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Moran Portrait Prize Exhibition returns to LatrobeThe Doug Moran National Portrait Prize 2002 Finalist Exhibition has opened in Latrobe City with the work of all thirty finalists from the 2002 competition currently featuring at the newly refurbished Latrobe Regional Gallery. By Latrobe City Council - 16th July 2003 - Back to News This is the seventh exhibition visit to the Latrobe Valley since the inception of the Doug Moran art prize, sponsored by the Moran Health Care Group Ltd, and established in 1988 by Mr Doug Moran to celebrate Australia’s Bicentenary.
Latrobe Regional Gallery Collection Manager, Rodney Scherer, said the Doug Moran Portrait National Portrait Prize is the richest portrait prize in Australia and attracts a wide field of artists who approach portraiture from different perspectives, painting different styles. "The 2002 exhibition has two strong streams, one of realism and the other much more loose and expressive, Mr Scherer said.
A field of over 500 entries were narrowed down to 30 finalists, from which the winning portrait was selected. This year's Australian finalist selectors were Mr Andrew Sayers, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra and well-known artist, Mr Adam Cullen. This year's international judge was Irene Martin, Assistant Director, Exhibition Programs, Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
The exhibition, which has formerly always been shown in the foyer at Kernot Hall, is large, and has been installed in travelling exhibition galleries 1 and 2 at the Latrobe Regional Gallery. "It’s our first opportunity to combine both of the galleries into one vast exhibition space and the result is wonderful," Mr Scherer said.
"Those who love seeing the Doug Moran exhibitions here in Latrobe City, and make a point of visiting every time, will now be able to see the exhibition at its best, with proper gallery lighting, and museum environmental conditions. It all adds up to making the experience of viewing the selection of portraits that much more pleasurable," Mr Scherer said.
"This exhibition features a number of very large and exciting portraits. 2002 Archibald Prize-winner, Cherry Hood’s, enormous portrait of her seven year old nephew is most unusual, in that it is painted in watercolours with oil glazes. It is awesome and an unexpected work in portraiture. It is a genre of painting, which we usually associate with the subject being an adult.
"Hood’s work is in complete contrast to the winner, David Fairbairn’s Red Portrait of Suzanne; which is more confronting and psychological in its open spaced linear construction. Both of these works along with others in the exhibition push the boundaries of what we normally expect of portrait painters," Mr Scherer said.
The subject of Red Portrait of Suzanne is the painter Suzanne Archer, who David Fairbairn first painted in 1984. The artist explained when announced as the $100,000 winner, that having been born in Africa and spending part of his formative years there, he acknowledged his work reflected something of that mask-like quality to be found in African tribal art. "My large-scale portraits attempt to create a 'psychological space' in which the viewer is confronted and challenged," Mr Fairbairn said.
Mr Scherer said that the Doug Moran Portrait Prize is not only about public portraits of well known and recognisable sitters, as is the Archibald Prize, but has a more democratic intent in exploring the character and individuality of ordinary Australians. The prize attracts artists of all styles, ages and cultural backgrounds and continues to attract both emerging and established artists," Mr Scherer said.
"The judging process focuses entirely on quality, with no restriction on the identity or prominence of the sitter. In many cases the subject is well known to the artist."
In welcoming the return of the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize Exhibition, Latrobe City Mayor, Councillor Graeme Middlemiss, said the Moran family had warmed to the hospitality and enthusiasm of the Latrobe community in 1988 when the first exhibition toured, and particularly to the work put into making the exhibition a success by Latrobe City’s Cultural Planner at that time, Di Goulding. "Since then, Latrobe has become a ‘must’ in the scheduling of the exhibition," Cr Middlemiss said.
The Doug Moran National Portrait Prize Exhibition continues until Sunday 24 August. The Latrobe Regional Gallery is located at 138 Commercial Road, Morwell, and is open Tuesday to Friday 10am-5pm, and on weekends 11am–4pm. The gallery is closed Mondays and Public Holidays. For further information about exhibitions at the gallery, please telephone 5128 5700, or visit the gallery web page: www.latroberegionalgallery.com
Source: www.gippsland.com Published by: news@gippsland.com
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