Macquarie Group Collection
The exceptional quality of the finalists’ work reflects the significant depth of talent to be found among Australia’s next generation of promising artists. Congratulations to the 2021 finalists:
You can explore the exceptional art from our 2021 Emerging Artist Prize finalists below. You can download a copy of the catalogue here. If you are interested in purchasing art, please click the “Register interest” button in order to contact the artist via email.
Please note:
inkjet photographic print, aluminium frame
53.1 x 74.3 x 2cm
Edition 1/10 (framed) acquired by the Macquarie Group Collection.
Editions 2-7/10 (unframed 42 x 59.4 cm) available.
$A350
inkjet photographic print, aluminium frame
53.1 x 74.3 x 2cm
Edition 1/10 (framed) available.
$A600
Editions 2-7/10 (unframed 42 x 59.4 cm) available.
$A350
During Melbourne’s biggest Covid-19 outbreak last year, many artists continued their practice from the confines of home. Mara Braun captured the surreal and lonely experience of the harsh lockdown by turning the view from her window into a canvas. Ghostly and ephemeral, these uncanny projections literally cast “new light” on the liminal spaces where urban and domestic environments meet.
photographic print, edition 1/2 and 2/2
42 x 59.4cm
$A1,000
photographic print, edition 1/2 and 2/2
42 x 59.4cm
$A1,000
photographic print, edition 1/2 and 2/2
42 x 59.4cm
Edition 1/2 acquired by the Macquarie Group Collection.
Edition 2/2 available.
$A1,000
photographic print, edition 1/2 and 2/2
42 x 59.4cm
$A1,000
photographic print, edition 1/2 and 2/2
42 x 59.4cm
$A1,000
Brought up in a regional town in northern NSW, Lucy Brosnan reflects in her work on the rural traditions that define aspects of Australian life in the country. This painting was inspired by the annual Mungindi dog show. Evocative rather than factual, the depictions of Akubra hatted farmers in the hot, dry weather are watery memories, deliberately vague and expressionistic.
oil on canvas (stretched)
58 x 79cm
acquired by the Macquarie Group Collection.
Using sound and video, this film harnesses the invisible vibrations of the land. Artist Julien Comer-Kleine amplifies the workings of nature’s precious, life-giving ecologies that many of us cannot or choose not to revere. In an era of climate change challenges that need urgent addressing, this work gives sonic agency to the natural environments on which we depend.
video 2:58min
Edition 1/4 acquired by the Macquarie Group Collection.
Editions 2-4/4 available.
$A750
These images of post-war Australian suburban architecture are based on photographs taken by Joshua Copland-Nielsen. He transfers them to a print medium, a process that echoes their theme of being once removed both from memory and from first-hand encounter by the artist. Filled with a haunting disquiet, the images embody the essence of a fast-disappearing Australian vernacular.
copper plate intaglio etching printed on 250gsm BFK Rives paper (unframed), edition of 5
45 x 30cm
$A400
copper plate intaglio etching printed on 250gsm BFK Rives paper (unframed), edition of 5
45 x 30cm
$A400
copper plate intaglio etching printed on 250gsm BFK Rives paper (unframed), edition of 5
45 x 30cm
Edition 1/5 acquired by the Macquarie Group Collection.
Edition 2-5 sold.
Edition 3-5/5 available.
$A400
copper plate intaglio etching printed on 250gsm BFK Rives paper (unframed), edition of 5
45 x 30cm
Edition 1/5 acquired by the Macquarie Group Collection.
Editions 2-5/5 available.
$A400
These drawings, prints and cyanotype photographs by Beki Davies are created on site, using as raw materials the light, wind and rain from locations in southern Tasmania. Each one is a visual documentation of the experience of being in a particular place, combining field recordings of the natural elements with the artist’s hand drawn marks, in a compelling attempt to convey a visceral as well as visual experience of place.
ink on Fabriano Paper, unframed
56 x76cm
acquired by the Macquarie Group Collection.
ink on Fabriano Paper, unframed
56.1 x76cm
$A450
ink on Fabriano Paper, unframed
56.2 x76cm
$A450
ink on Fabriano Paper, unframed
56.3 x76cm
$A450
ink on Fabriano Paper, unframed
56.4 x76cm
$A450
Winner Highly Commended Award
These dark and empty suburban streets are imbued with feelings of melancholy and menace. Meditations drawn from memories of specific places, they trace the artist’s understanding and acceptance of his queer identity. Artist Nick Heynsbergh hopes that by framing this journey in the form of a dimly lit maze, that new, shared pathways can be imagined, replacing old barriers faced by minority communities.
watercolour and charcoal on paper, framed.
41.5 x 34 x 4cm
acquired by the Macquarie Group Collection.
watercolour and charcoal on paper, framed.
41.5 x 34 x 4cm
acquired by the Macquarie Group Collection.
watercolour and charcoal on paper, unframed.
27 x 41cm
$A2,000
watercolour and charcoal on paper, unframed.
15 x 22cm
$A1,000
watercolour and charcoal on paper, unframed.
30 x 18.5cm
$A1,500
Winner Nick Waterlow OAM Highly Commended Award
Lisa Hughes creates playful and colourful narratives of sites around NSW waterways and beaches, depicting idiosyncratic elements of each place and people’s interaction with it. The paintings here are based on the artist’s observations in southern and central Sydney, as well as Lake Macquarie and Newcastle. In some, there is a QR code embedded within the cacophony of colour, leading us to animations that document human and marine activity.
acrylic on Italian cotton anvas with QR code animation
75.5 x 101cm, animation 44 seconds
acquired by the Macquarie Group Collection.
acrylic and glaze on canvaswith QR code animation
130 x 90cm, animation 52 seconds
$A2,600
acrylic on Italian cotton canvas
51 x 61cm
$A400
acrylic on Italian cotton canvas
61 x 91.5cm
$A800
acrylic on Italian cotton canvas
72 x 72cm
$A450
Walmajarri / Nyikina artist Linley Nargoodah renders the seven seasons of her family’s ancestral country in the Kimberley. Each colour represents a different season, rendered in vertical swathes ranging from blue which represents water, followed by the green of a healthy land filled with blossoming plant life. The artist deploys a distinctive circular motif to create a feeling of flux and fluidity.
acrylic paint on 3mm polycarbonate
184 x 61 x 0.3cm (triptych)
$A9,000
Winner of 2021 Macquarie Group Emerging Artist Prize
This photograph is a play on bees as indicators of ecological disaster. Photographer Aaron Rees has manipulated the film negative to create a fictional image. The large scale depiction of Australian paper daisies is punctured, the holes revealing voids of light, that from a distance resemble insects. The work is a critique of the ways in which visual and digital media technologies have skewed our relationship to the natural world.
chromogenic (C - Type) print, framed
180 x 125 x 5cm (diptych)
Edition 2/5 acquired by the Macquarie Group Collection.
Editions 3-5/5 available.
$A4,000