Portia Geach Memorial Award 2005

Trust congratulates the Portia Geach Memorial Award 2005 winner Jude Rae for her winning painting titled “Large Interior (Micky Allan)”.

This year’s event was held at the S H Ervin Gallery, Thursday 29 September.   Deborah Thomas, Editorial Director, The Australian Women’s Weekly gave the opening address.

Jude Rae - "Large Interior (Micky Allan)".

The room is a corner of my studio. There is a fuse box and an overhead projector on the filing cabinet next to Micky. The lens of the projector reminded me of the "eye-like" convex mirror in Van Eyck's "Arnolfini Marriage" which reflects the artist who was witness to the wedding. Van Eyck is looking at us from the mirror, like the figure in Renaissance paintings (often the artist) that meets the eye of the viewer.

I think of painting as a series of material experiments with tradition and perception. Micky is a wonderful subject because she projects such a fine energy, the result of years of meditation. I am interested in the way Vermeer's interiors present, in the most neutral sense, subjects as objects. The figure is caught in the same light and space as other objects in the room. It is the infusion of that objective space with subjective presence which distinguishes Vermeer. Object and subject are held in a balance, like that which occurs between breathing out and breathing in.

Jude Rae lives in Canberra and completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree at the University of Sydney, Post Grad Diploma in Professional Art Studies and a MFA (Painting).  She has held selected solo exhibitions Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney and Berlin, and Jensen Gallery, New Zealand. Click here to view Jude Rae's Curriculum Vitae.

Julie Fragar – “Portrait from 89cm” 

Artistic Statement – Julie Fragar

89cm is my daughter's eye height. I painted this work referring to her view; the way she sees her mother. From a personal perspective this painting was made as a document of our changing relationship. As she ages her view will change, and I will likely be looking up at her. Recording a visual relationship between her and me, this painting also hijacks my daughter's point of view as my own creation. In some ways this is like painting which absorbs the subject into its own framework.

Polly Ifould – “Jeffrey Smart: Artist at Play” 

Artistic Statement – Polly Ifould

As a devotee of Jeffrey Smart’s work, and since meeting him in the Greek Islands more than 30 years ago, he has been something of a hero to me. He thus became a compelling subject choice for one of my first major works.

It is a testament to his generosity of spirit that he welcomed me back into his life and encouraged my painting, despite my mature age and novice status.

Painting Jeffrey playing piano, surrounded by literature in his Tuscan home on a cold winter’s night, I hope I have portrayed the warmth and the many facets that make up this cultured, iconic artist.

315 artists entered this year’s competition with 60 being selected for the exhibition. To view a selection of images from this year’s exhibition please enter here.

Judges for the 2005 Award were Cressida Campbell, Terence Maloon (Curator, Art Gallery of New South Wales), and Jane Watters (Director, S H Ervin Gallery).