Louis Pratt, The Body Politic, 2025, polylactide, plaster, resin and paint, 48 x 48 x 36cm. Photo: SASS.
Why is Australia so addicted to art prizes? To the best of my knowledge, Australia has more art prizes per head of population than any other country on earth. Some may blame it on our betting culture, others see it as part of the undeniable and inexplicable success of the Archibald, while for some artists, especially with the closure of so many commercial art galleries, art prizes present a rare opportunity to exhibit their work, to be noticed, and potentially score a sale.
Are art prizes the best means through which to subsidise the arts? Possibly not. To treat the arts as a horse race does not mean that the cream will rise to the top, and the process generally tramples on the quiet achievers and artists at various stages in their careers, where a helping hand may be a crucial ingredient to keep the artist going.
Art prizes do give maximum bang for their buck to sponsors with excellent returns for modest outlays. Canberra’s newest art prize, the Strathnairn Arts Small Sculpture Prize (SASS), has been created in partnership between Strathnairn Arts Association, Ginninderry and artsACT. The first prize carries a modest purse of $10,000, the highly commended prize is $3000 and the emerging artist prize is $1000. This is a total prize pool of $14,000. This prize is non-acquisitive, so that the artists can collect their money and still keep their work.
John Forrester Clack, Mortal, 2015, acrylic, graphite steel, 42 x 22 x 38cm. Photo: SASS
The prize attracted over 300 entries, from which the 38 finalists were selected, with each entry attracting a $50 non-refundable entry fee. The arithmetic is simple: the entry fees bring in $15,000, which is already in excess of the prize purse, and the gallery also usually charges a commission on any sales. There are, of course, overheads and staff time, but generally art prizes are a high-visibility way for sponsorship with greater instant gratification than through the creation of a scholarship or funding the operations of a gallery, studio or a collaborative open-access workshop.
SASS was judged by a distinguished panel of appointed judges – Wendy Teakel, Tom Gray and Amanda Stuart. They awarded the first prize to Louis Pratt’s The Body Politic. Pratt is a popular Sydney artist who works with 3D scans of people, which are then depicted or printed as anamorphic sculptures that require the viewer to adopt a particular perspective from which the distortion is corrected. Anything that makes us question our reality is commendable, and Pratt certainly achieves this.
Peter Vandermark, Whistler’s daughter, 2025, modified plastic chair, wood, metal, paint, 50 x 50 x 25cm. Photo: SASS
The highly commended prize was divided between two artists, Tracy Luff’s Mat Matter and Dan Maginnity’s How I learned to stop worrying and love the Arts (my brilliant career). They are clever works with a touch of irony, but possibly somewhat ephemeral. The emerging artist prize went to Lorraine Dean and her intriguing porcelain construction, The Shape of Her Silence.
One can never expect coherence in an art prize exhibition, and this one certainly has no semblance of order, but the general standard is surprisingly high. Amongst some of the other outstanding pieces, I would include John Forrester Clack’s Mortal, made from acrylic and graphite steel. It is a wonderful expression of a frozen kinetic mark.
Peter Vandermark’s Whistler’s Daughter is a brilliantly convincing, quirky modernist construction, while Mariana del Castillo’s Realm of recollection is one of those wonderful, enigmatic objects that is full of symbolic content.
Mariana del Castillo, Realm of recollection, 2025, eco-dyed with eucalyptus on recycled linen, Oregon timber, tram moulds, hand-stitched cotton, sumi ink, clay paint and beeswax, 50 x 50 x 33cm. Photo: SASS
Philip Spelman’s Ellipse shuffle and Nick Stranks’ Glimpse are refined pieces in keeping with the character of much of their recent work. Other noticeable pieces include Jacqueline Bradley’s Stone Crown, Pat Harry’s and Philip Spelman’s Icon, Juz Kitson’s The Guardians II, Marija Patterson’s Over the sea to a new beginning, Isobel Rayson’s All these years, Jeffrey Sarmiento’s Encyclopaedia (Portrait), Willemina Villari’s A drawing in space, Mining town and Madisyn Zabel’s See-through IV.
There are only a couple of pieces where I stopped to ask myself, “How in the world did these make the cut as finalists?” This inaugural prize has attracted a remarkably strong field that the judging panel has professionally culled.
Philip Spelman, Ellipse shuffle, 2025, steel, automotive paint, 49 x 35 x 22cm. Photo: SASS
With the general demise of commercial art spaces as a broad international trend, art fairs and art prizes are playing an increasingly important role in bringing art to a popular audience. SASS is an excellent excuse to visit Strathnairn and see it before it is swallowed up by suburbia.
Nick Stranks, Glimpse, 2025, bronze, copper, wood, 50 x 50 x 25cm. Photo: SASS.
The Strathnairn Arts Small Sculpture Prize 2025 can be viewed until 5 October at the Strathnairn Woolshed Gallery, 90 Stockdill Drive, Holt. It’s open from Wednesday to Sunday, 10 am to 4 pm. Entry is free.
