2009 winners

2008 winners

2009 Winner Nathan Grey, Fin

You might know Fin. He may have served you a beer at T42 or Barcelona. He takes great pride in his work, moving briskly behind the bar from person to person.

Fin also studied at the Art School on Hobart’s waterfront. He does the most amazing detailed prints and has a good design aesthetic. This is where I got to know him.

Sporting his unique urban style, his persona can be felt through the use of energetic mark making and tonal variation. However, sometimes, he is quiet and reflective. This painting explores this side of him.

2009 Runner-up Rachael Gates, Ian Pearce

Ian Pearce is an icon of the Tasmanian jazz scene. He was born in Hobart in 1921 and began playing piano at the age of 12. In the 1930s, he picked up a cornet and, along with his brother Cedric and neighbour Tom Pickering, began imitating the jazz style they heard on recordings by musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Benny Goodman. This group became the Barrelhouse Four – founding the jazz music scene in Hobart. The group recorded its first 78 in 1946, and went on (under various names and line-up changes) to record further albums, play countless concerts and dances, as well as regularly play for ABC broadcasts. Ian’s impressive music career spans more than 70 years and continues with his current band, the Ian Pearce Quartet.

I first met Ian by chance a number of years ago when I found his lost library card. I happened to be studying the history of jazz at the time, and on returning his card we got talking about music. He had an ageless quality that I thought would be a challenge to try to capture in a portrait.

Five years later I plucked up the courage to ask him if he would mind if I painted him.

Initially I planned to include references to his musical career within the painting, but rather than limit the portrait by including (perhaps obvious) symbolism, I decided on a more direct approach. The stark natural linen background, and scale and composition of the portrait confronts the viewer and hopefully provokes a moment of contemplation on an amazing life and an impressive person.

2009 Runner-up Allison Lowe, Too Much

I wanted to paint a self-portrait about being aware of living in a world so full of surplus imagery.

This painting represents the overloaded sensation of that struggle. The opposing colours, conflicting angles and incoherent space in the painting make me feel irritated.

By including this type of imagery in my self-portrait I tried to show what I seek to avoid when trying to refine ideas down to the most honest and exciting elements to be used in a painting, completely self-indulgent to me.

There’s always going to be disruption of being witness to so many uninspiring images and I’m particularly enjoying the relief of living in an astounding environment.

2009 Sponsors' Choice Susannah Hart, Jimmy and Susannah

I am afraid that if I explain too much about this piece I risk losing some of the integrity that the work possesses.

The male figure within this piece has currently been deployed to the Solomon Islands with the Army and will be away for seven months...