Of all the art competitions I have entered, The Gallipoli Art Prize is the hardest one of all and as an artist you really have to step out of your comfort zone to fully appriecate the concept of War and convey it to canvas.. Transporting yourself to a time that no longer exists and to a War that so many young lives were lost... 43 finalists made it onto the walls of the tiny city club with a selection of landscapes, portraits and still life's of family history...
Remembrance abound with the many heartfelt images, but only some caught my eye like ‘Life, Death and Mateship’ oil on board by Robert Hannaford which has been infused by his own personal fight with his health, it’s a strong image and reworked from the inaugural year. Ahmet Aksu’s ‘Anzac’s Top Soldiers’, oil on canvas gives us a stoic and memorable lineup of the men in charge and ‘Now & Then’, acrylic on linen by Chris Leaver is a small but powerful reminder... ‘The Sphinx at Gallipoli’, oil on canvas by Garry Shead brings us an image of one that has been with the artist for some time, but only now has been realized...
Karen Scott’s ‘Remembrance’, mixed media on canvas is heavily pitted by so many family members who served in the 2 Wars. ‘Remembrance Highway (Heading North)’, oil on wood by Maryanne Wick offers us a snapshot of roadside silhouette memories of a war torn landscape in an effective way. ‘Nurse’, oil on canvas by Peter Gardiner, gave me another chance to hang on the same walls as him and the ‘The Widow’s Legacy’, oil on canvas by Peter Smeeth reveals a true treasure...
I feel honored and privileged to have been hung 4 times in this prize including this year and like so many others will endeavour to do so for the next 4 years until the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign in 2015...
Written by Fleur
20th April - 1st May 2011
www.gallipoli.com.au
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