Calleen Art Award Winner Announced

The Cowra Regional Art Gallery is pleased to announce the winner of the Calleen Art Award 2022 is Canberra based artist Derek O’Connor for his painting Weather Report, 2022, oil on canvas.

The announcement of the winner took place at the Cowra Regional Art Gallery on Saturday 8 October 2022 with over 80 visitors present including many of the 49 finalists in attendance.

Guest speakers were Cr Bill West, Mayor, Cowra Shire who officially opened the exhibition and the Award Judge, Rhonda Davis, Senior Curator, Macquarie University Art Gallery who announced the winner and spoke about the exhibition and the winning painting. The award and prize money were presented by Jenni and Peter Fagan from the Calleen Trust. Mr O’Connor said his work focused on the recuperation of anachronistic technologies – specifically books, combined with expressive painting.

“In creating this new work Weather Re-port (part of a body of work titled ‘Erasure and shape’) I wanted to move away from the barrage of disposable images we are constantly exposed to. The painting becomes a visual artefact of the rela-tionship between expression and paint, artist and medium and as such needs little explanation.

When visiting the exhibition visitors are welcome to vote for their favourite painting in the Calleen People’s Choice Award 2022 (non-acquisitive). The winning artist will be announced at the close of the exhibition and will be awarded $1,000, courtesy of the Friends of the Gallery trust fund.

The exhibition continues to 20 November 2022 at the Cowra Regional Art Gallery, 77 Darling Street, Cowra.

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