Fairfield City Art Society Inc.
PO BOX 2035, CARRAMAR , NSW 2163 AUSTRALIA
JUDGES GENERAL-EXHIBITION COMMENTS :
"A broad range of artworks have been entered into the Fairfield Art Society Open Art Prize this year, judged and displayed online given the tumultuous and isolating year we have experienced with Covid-19. The shift to the virtual has affected art stores, art schools and departments in universities as well as art prizes and gallery exhibitions, and small-scale and timed entry to commercial openings has now become commonplace. Let’s hope that 2021 is a better and less restrictive year. For 2020, a ‘thank you’ to all of the artists who entered the exhibition, continued their art practices — spent time in the studio or at the kitchen table against many odds — for without you the prize would not be possible. And congratulations to the winners of each category and those highly commended.
In 2020 it was satisfying to see artists engaging with a variety of materials ranging from oil, acrylic, watercolour, mixed media and collage to sculpture and ceramics, with greater numbers than usual in the latter two categories (perhaps reflecting the insurgence of ceramic-based artworks in institutional exhibitions). There is always a plurality of genres, themes, and styles, as befits an open competition, with a scattering of portraits, figures, still-lifes, street scenes, and yes, a few dogs and horses, but it is also true to say that many works submitted to the prize related to the landscape and the natural world. Beyond glimpses of the outer physical world, there were also hints of worlds within; works that were expressions of the imagination or personal in their nature; and the intimate, the individual, and the idiosyncratic — whether in subject or style — is always good to see. Overall, there is a little bit of something here for everyone… and we trust that viewing this year’s exhibition — however mediated by the screen — you will find works that inspire, that provoke, that resonate, giving a taste of the many sensibilities that constitute contemporary art and the various levels of achievement stemming from the sortie of the dilettante (the amateur participating in new creative activities) and those with early, mid, and later career practices. This is important to mention, for the Fairfield Art Prize will always attract great diversity given the Society’s raison d'être to encourage the growth and appreciation of, and participation within, the visual arts at all levels."
Judges: Open, Club Marconi, PAM Memorial, Fairfield Local, and Encouragement Awards
The Fairfield City Art Society thanks the judges and their respective academic institutions for their continued support of our exhibitions.
