Wallace Art Awards 2009 | 17 October 2009 – 21 January 2010
presented at TheNewDowse in association with Gillespie Young Watson
TheNewDowse launches its spring season with an abundance of energetic and engaging art practice, including New Zealand’s most eclectic and inspiring annual awards show, the Wallace Art Awards. TheNewDowse Director Cam McCracken says the awards are like “a photo-booth snapshot of the contemporary NZ arts scene”.
456 hopefuls entered the Wallace Awards this year, with works including a giant foam brain, rotating hairy skulls and stonefruit boxing gloves. Marcus Williams and Susan Jowsey scooped the Paramount prize with their photographic diptych The Correction, the first time a photographic work has won The Wallace Art Awards. In another surprise win, the Park Lane Development Award went to Chloe Marsters, a 19 year old second year student at Auckland University of Technology. Her Boo Hoo is a complex work rendered in ink on facial tissues in a stunning display of intricacy and attention to detail.
The public can vote for their own People’s Choice Award at TheNewDowse. Join 2009 judge, artist and lecturer Christopher Braddock, on Wednesday 21 October at 6pm for a personal insight into the works and the judging process. Cost: $15/Friends $10, including light refreshments. Bookings to dowsefriends@gmail.com. The 2009 NZ Student Craft/Design Award will also be presented at this event.
Meanwhile in the Wallace Wing of TheNewDowse (until 31 Jan) are Chinese artist Cao Fei’s video/animation explorations of alternate worlds and identities, alongside Michael Parekowhai’s big blow-up bunny Jim McMurtry.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
The Wallace Art Awards were established in 1992.They provide emerging and established artists the chance to win international residencies and cash prizes. See www.wallaceartstrust.org.nz.
The 2009 Awards, selected by judges Philip Trusttum, Rohan Weallans and Christopher Braddock:
+ Wallace Trust Paramount Award: Marcus Williams and Susan Jowsey. PRIZE: A six month residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Programme in New York
+ The Kaipara Foundation Wallace Trust Award: Linden Simmons. PRIZE: a three month residency at Altes Spital in Solothurn, Switzerland
+ Fulbright Wallace Arts Trust Award: Richard Maloy. PRIZE: a three month residency at the Headlands Centre for the Arts in San Francisco, USA
+ Park Lane Wallace Trust Development Award: Chloe Marsters. PRIZE: a two month residency at the Vermont Studio Center, USA
ENDS
For more information or to request high-resolution images of selected finalists please contact us via:
E museums@huttcity.govt.nz | T +64 4 560 1475 | www.newdowse.org.nz