Geelong Gallery will showcase the works of Australian contemporary artists in a new exhibition.
The exhibition features the works of the 2024 Geelong Contemporary Art Prize’s 31 finalists and will open at the 55 Little Malop Street gallery on Saturday, August 10, and run to Sunday, November 3.
Director and chief executive Jason Smith was one of three judges in the art prize and said the exhibition was presented every two years with a different selection panel.
“We look for excellence in concepts and painting, ideas that we haven’t seen yet, good paint technique, and works that demand a second look,” he said.
“The 31 works are the ones that kept the three of us looking again and again, but it is very painful to say farewell…because there are so many great artworks.”
Mr Smith said an important part of the prize was that it benefited the winning artist and the gallery, with the artist awarded $30,000 and Geelong Gallery receiving the winning artwork.
“It’s those works that really demand a second look, that keep firing your imagination and make you want to look at them,” he said.
“It doesn’t mean that they’re easy or pretty pictures; it means that they’re complex and have a life force within them that keeps you looking.
“The value of this exhibition is that it provides a survey of recent Australian painting, and we hope our audience goes away with a stronger sense of what contemporary painting is looking like.”
An official announcement on the winner of the Contemporary Art Prize will be made at 6pm on Friday, August 9.
