Sixteen leading Australian artists will ready their final submissions for the fourth biennial Basil Sellers Art Prize in July.
The works, which confront issues and themes in our national sports, will be exhibited at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne from 22 July.
The $100,000 prize is one of the most significant opportunities available to contemporary Australian artists, allowing artists to explore literal and critical interpretations our national identity.
Two of those artists, photographers Tony Albert and Narelle Autio, will use their medium to engage different facets of Australian Sport.
Albert’s photographs, paintings and installations are based on personal and collective histories. His practice critiques racial prejudice in contemporary Australian society. In his work for the Basil Sellers Art Prize 4, he looks at the theme of racism in sport, and attempts that have been made in recent years to eradicate it.
Narelle Autio has been exploring the significance of coastal landscapes in the Australian psyche though photographs of populated beaches and figures submerged in water. For the Basil Sellers Art Prize 4, Autio will create a suite of work on surf lifesaving — both as a community service and as a competitive sport.
Kelly Gellatly, Director of the Ian Potter Museum of Art, says the exhibition continues to push the boundaries of how sport and art relate.
"The theme of sport allows for the exploration of endless issues and artistic possibilities, and provides numerous opportunities to challenge existing preconceptions about both sport and art," she explains.
"We are expecting this fourth Basil Sellers Art Prize and exhibition will surprise, delight, perplex and entertain, and that it will encourage us all to think differently about our national obsession and its connections to and relationship with the arts."
The Basil Sellers Art Prize exhibition opens at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, on 22 July 2014. It will show until 26 October 2014. The winner will be announced on Friday 25 July, 2014.
More information: Phone (03) 8344 5148 or visit www.sellersartprize.com.au
Photo by Narelle Autio.
Photo by Narelle Autio.
Photo by Narelle Autio.