The 25th Annual Wallace Art Awards 2016, with prizes amounting to over $220,000, were presented by the Chairperson of the Jury for the first awards in 1992 and for a number of years thereafter, Philippa Lady Tait at the Pah Homestead, TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre on Monday 5 September 2016.

This year the Wallace Arts Trust received 371 entries from which 88 were selected as finalists. From the finalists 47 have been chosen for the Award Winners & Travelling Finalists exhibition and the balance is represented in the Salon des Refusés. 

The Wallace Art Awards aim to support, promote and expose New Zealand contemporary art and artists. They are the longest surviving and largest annual art awards of their kind in New Zealand.

2016 AWARD WINNERS

The Wallace Arts Trust Paramount Award - Andre Hemer, Big Node #10, 2015, Acrylic and pigment on canvas 1375 x 1025

Hemer receives a 6 month residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York, USA.
 

Fulbright-Wallace Arts Trust Award - Simon Morris, A Whole and Two Halves (yellow Ochre), 2016, Acrylic on canvas, 1400 x 1400

Morris receives a 3 month residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts in San Francisco, USA.
 

The Kaipara Wallace Arts Trust Award - Jeremy Blincoe, Tropic Of Chaos, 2016, Pigment ink-jet print, 1200 x 1350

Blincoe receives a 3 month residency at the Altes Spital in Solothurn, Switzerland.
 

The Wallace Arts Trust Vermont Award - Weilun Ha, Breathtakingly Fragile, 2016, Traditional Chinese inks and resins on fabric, 3000 x 2000

Ha receives a 3 month residency at the Vermont Studio Center in Vermont, USA.

First Runner-up Award - Matthew Browne, Sophistes, 2016 Vinyl tempera and oil on canvas, 1750 x 1200

Matthew Browne receives $2,500.

Second Runner-up Award - Antje Barke, Tamaki Redevelopment Retaining Wall, 2015, Steel, concrete, foam, 1200 x 1000 x 400

Antje Barke receives $2,500.

Jury Award - Josephine Cachemaille & Jen Bowmast, Are you picking up what I am putting down?, 2016, Mixed media, 1900 x 2000 x 700

This prize is non-monetary.

As well as the above awards, earlier in the year Scott Eady was chosen for the inaugural Martin Tate Wallace Arts Trust Residency in Vladivostok, Russia

JUDGES
The 2016 awards were judged by a panel comprising of prominent members of the arts sector’ Andrew Clifford, Georgina Ralston, Philip Trusttum, Richard Maloy and Sam Mitchell. Judges for the Fulbright-Wallace Arts Trust Award were Andrew Clifford and Richard Maloy joined by Melanie Higgins and Ruth Watson.

EXHIBITION DATES

The Award Winners & Travelling Finalists exhibition will be exhibited at:
Pah Homestead, TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre: 6 September – 13 November 2016.
Wallace Gallery Morrinsville: 30 November 2016 – 5 February 2017 (Opening: 3 December, 11am – 1pm)
Pataka Art + Museum: 26 February 2017 – 7 May 2017 (Opening: 26 February, 2pm)

The Salon des Refusés will be exhibited at the Pah Homestead from 6 September – 6 November 2016

COMMENTS

• Regarding Andre Hemer, Paramount Award Winner, Sir James Wallace, Director of the Wallace Arts Trust commented, “This great, challenging, enigmatic work demonstrates why Andre is regarded as one of the top new artists on the international art scene.”
   
• Regarding Andre Hemer’s, Big Node #10, judge Richard Maloy commented, “Hemer’s painting is the one work I found that I couldn’t get out of my mind, being constantly drawn back to it.” Judge Andrew Clifford commented on Hemer’s “sophisticated use of media, blurring materiality and digitality.”
   
• Regarding Jeremy Blincoe’s Tropic of Chaos, judge Clifford says, “This work is both enigmatic and haunting and has a strong use of light and composition."
   
• Judge Philip Trusttum describes Simon Morris’, A Whole and Two Halves (yellow Ochre) as “Simple, soulful and moody”, commenting on the “great painting quality.”
   
• Melanie Higgins, judge for the Fulbright-Wallace Arts Trust Award, says “The Fulbright-Wallace Arts Trust Award recognizes not only artistic accomplishment but also the ability of the winner to be a cultural Ambassador between New Zealand and the United States.  The Selection Committee was deeply impressed with Simon Morris’s ability to connect across cultures through the medium of art.”