A Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre Exhibition toured by Liverpool City Council
One of Australia’s longest-running and prestigious art prizes returns to Delmar Gallery as part of its 2017 national tour. Now a biennial event, the Blake Prize continues to stimulate contemporary artists to engage in important conversations concerning faith, spirituality, religion, hope, humanity, social justice, belief and non-belief.
First staged in 1951, The Prize is named after the legendary British artist and poet William Blake (1757-1827) whose broad range of artistic and poetic innovations, visionary imagination and radical politics made him an outsider in his day.
Never shy of controversy, the Blake Prize has always invited an open, personal and idiosyncratic response to questions of religion and spirituality, so much so that it has earned the criticism, ire and sometimes applause of critics and the public alike.
The touring component of the Blake Prize includes 25 works selected from the finalists’ exhibition by: Cigdem Aydemir, David Asher Brook, Zanny Begg, Adnan Begic, Liam Benson, Angela Casey, Valerio Ciccone, Darron Davies, Tamara Dean, Shoufay Derz, Robert Hague (winner of the 64th Blake Established Artist Residency Prize) , Abdullah M I Syed, Muhammad Iyhab, Shannon Johnson, Alan Jones, Tom Lawford, Matthew McVeigh & Ida Bagus, Rekah Bakurha, Reg Mombassa, William (Bill) Moseley & Joanna Logue, Damien Shen (winner of the 64th Blake Emerging Artist), Sally Simpson, Sarah Spackman, Angela Tiatia, Brenda Walsh and Zan Wimberley.
Image: Robert Hague, The Messenger 2015, Carrara marble, 28 x 68 x 34cm. Courtesy of the artist and Fehily Contemporary.
Exhibition dates: 1 – 26 February, 2017
Opening function: Saturday, 4 February, 3pm with guest speaker Leanne Tobin, artist, educator and member of the Blake Prize judging panel