The alternative Archibald and Wynne Prize selection
14 May – 24 July 2022
The Salon des Refusés was initiated by the S.H. Ervin Gallery in 1992 in response to the large number of works entered into the Archibald Prize which were not selected for display in the official exhibition. The Archibald Prize is one of Australia’s most high profile and respected awards which attracts hundreds of entries each year and the S.H. Ervin Gallery’s ‘alternative’ selection has become a much anticipated feature of the Sydney scene.
Each year our panel is invited to go behind the scenes of the judging process for the annual Archibald Prize for portraiture and Wynne Prize for landscape painting and figure sculpture at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to select an exhibition from the many hundreds of works entered in both prizes but not chosen for the official award exhibition.
The Salon des Refusés exhibition at the S.H. Ervin Gallery has established an excellent reputation that rivals the selections in the ‘official’ exhibition, with works selected for quality, diversity, humour and experimentation, and which examine contemporary art practices, different approaches to portraiture and responses to the landscape.
In 2022, 55 works have been selected for the ‘alternative’ exhibition, with 38 from the Archibald Prize & 17 from the Wynne Prize by selectors Kon Gouriotis, editor Artist Profile magazine; Michael Hedger, director, Manly Art Gallery & Museum & Jane Watters, director, S.H. Ervin Gallery.
MARY TONKIN WINS HOLDING REDLICH PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD 2022 AT THE SALON DES REFUSÉS
Melbourne-based painter Mary Tonkin has won this year’s Holding Redlich People’s Choice Award with her landscape painting titled Hot kiss, Kalorama from works selected for the 2022 Salon des Refusés: The alternative Archibald & Wynne Prize selection exhibition. The announcement by Holding Redlich’s Sydney Managing Partner Stephen Trew was made at the Gallery this evening.
The artist statement reads, “Hot kiss, Kalorama was made entirely en plein air in bush on my family’s farm at Kalorama in the Corhanwarrabul (Dandenong Ranges), East of Narrm (Melbourne) during late Summer and early Autumn. In this spot the bush is dominated by Brown Stringybark and Messmate gums (Eucalyptus baxteri and obliqua) with an understory of Prickly Currant Bush (Coprosma quadrifida) and Bracken Fern ( Pteridium esculentum). It is named after the memory of a particular kiss; the somewhat shattering tingle and sparkle of which seemed alive in the forms as I painted them.”
Landscape painter Mary Tonkin completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) in 1995 and a Master of Fine Arts in 2002 at Monash University, where she has also lectured. Tonkin has held solo exhibitions in Melbourne and Sydney since 1999. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery and internationally in New York. A survey exhibition titled ‘Home’ was held at Burrinja Gallery in the Dandenong’s in 2012. Tonkin was awarded the National Gallery of Victoria Trustee Award in 1994 and 1995 and Dobell Drawing Prize in 2002. She was the recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshield Foundation grant in 1998 and Australian post-graduate fellowship award in 2000. Tonkin’s work is held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, VIC and several regional and tertiary institutions.
On learning of her win Mary said, “I’m thrilled to hear the news and particularly delighted that a landscape has won the Holdng Redlich People’s Choice this year. I’m hoping it’s an indication of a shift in our culture; away from an obsession with ourselves toward a veneration of the landscape that sustains us.”
National law firm Holding Redlich has been a long-time supporter of the Salon des Refusés exhibition and People’s Choice Award at the National Trust’s S.H. Ervin Gallery. The Holding Redlich People’s Choice Award is valued at $3,000 and celebrates its 24th year in 2022.
Holding Redlich’s Sydney Managing Partner, Stephen Trew, made the announcement at the Gallery, congratulating Mary on her winning artwork and wishing her the best for her future creative projects.
“It’s an honour for Holding Redlich to recognise Mary tonight and present her with a very well-deserved People’s Choice Award. Our firm’s founder Peter Redlich loved, and was an advocate for, the arts. It’s wonderful to acknowledge our heritage and continue his passion, through our ongoing partnership with the S.H. Ervin Gallery,” Stephen said.
The National Trust S.H. Ervin Gallery initiated the Salon des Refusés in 1992, in response to the overwhelming number of entries submitted to the Archibald & Wynne prizes (AGNSW), yet never seen by the public.
