such serious characters. As Stephen reflected, "to find him reacting like this in a portrait is uplifting".
Jiawei Shen's painting Tri-Selves is one that seems a strange omission from the Archibald; the crowds were buzzing around it on opening night. Like a "visual diary" of his life, Shen's self portrait includes strong references to his Chinese background, Russian influences and Australian present, plus others to Vermeer and his birth in the Year of the Rat. The artist has stated that he feels it is his best work which is telling given the quality of his past work which includes a portrait of Crown Princess Mary of Denmark. Shen has the skill and the class to win the Archibald - it's only a matter of time.
A very moving work is the painting titled Anthony Lawrence (Australian poet) summons the death mask of William Blake by 2003 Archibald Winner Geoff Dyer. It's a darkly gothic painting – haunting to the point of being unsettling and, it seems, another Archibald omission. It's worthy seeing the Salon exhibition for this work alone.
Marina Finlay, painter, actor, muse and model for artists like Judy Cassab and Charles Blackman, has been selected for the first time for this exhibition. Her work is a "powerful and iconic image" of Hugo Weaving playing Albrecht Durer. The inspiration for this work came about when Marina and Hugo attended NIDA in 1979, and the self-portrait of Durer that she found in the kitchen of Brett Whiteley's sister.
John R Walker's portrait of Jeremy Nelson is a challenging work. In some respects, it's similar to the painting of Robert Eadie by Kevin O'Connor that was selected in this year's Archibald, but, as Stephen stated ,"with a more interesting choice of palette and style". It's not a realist image of the poet; it has the poet seated looking directly at the viewer with a book of poetry no doubt, opened in his lap, but it's the thick brush stroke, highly stylised, and imaginative colours of the work, that perhaps should have seen it selected for the Archibald – "this a work that generates ideas".
Other works that are noteworthy include Adam Chang's Brian, the dog and the doorway, Danelle Bergstrom's Take two -Jack Thompson, Michael Bell's self-portrait with carrot and Brett McMahon's old north road.
There are many works in the Salon that will make you wonder why they weren't chosen. Stephen concluded by saying that the Salon expresses so well the diversity of the Australian art scene, and the Salon is a necessary alternative to the Archibald and Wynne prizes.
My interview with Stephen left me wondering about all the art that's submitted to the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes. How interesting it would be to see the hundreds and hundreds of submissions together as one exhibition. We would need a very large exhibition space for this, but if we can stage the Olympics, I'm sure we could do this.
Robert Kennedy
More Information
2007 Salon des Refusés: The alternative Archibald & Wynne Prize selection
Until 06 May 2007
Public Program of Artist Talks
Sundays 3pm
1 April – Laraine Deer, Jamie Toll
8 April – He Huang, Tracy Smith
15 April – Bernard Ollis, Dean Manning
22 April – Brett McMahon, Peter Sharp, John Turier
29 April – Ian Smith
6 May – Ross Laurie, James Powditch
National Trust S.H. Ervin Gallery
Watson Road, Observatory Hill, The Rocks, Sydney.
Tuesday - Sunday 11am - 5pm. Closed Mondays
Tel: 02 9258 0173
Website: http://www.nsw.nationaltrust.org.au/
