David Henderson FRQAS

After initial studies in architecture, David Henderson spent four years at London’s Royal Academy Schools where he was awarded the S.J. Solomon prize for figure painting and was twice selected for the Academy’s annual summer exhibition. Since then, he has held over 30 solo exhibitions in London, Rome, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

His work has been selected for a number of prestigious group exhibitions, including the New English Art Club, the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize and Tattersall’s Landscape Prize. David has been the recipient of numerous awards including – on two occasions – Best of Show at the Brisbane Rotary art exhibition.

In 2021, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Queensland Art Society. David has lectured for the Queensland Art Gallery, Queensland University of Technology and the Brisbane Institute of Art. David brings a trained artist’s eye to an analysis of painting, sculpture and architecture and takes great pleasure in sharing his knowledge.

Mostyn Bramley-Moore

Mostyn Bramley-Moore studied Fine Arts at the University of Sydney, RMIT University and Pratt Institute (New York). He has exhibited widely in Australia and overseas, and his work is included in numerous public collections including the Australian National Gallery, the Art Gallery of NSW, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Auckland Art Gallery.

He completed studio residencies and fellowships at institutions including the Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris), the University of St. Andrews (Scotland), the University of Hawaii, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Camberwell College of the Arts (University of the Arts London) and the Valand Academy of Art (Sweden). He taught at several Australian universities and was Head of Visual Arts at Southern Cross University, Dean of the School of Art at the Victorian College of the Arts (University of Melbourne) and Director of the Queensland College of Art (Griffith University).

Dr Kay Kane,

DAFA(Lon), BAFA (Lon), FRQAS (Bris), DVA (Bris)

Kay completed her Bachelor of Fine Art at Central School of Art, London, practicing and exhibiting there until her return to Australia. She taught around Queensland while continuing to practice, as well as working towards gaining her Doctorate in Fine Art Painting, awarded in 2010.

While her practice embraces most genres, her enduring concern is with the exploration of the deep visual resonances between human and environmental forms. She has exhibited in major exhibitions in Australia and around the world. She is a past winner of the Queensland Figurative.

Kay has given papers around the world and is a sought-after judge for art awards. She was a founder of Salisbury Studios Inc. among others and served as President of the Royal Queensland Art Society. She was awarded a Certificate of Achievement by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane in 2019 and now works full-time as an artist in Marburg.

Bruce Heiser

Former gallerist, Bruce Heiser, is a Brisbane based art dealer, valuer, and researcher with a particular interest in the work of Jon Molvig. He has been a registered valuer with the Commonwealth Government’s Cultural Gifts Program since 2005. His interest in researching the history of Central Queensland resulted in the publication of Tempting Dame Fortune: A Brief History of the Dee Gold Rush, Central Queensland (Koro Press) in 2018. In 2022 his book examining the final series of works produced by Molvig in 1967-68 prior to the artist’s premature death, Jon Molvig: The Tree of Man Paintings, was published (Koro Press & And Also Books).

The Queen’s Arms

by Peter Hubbard

JUDGES COMMENTS

Art can do many things, it can impress us, intimidate and terrify us, inspire and make us laugh, cry and gasp in wonder. One of my favourite things that art does is transform everyday ordinary moments into something transcendent. Art that makes you walk through the world and see things through new eyes. An artist who can stand before a grand vista and then turn his/her easel around and find beauty in the cracks of the pavement or the catching of light against a dumpster. For me the winning work does this. It takes an ordinary corner of the world, ordinary but recognisable as Brisbane because of its unique architecture. The composition is bold and brave but expertly handled. The light is nothing but Australian, Queensland’s light… the cars almost melt into the shade. It’s an intelligent painting full of heart.

Coming Home

by Alexandra Matthews

JUDGES COMMENTS

This artwork suggests such a strong sense of place that I could not turn away from it. I’ve walked some streets in Brisbane in the twilight and at night, and this image really speaks to that experience. One of the most beloved aspects of this city are its heritage houses but this painting could almost be read with a certain foreboding twist. Against the darkened skies and expertly handled light, the residences offer a contrasting sense of warmth and safety as the night closes in. A lone figure making his way home sets up a narrative of endless questions and wondering.

Spring Hill Baths EST. 1886

by Sharon Heeley

JUDGES COMMENTS

This next artist has drawn the most elegant abstract ideas out of a very iconic landmark. It’s hard to view a pool painting without thinking of those by David Hockney, and this artist’s careful treatment of the water and the placement of the figure certainly honours and continues those ideas. Swimming has such a grand place in our national psyche and the baths have a long and important role in our history of community and public wellbeing. As someone who coached swimming and worked as a lifeguard to support my art practice as a student, I can intimately relate to both the physicality and psychology of this scene. It’s a piece that plays with scale and composition in a very thoughtful and compelling way.

Walking on Alice Street

by Glenda Markwell

JUDGES COMMENTS

This artwork pits nature in the form of the ever familiar fig trees that adorn our city cozied up to and almost entwined with an old wrought iron fence. I love that the artist chose this subject… two very old elements of our city whose strength and beauty are fighting against the modernisation and development of the metropolis. The juxtaposition of the pattern in the fence against the great roots and pattern of the bark are simply breathtaking and the use of negative space serves to heighten the experience.

