Congratulations to the following Award Recipients
WINNER OF THE (10TH) 2023 KAAF ART PRIZE
$20,000
ACQUISITIVE
MICHAEL LINDEMAN
Regression Painting (Pyjamas and Cocktails...)
96 x 110 Finger Painted Acrylic on Mirror $9900
Through Regression Painting (Pyjamas and Cocktails) I aim to shine a light on the mechanics of the contemporary art world while confronting my own position as an artist. The mirror substrate of the painting steers viewers into appraising themselves and hints at a certain level of narcissism entwined with the merging of contemporary fashion and art.
With wry humour, Regression Painting (Pyjamas and Cocktails) illustrates that I am not afraid to lean on self-deprecation also – partially informed by Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of an immature defence mechanism used to protect the ego from stress, anxiety or trauma.
The jarring of text-based conceptualism with a visceral, immediate finger-painted aesthetic serves to evaluate the market construction of taste, and the strategies artists are compelled to implement in obtaining visibility. Regression Painting (Pyjamas and Cocktails) intersects aesthetics and language, art and audience.
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HIGHLY COMMENDED
$2,000
NON-ACQUISITIVE
SALLY DAVIS
Morticia's Sister - Shop Window Still Life
62 x 62 Oil on Linen $2795
Morticia’s Sister depicts a retro-styled mannequin and bust with fashion and accessories reminiscent of the 1950s. Although the painting is created with realism painting techniques, the subtle window reflections and glimmers of sunlight create a dreamlike effect.
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HIGHLY COMMENDED
$2,000
NON-ACQUISITIVE
HYUN JIN LEE
Do You Miss Me?
105 x 80 Oil on Paper $1300
Mother who misses married children talks about flowers through a window.
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JUDGES' COMMENDATION
JESSE DAYAN
Blue Reclining Figure
70 x 80 Oil on Linen $2900
Dayan’s work shifts fluidly between art historical reference and direct observation of present day subjects. It is an interest in painting moments as they feel not as they appear that unifies these two approaches. The use of subtly shifting perspective points and directions of light is intended to create the feeling that each painting contains a small unfolding of time. The use of colour for expression rather than description is central to Dayan’s practice. However the use of non-local colour is not intended to abstract the picture from the subject but is a way of heightening attention and questioning expectation.
JUDGES' COMMENDATION
GILLIAN KAYROOZ
Searching for Haenyeo
120 x 85 35mm Film, Photograph $3000
It’s the first day of the new year and I have wandered down to Jeju-Do's Haenyo Beach, in Seongsan-ri, South-Korea. I peel a tangerine handed to me by a local on the descent down, and clamber across the rocks where I find a figure in white standing in solitude, swallowed by the jagged face of Seongsan Ilchulbong. As they stare out into the ocean, I can't help but wonder, have they spotted a Jeju mermaid?
