News

Congratulations to Mumu Mike Williams for winning the inaugural Footscray Contemporary Art Prize with his work Postbag Painting.

One of the judges of the prize Jason Smith, Director, Geelong Gallery, comments:

"Mumu Mike Williams is the recipient of the inaugural Footscray Contemporary Art Prize because his work has an insistent visual power and strongly thought-provoking message. Among the many works included in the Prize that are strikingly relevant reflections of contemporary Australia, we felt Williams’s work was particularly rich conceptually and aesthetically.

It is a work that rewards slow looking to reveal its various layers. The artist’s deft and wryly political use of Australia Post mail bags, a traditional spear, and highly energised painterly marks and signs kept the judges returning to this work. It has an energy and vitality that proclaims a love and respect for country that we can all feel – across our different racial, social and cultural contexts. Above and beyond the political content we might interpret it Williams’s work, it is the positivity, optimism and pure visual pleasure of paint and material that makes Williams’s work so compelling and convincing.We are pleased too that the inaugural recipient of the Prize reflects the truly national scope and reach of the Footscray Contemporary Art Prize."

Congratulations to all winning and finalist artists. Footscray Art Prize exhibition is now showing at FCAC Roslyn Smorgon Gallery and Gabriel Gallery until 24 June.

Image courtesy the artist, Mimili Maku Arts and Footscray Contemporary Art Prize, 2017. 

The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) has announced 66 artists from over 300 submissions have been selected to be part of the country's most prestigious national Indigenous art awards, the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA) 2017. 

David Frank, Beth Inkamala, Shirley Macnamara, Betty Muffler, Guykuda Mununggurr, Warraba Weatherall and Tiger Yaltangki are exhibiting in Alcaston Gallery’s current exhibition Time and Tide, May 2 – 27, 2017. 

Alcaston Gallery congratulates all of our represented and exhibiting artists selected as finalists:  

• Nonggirrnga Marawili          
• Alec Baker        
• Ray Ken         
• David Frank
• Shirley Macnamara
• Peter Mungkuri
• Pedro Wonaeamirri
• Tiger Yaltangki
• Yaritji Young
• Gary Lee
• Pepai Jangala Carroll
• Taylor Cooper
• Rupert Jack
• Beth Inkamala Mbitjana
• Paniny Mick
• Guykuḏa Munuŋgurr
• Warraba Weatherall
• Betty Muffler
• Iluwantji Ken and Mary Katajuku Pan
• Tjungkara Ken
• Mumu Mike Williams            

Alcaston Gallery will be presenting Nonggirrnga Marawili's solo exhibition Progression 6 June - 1 July, 2017. 

Congratulations to Angela Tiatia who has just been announced a finalist in the prestigious John Fries Art Award  2017, the second consecutive year the artist has been selected.  Read more here. 

Alcaston Gallery is pleased to release the Angela Tiatia's new print edition: The Liberators, 2017 (pictured), pigment print on smooth cotton rag, 52.5 x 70 cm. Edition of 5. Contact Alcaston Gallery to enquire.

The major Sydney exhibition The National opens this week, including two Alcaston Gallery represented artists Karen Mills and Tiger Yaltangki.

The National 2017: New Australian Art presents the latest ideas and forms in contemporary Australian art, curated across three of Sydney's premier cultural institutions: the Art Gallery of NSW, Carriageworks and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.

A six-year initiative over three editions in 2017, 2019 and 2021, the curatorial vision for the exhibition represents a mix of emerging, mid-career and established artists drawn from around the country and Australian artists practicing overseas. New and commissioned works encompass a diverse range of mediums including painting, video, sculpture, installation, drawing and performance.

Connecting three of Sydney’s key cultural precincts – The Domain, Redfern and Circular Quay – The National 2017: New Australian Art is the only large-scale recurring exhibition in the city focused solely on contemporary Australian art. Curators for the 2017 edition of The National 2017: New Australian Art are Anneke Jaspers, Curator Contemporary Art and Wayne Tunnicliffe, Head Curator Australian Art, Art Gallery of NSW; Lisa Havilah, Director and Nina Miall, Curator, Carriageworks; and Blair French, Director, Curatorial & Digital, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.  Read more here. 

Read about Karen Mills here. 

Read about Tiger Yaltangki here. 

SHIRLEY MACNAMARAMaardi Butala14 - 25 March 2017

Shirley Macnamara joined Alcaston Gallery for her third solo exhibition  Maardi Butala, meaning 'together for a long time'.

New works by Macnamara will be presented as part of the biennial Castlemaine State Festival exhibition The Extractive Frontier: Mining for Art co-curated by Beverly Knight (Alcaston Gallery) and Dr Clare Wright (La Trobe University).Shirley Macnamara will also join Damien Wright and Bonhula Yunupingu in conversation with exhibition Co-Curator, Dr Clare Wright at Castlemaine Art Museum, Sunday 19 March, 3 pm.

RSVP Essential to Castlemaine Art Museum: frontofhouse@castlemainegallery.com