Image: MARY TONKIN Hot kiss, Kalorama oil on linen 183 x 213cm
Principal Sponsor
ARCHIBALD PRIZE SELECTIONS S.H. Ervin Gallery
GILES ALEXANDER The Ghost of Antiquity (Alex Seton, artist) acrylic on board 59 x 47cm
CYNTHIA BREUSCH Portrait of singer-songwriter T. Wilds synthetic polymer on canvas 91 x 101cm
DEAN BROWN Osher Gunsberg (TV presenter) oil on aluminium 120 x 90cm
DANIEL BUTTERWORTH Jock Zofrillo (chef, TV presenter) house acrylic on cardboard 220 x 110cm
JUN CHEN Artist – Ian Smith oil on canvas 150 x 100cm
JOSHUA COCKING The inward urge (self-portrait) oil on canvas 183 x 152cm
TONY COSTA Roger Scott (Roger Scott, photographer) oil on board 152 x122cm
JENNIFER D’ARCY Trent Crawford – focused (Trent Crawford, artist) oil on canvas 122 x 91cm
SINEAD DAVIES The Multipotentialite (Sonya Eliopulos) oil on canvas 120 x 102cm
MARK DOBER Liz, with Pusscat (Elizabeth Nelson, artist) gouache on paper 28 x 38cm
KEN DONE Me, 2022 oil and acrylic on linen 137 x 122cm
GRAEME DRENDEL The Gardener- Portrait of Wendy (Wendy Horsburgh) oil on canvas 26 x 31cm
KATHERINE EDNEY Self-portrait as an empty vessel (miscarriage, 6th day) oil on birch panel 120 x 120cm
NICOLETTE EISDELL Campbell (Campbell Robertson-Swann, gallerist) oil on board 41 x 51cm
ASHLEY FROST Paul Ryan in studio (Paul Ryan, artist) oil on board 25.5 x 33cm
MICHELLE HISCOCK The Critic in Lockdown (Christopher Allen, art critic) oil on canvas 50 x 40cm
STEVE LOPES Portrait of Brad Hammond (Brad Hammond, director Orange Regional Gallery) oil on canvas 120 x 95cm
INDIA MARK Nick Santoro Painting (Nick Santoro, artist) oil on panel 15 x 12cm
PAUL MCKENZIE The writer’s paradox – power in the pen and the all-seeing eye, discomforture in self revelation and scrutiny under the returned gaze (Jack Hunter, writer) oil on canvas, with allegorical marginalia oil on milled pine 50 x 60cm
HEATHER MILLER Here we still are ii (Self portrait) oil on board 41 x 31cm
GLENN MORGAN Stuart @ Australian Galleries (Stuart Purves, gallerist) acrylic on board 98 x 74 cm
CAMELLIA MORRIS Sleeping on the job (Wake Up Jeff!) (Jeff Fatt, performer & musician) oil on canvas 101 x 152 cm
COLLEEN O’REILLY Self-Portrait In Hell oil on Polyester 49 x 33cm
LORI PENSINI Bogong Moth (Self portrait) oil on linen 130 x 150cm
EVERT PLOEG Self Portrait; after the tumour oil on panel 40 x 30cm
MARK RUTLEDGE Tame Iti (Tame Iti, artist) oil on canvas, Rimu frame 123 x 93cm
EVAN SALMON Studio Self Portrait oil on linen 82 x 51cm
NICK SANTORO Bobby’s Realm (Self portrait) acrylic on board 92 x 111 cm
CAM SCALE When the light comes around (Robert Hannaford, artist) acrylic and aerosol on linen 141 x 112 cm
NIGEL SENSE Tim in his favourite chair (Tim Leveson, designer) acrylic on canvas 140 x 120cm
KERRY SPENCE The Storytellers (Jack McCoy & Dick Hoole, cinematographers) acrylic 23 x 23cm
VICKI SULLIVAN The Stolen Songline of Miss Roselands 2 year old (Deborah Cheatham, opera soprano) oil on linen 82 x 58cm
TRISH TAIT One hundred and one portraits (Self portrait) oil on timber 30 x 30cm
NOEL THURGATE Andrew Sullivan; the artist in uncertain times oil paint and mixed media on hardboard 203 x 94cm
OLIVER WATTS Dean Cross (Dean Cross, artist) synthetic polymer paint on canvas 213 x 183cm
CHRISTINE WREST-SMITH Self Portrait black t-Shirt oil on linen 91 x 71cm
ZOE YOUNG The Sisters (…in black after Hugh Ramsay) (Bianca Spender & Allegra Spender) acrylic, oil, rosewater on Belgian linen 175 x 200cm
LUCILA ZENTNER Kangaroo dreaming (Alma Zentner-Pitman) oil on canvas 120 x 90 cm
WYNNE PRIZE SELECTIONS
JO BERTINI An Unquiet History oil on French polyester canvas 183 x 183cm
PETER GARDINER The Australia clause Kyoto (the golden west) oil on canvas 140 x 120cm
PETER GODWIN Last Night and Mist, Colo River and Canoe Creek Junction oil and acrylic on linen 244 x 244cm
ELIZA GOSSE The Cheryl Ann Motel (Holbrook) oil on canvas 122 x 152cm
CRAIG HANDLEY me, 13, in the landscape oil on board 77 x 67cm
CHRISTOPHER HODGES Otto’s Country synthetic polymer, watercolour on paper 56 x 56cm
JASPER KNIGHT The Lachlan Swamps enamel, gloss acrylic and gesso on linen 213 x 198cm
MARTIN KING the moment between sleeping and waking, double cross in the cosmos watercolour, pastel and oilstick on drafting film and paper 120cm x 258cm
DANE LOVETT Somewhere there’s an Island oil and acrylic on canvas 180 x 150 cm
JAMES MCGRATH Luscus Diptych oil on canvas mounted to board 170 x 150 cm
KATHRYN RYAN Still Morning oil on linen 183 x 137cm
PAUL RYAN After the downpour oil on linen 183 x 216cm
JAMES ROGERS Jazzbo waxed steel 230 x 80 x 80cm
ROBYN SWEANEY This distanced life acrylic on polycotton canvas 70 x 150cm
MARY TONKIN Hot kiss, Kalorama oil on linen 183 x 213cm
OLIVER WATTS Felling the Boundary Pines acrylic on canvas 183 x 213cm
CHRISTOPHER ZANKO Wandering the LGA (Wollongong) acrylic on wood relief carving, marine ply 160 x 320cm