Eric Bridgeman, Boi Boi the Labourer, 2008

2013 NEWS wrap

Eric Bridgeman featured heavily in our 2013 news with a number of well deserved opportunities.

  • In November, he was one of just 20 artists from the Asia Pacific region to be shortlisted for the prestigious Prudential Eye Art Award. Bridgeman’s work was selected by a panel of industry experts including Andreï Erofeev, Russian independent Curator and art critic, Tan Boon Hui, Group Director, National Heritage Board, Nick Mitzevich, Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia and Nigel Hurst, CEO of the Saatchi Gallery in London.
  • In October, Bridgeman won the $10,000 Substation Contemporary Art Prize with his video work In the Project. SMH article
  • Earlier in the year, we farewelled Eric for Paris where works from his series The Sport and Fair Play of Aussie Rules were exhibited as part of PHOTOQUAI 2013, 4th Biennale des Images du Monde. This outdoor photography event aims to survey the practices of important photographic artists from the Asia Pacific region.
  • Melbourne’s Monash Gallery of Art, a public gallery which holds one of the most comprehensive collections of art photography in Australia, acquired Eric Bridgeman‘s Woman from Settlement with Boobs from his 2010 Photos from the Kokwara Trail series.

Lucas Grogan also had a great year in 2013. One of his major works from his QUILTS exhibition was acquired by Ararat Region Art Gallery. The Ararat Gallery collection has a strong focus on textiles and the Grogan quilt was their major acquisition for the year.

Lucas also completed a number of private commissions during the year including a residential facade in Fitzroy, a new bar fit-out in Collingwood, an office feature wall in Cremorne and a three wall mural in Bali.

Gallerysmith showed at the inaugural Sydney art fair, Sydney Contemporary 13 at Carriageworks in September. Our stand featured work by internationally acclaimed artist Dadang Christanto and was a highlight of the event. Dadang’s monumental cast aluminium head was one of the most instagrammed stands of the Fair!

Combining his penchant for technology in science with a large dose of irony, Adam Norton uses space exploration, covert military operations and political propaganda to challenge ideas about western power structures. As a recipient of a 2012 Artist in Residence grant, funded by Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) and managed by Museums & Galleries NSW, Norton embarked on yet another mission in 2013, this time in the extreme landscape of outback NSW. Norton’s resultant new media work sees the artist seeking new frontiers in a variety of barren landscape environments.The works made during this residency were exhibited as part of a solo presentation at Broken Hill Regional Gallery in October.

A Paul Gauguin-inspired self portrait Odalisque by Paula do Prado was commissioned as part of the University of Queensland’s National Artists’ Self Portrait Prize at UQAM in October. This acquisitive prize serves to highlight the strength of contemporary Australian self portraiture, and entry is by invitation only. The 2013 exhibition was curated by Samantha Littley to the theme: remix . post . connect .

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