Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize
The Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize 2013 was awarded to Callum Morton for his work ‘Cover Up #1', with the emerging artist award presented to Cigdem Aydemir for her video work‘Bombshell'.
Callum Morton receives $25,000 prize money from principal sponsor Konica Minolta and Cigdem Aydemir receives $10,000 in prize money from the emerging artist award sponsor Allens. The Prize is an acquisitive award that will see both art works acquired into the permanent collection of Redlands.
A free exhibition of all finalist works will be presented at the National Art School Gallery, Darlinghurst from 3 May until 1 June 2013.
Callum Morton's work is part of his recent ‘Cover Up' series, which takes as its starting point a particular object (in this case a de Kooning painting from the Woman series). This is then covered with a light fabric as it might be if placed in storage for protection or left in an abandoned room. The shrouded object is then scanned and remade as a hard, pockmarked resin sculpture using CNC technology. The result is an abstracted version of the original-no longer a camouflaged painting but a three-dimensional colour field that dips and rises where folds of fabric once were.
Cigdem Aydemir's video work ‘Bombshell' playfully explores the image and idea of the burqa as a possible terrorist threat while referencing Marilyn Monroe's iconic dress scene in the Seven Year Itch. As the burqa undulates, ominous clouds and the sound of thunder (or distant bombs?) give the scene ambiguous menace. Aydemir's practice interrogates the void between body and dress as well as its social and political implications. Bombshell continues her exploration of the veiled woman cipher as resistant female Other and as lived experience.
The judging panel - including Edmund Capon, former Director of the Art Gallery of NSW - selected the two winning artists from a total of 21 artist pairings including two artist collectives who have presented work for the 2013 Prize.
