The Royal Queensland Art Society would like to congratulate all the winners in the 2025 RQAS Abstraction exhibition!
Thank you also to our judges Llewellyn Skye and Beverley Tainton F.R.Q.A.S, and our exhibition sponsor Moore Australia. Please scroll down to view the winning artworks and judges’ comments.
Moore Australia Award of Excellence
Travels with Gainsborough’s Blue Boy
by Robyn Bauer F.R.Q.A.S
I love the clever use of foreground and background, the clever play between total abstraction to representation, and the play of layering; story over story, over story! Well done, amazing work!
Moore Australia Award of Excellence
Still Waters
by Karen Dyer
This incredible little beauty is quite remarkable! I love how it has been abstracted on so many levels, from process to creation. Highly skilled paint work and many hours in the making, a well thought out piece. I could stare at it and find new things for hours and hours. Great piece, well done!
Moore Australia Award of Excellence
Abstract Assemblage 2
by Leigh Schoenheimer
This took me by surprise, it’s totally different from image to flesh. Fun and playful, I love the texture, playful use of shapes and shadows, beautiful variation in paint application, and overall joyful to experience; well done!
Highly Commended
Midnight Garden
by Adele Bevacqua
A beautifully painted, expressive piece with a clever palette of moodiness and subtlety. The more I look at it, the more I love it. Well done!
Highly Commended
Storm
by Lien Jansen
Beautiful brushwork and atmosphere. It captures not only the subject but emotions, with very little detail. A beautiful work, very talented and well done!
Fellows Recognition Award
Hot and Dry
by Elizabeth Duguid
The painting I have chosen for the 2025 Fellows Recognition Award for Abstraction spoke to me the moment I walked into the gallery. I felt compelled to take a closer look and I was instantly moved by the dynamic and expressive use of colour emanating from gestural brush strokes applied spontaneously and rhythmically. The dark green provides a contrast to the interplay of the warm coloured foliage, and the lavender tones bring a softness. The composition is well balanced and gives a feeling of a “Hot and Dry” Australian landscape.
