2019 Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize

Dani McKenzie has taken out this year’s $15,000 Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize for her painting Camp.

Bayside Gallery Curator, Joanna Bosse, speaking on behalf of the judging panel, said the work captivated the judges with its cinematic quality and sense of unfolding narrative.

“The work has a dreamlike quality, and her use of historical material as the basis of the work coupled with the blurred surface of the image is like a veil of memory, Bosse said.

“Camp has a material and compositional complexity, revealed by McKenzie’s clever use of negative space and placement of formal elements. It’s a compelling image that lingers in the mind.”

This year’s $3,000 Local Art Prize was awarded to Fiona McMonagle, for her painting Toast with jam. Fiona has strong ties to Bayside having spent her formative years as an artist living in Brighton East.

Curator, Joanna Bosse said Toast with jam was imbued with a heavy nostalgia akin to a forgotten family photograph.

“McMonagle’s painterly treatment of the figure is delicate and nuanced and she manages to capture the self-satisfaction of the quiet pleasure of eating toast with jam,” said Bosse.

The 2019 art prize was judged by Jane Devery, Curator, Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Anthony Fitzpatrick, Curator, TarraWarra Museum of Art and Joanna Bosse, Curator, Bayside Gallery.

Exhibition dates: 24 May – 21 July 2019

Dani McKenzie, Camp 2019, oil on linen, 61.5 x 87 cm. Courtesy the artist and MARS Gallery.

Image 2: Fiona McMonagle, Toast with jam 2018, oil on linen, 77 x 72.5 cm. Courtesy the artist and Sophie Gannon Gallery.