2024 Exhibition of Finalists
Grace Cossington Smith biennial art award
Exhibition of Finalists
27 January to 24 February 2024
2024 FINALISTS
Luke Abdallah & Oliver Fontany, Caitlin Aloisio Shearer, Sally Anderson, Clementine Barnes,, Alexander Beech, Amber Boardman, Anna Carey, David Collins, Richard Collins, Nancy Constandelia, Carolyn Craig, Angie de Latour, Kate Dorrough, Jacquelene Drinkall, Kylie Elkington, Zachariah Fenn, Angus Fisher, Louise Fowler-Smith, Ariella Friend, Emily Galicek, Shahroud Ghahani, Deanne Gilson, Tim Gregory, Graziela Guardino, Tannya Harricks, Danyi Hu, Emily Imeson, Eunjoo Jang, Virginia Keft, Nicole Kelly, Nadia Kliendanze, Deborah Marks, Nicola Mason, Juanita McLauchlan, Lily Platts, Marisa Purcell, Justine Roche, Sally Ryan, Wendy Sharpe, Skye Wagner, Stuart Watters, Hua Ye
JUDGES for the 2024 Grace Cossington Smith art award
Felicity Fenner, Chair, City of Sydney Public Art Advisory Panel and Associate Professor, Curating & Cultural Leadership, Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture, UNSW Sydney. She is a writer, curator of contemporary art, and an advisor on public art projects to corporate organisations, local and state governments.
Dr Blair French is a curator, writer and arts leader. He has a has a distinguished career across the arts sector, and his most recent role was Chief Executive Officer of Carriageworks, Sydney. He has held Senior positions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Artspace Visual Arts Centre, Performance Space and the Australian Centre for Photography.
Winner of GCS art award 2024 (acquisitive)
Virginia Keft
Judges’ comments: matjam bagin tja (flying fox in the twilight), evokes the mood and atmosphere of the suburban fringe where the infrastructure and the natural world intersect. Keft has produced an intricate and complex painting that combines traditional weaving and intricate linework to communicate that fleeting moment of beauty as the colours of the setting sun illuminate the sky.
About Virginia Keft
Dr. Virginia Keft is a Murriwarri Woman, artist, performer, and researcher. Her practice includes painting, drawing, weaving, sculpture and sound art. Her work celebrates connections to place, community, and language. Weaving features in her practice, physically and symbolically and language is woven into the works – in letter, sound, symbol, line and pattern, reflecting its scattered but persisting presence. Keft brings her passion for making contemporary visual culture accessible to broad audiences together with her commitment to help drive change through innovative and culturally safe arts and culture programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. www.virginiakeft.com.au
Winner Emerging Artist Award 2024
Nicola Mason
Judges’ comments: The Yellow Studio 1: inside presents an interesting tableaux of objects, art and habitation. The pictures within pictures and compositional arrangement of multiple planes within the domestic space have the feel of a stage set, while the painting style and colours reference both Matisse and Grace Cossington Smith.
About Nicola Mason
Nicola Mason’s work is richly informed by her background in conservation and land management and influenced by her domestic life. In 2016 she focused on her art practice, graduating with a BFA in 2020 from the University of New South Wales Art & Design. Her practice has been propelled by a number of residencies, in Australia France and Indonesia, bursaries and grants. Mason has held eight solo exhibitions and been included in numerous group exhibitions. http://www.nicmasonartist.com/
Winner Local Artist Award 2024
Shahroud Ghahani
Judges’ comments: We were really impressed with how a contemporary feminist narrative has been rendered in a way that incorporates collage and the visual vocabulary of the artist’s Iranian heritage. She is a local artist conveying a strong connection to her life and culture through precise and careful work, while also responding to collectively shared issues of universal importance.
About Shahroud Ghahani
Shahroud Ghahani is an Iranian-Australian artist and her artworks bridge rich images from disparate cultures and her experiences of them. Her practice explores representations of the female body and themes of beauty, the grotesque, and identity within Eastern and Western traditions. Ghahani’s art is inspired by explorations of metaphysical subjects. She interweaves dreamscapes, liminal and imaginary spaces, displaced objects and allegorical imagery.
She holds a Master of Art from the University of New South Wales and has had her work exhibited in galleries across Sydney and is currently a resident artist at the Primrose Park Art Studio a program managed by North Sydney Council. https://www.shahroudghahani.com/
| Related downloads | |
| GCS art award Finalists Exhibition Media Release | Download PDF |
| GCS art award Finalists Exhibition Catalogue | Download PDF |
| GCS art award Finalists Exhibition Learning Resource | Download PDF |
Images courtesy and © the artists
Installation photography Richard Glover