Ocean’s Edge

by Sophie Malkin

JUDGES COMMENTS

The highly commended goes to a painting I know many of you may have already picked as the winner and it certainly deserves to. It is absolutely stunning. The composition is perfect. Its combination of nature and culture is both subtle and intriguing, the handling of paint is masterful, as is the colour and capturing of light through the water. I know these moments intimately both through my time spent in the ocean but also through trying to tackle such an elusive subject myself. I take my hat off to this artist and if no one buys this before the night is out then the world has gone mad.

For X

by Jenny Hjertquist

JUDGES COMMENTS

I was struck by this artwork as soon as I saw it and it is as deserving of the main category accolades as it is of the youth award. It is an intimate artwork, capturing an iconic and enormous landmark, offsetting the harsh industrial nature of the subject with a careful, almost loving rendering. This work plays with scale in a very compelling way, the smallness and lack of colour emphasises the intimacy of the artists hand. You can easily imagine the artist sitting at the base of this structure gently and diligently recording her experience.

Breakfast on Park Road

by Helen Syron

SELECTORS COMMENTS

When selecting for this Fellows’ Award, I was drawn to a wonderful creative abstraction that enticed me to take a closer look and to return again.
Expressive line work and colour use, particularly purple blues complementing golden yellows, create an overall unity that holds my attention.
The contemporary treatment of an iconic statue leading the viewer in and upwards, together with surrounding structures, bring back memories of many breakfasts I have enjoyed at Park Road Milton. Consequently, I was not surprised when I read the title of this painting – Breakfast on Park Road.

Storm Approaching the City

by Jules Farrell

Knowing Myself

by Julie Gilroy

JUDGES COMMENTS

Bursting with colour and shapes seemingly in mid-air drew me to this artwork. The artist has a great sense of space and colour, and a lot of patience.

Transition

by Beverley Tainton

JUDGES COMMENTS

Wonderful sense of space. This artist has a confident stroke – it is the freedom that no doubt the artist enjoys, as do I.

Memories Fade

by Mark Gawne

JUDGES COMMENTS

I like the composition and the use of just the right amount of abstraction. The artist focussing on the left side flower is brilliant.

Botanic

by Gabe Parker

JUDGES COMMENTS

A well balanced, interesting piece of art and skilfully delivered. I like the roughness of the edges and the natural colour of the metal.

Abstraction

by James Randall

JUDGES COMMENTS

The artist made a brilliant piece of digital art. I was drawn toward it, and it is unique; which all artists desire.

The Three Queens Have Arrived

by Tim Klein

JUDGES COMMENTS

This painting fascinated me, the sculptural elements containing a landscape, or just colourful stripes perhaps. This artist has a very good technique that allows you to enter through the blueness and into something else.

Trunk

by Glenda Markwell

SELECTORS COMMENTS

I was immediately drawn to this work. The rich glowing colours, composition, mark making and contrasting paint application does not disappoint on close inspection. Beautiful, free accentuation of silhouette serves to help hold the composition together.

Train!

by Kym Lowry

Joe Furlonger

by David Paulson

SELECTORS COMMENTS

David Paulson’s portrait of Joe Furlonger is expressive, creative and innovative. A wonderful variety of technical application and colour use – particularly in the placement of whites – make this a commanding composition. For me, the character of Joe Furlonger and his approach to his own art radiates from this portrait.

Josephine

by Emily Stainer

SELECTORS COMMENTS

Initially I was intrigued by the scale of the work, somehow it appeared to pop out at me from among the works. Once I made my way over to the painting to look at it, I was really quite impressed by the handling of the paint, particularly the modelling of the flesh tones. I thought that aspect of the work was rather good. I also enjoyed the reference to art history. A few years back I’d been fortunate to catch an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London of Elizabethan miniatures which made a tremendous impact on me, so I think my enjoyment and fascination of that show was somehow rekindled when I viewed this work. I know Emily’s work is really quite different, but nonetheless it brought the London show back to mind. Of the works hung, for me it was one of the better paintings in terms of the quality of the draftsmanship and handling of paint. For me, I find the stillness of the work, that quiet, introspective quality really quite appealing too.

Siena

by Alissa Lamb

SELECTORS COMMENTS

Children are notoriously hard to paint, and not simply because they won’t sit still. Paint an older person and you are striving to capture a lifetime’s experience in a face and form. With a child, that life is yet to be lived. As a result, many children are depicted as small adults, or sentimentally, as impossibly cute dolls. In this picture, Siena -and, I might say, in the companion picture of the sitter’s sister – Alissa Lamb has captured a quirky, theatrical personality that transcends the clichés of childhood. I liked the way Siena’s face subtly echoes the rabbit headgear, and the self-confidence in her expression. Painted with painstaking care, but not redolent of photography, it’s a work that instantly arrests one’s attention.

Julia Robinson

by Eliza Bertwistle

Selected by John McDonald

Unbroken

by James Stickland