Scholarship painting exemplars - 2019

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Outstanding Scholarship

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Panel 1 (JPG, 298KB)
Panel 2 (JPG, 414KB)
Panel 3 (JPG, 455KB)

Entire Folio (JPG, 959KB)
Sample Workbook pages

Sample page 1 (JPG, 2.4MB)
Sample page 2 (JPG, 2.3MB)
Sample page 3 (JPG, 2.4MB)

Sample page 4 (JPG, 2.2MB)
Sample page 5 (JPG, 2.2MB)
Sample page 6 (JPG, 1.9MB)

Sample page 7 (JPG, 2.4MB)
Sample page 8 (JPG, 2.2MB)		  

This Outstanding Scholarship Painting submission presents a highly experimental and ambitious enquiry underpinned by the idea of emotions / emotional states (the candidate’s) as the impetus for exploring abstraction. From the outset, there was an immediate confidence in the handling of combined media, substrates, colour, composition, and form to communicate intent.

The artwork was led by a focus on intuitive and responsive modes of making. As an approach, this afforded the candidate an exciting set of methods and ways to move forward. Each work gathered knowledge and inspired the next iteration. This way of working meant the enquiry was purposeful and robust, and effectively operated within a tight set of conceptual conventions. Informed by historical and contemporary modes of abstraction, the practice engaged in an in-depth and genuine enquiry into colour, materiality, and process. 

The workbook provides acute insights into the thinking and progressive way in which the body of work developed and changed over time. It provides a thorough analysis of the candidate’s methodology and how they translate emotion into form. The enquiry cleverly echoes the emotive and erratic mental state that is discussed, analysed, and reflected upon. The candidate also continuously draws connections between making, thinking, doing, and play. Critical decisions move beyond established practice and are adapted to meet the artist's own means, such as additive / subtractive processes. For example, in comparison to de Kooning's erasure of image, the candidate instead sprays unused works a single colour to delete the details and embrace their ‘physical being’, which is an insightful action as it relates to their topic.

This type of strategic thinking is present throughout the entire body of work. There is evidence of considered editing and intelligent prioritisation, such as, what is left behind as trace (blobs of thread, double-sided tape), and aesthetic compositional choices such as folds, creases, pulls, and pleats. Throughout the folio, there is extensive play with a range of materials and an acute awareness of their properties, potentials and limitations, including plasticity, the fold, flow, mess, delicacy, structure and chaos – along with an apparent appreciation for the ugly or grotesque versus beautiful or delicate. This ease with materials and invented processes reveals a transparency that constructively matches the intentionality of this self-determined art practice. The workbook confirms the intelligence that drives the project; it is to the point, makes well-edited statements and associations, and shows clever thinking applied to the evaluation and analysis of established artists processes and making – but, more importantly, to the student's own thinking.

Scholarship

(Click icons to see large versions in a new window)

Panel 1 (JPG, 401KB)
Panel 2 (JPG, 433KB)
Panel 3 (JPG, 413KB)

Entire Folio (JPG, 1020KB)
Sample Workbook pages

Sample page 1 (JPG, 2MB)
Sample page 2 (JPG, 2.2MB)
Sample page 3 (JPG, 2MB)

Sample page 4 (JPG, 3MB)
Sample page 5 (JPG, 2.7MB)
Sample page 6 (JPG, 2MB)

Sample page 7 (JPG, 2.7MB)
Sample page 8 (JPG, 2.8MB)		  

This Scholarship Painting submission engages in a comprehensive study of the relationship between humans and food. The subject is approached with some humour with the candidate noting from the outset their fascination and curiosity with the topic. The profile, Food and I, on the first page of the workbook, sets the scene and tone of the paintings. There is good analysis and reflection on the topic in the workbook, positioning food as a fundamental human necessity and social activity.

The idea of the mundane and everyday nature of eating food / gluttony / consumption is well-communicated through the sequences depicting meal times, as well as the piles of food, being drowned in food and excessive forms of consumption. The constant analysis and reflection on relationships to food introduce a range of cultural contexts and social and political ideas, with a particular focus on the concept that everyday life can reveal insight into rituals and habits.

This is a well-informed and exploratory body of work. The candidate draws on an expansive field of influence, including well-chosen artistic reference. However, it is the sharp observance of everyday life in their boarding house and popular culture that captures the essence and attitude of this painting enquiry. The candidate recognises these contexts in combination as a way to develop their thinking and visually frame, analyse, and investigate their ideas.

Painting compositions are created using birds-eye-view photography, use of flash, use of cropping, warm colour tones, the rule of thirds, and snapshot aesthetic – all of which help to generate a contrast to typical food and advertising or magazine photography. In all of the works, there is a slight edgy or potentially sickening aspect (idealisation versus reality) – where, at times, it takes the audience a while to realise what it is they are seeing. This abject quality involves a clever manipulation of imagery and also pushing the topic at times into the seemingly ridiculous.

An ongoing sense of performance is visually present in the folio; characters are engaged in actions with different personality traits / types keeping the visual 'feast' lively and active. Under the surface of the food antics explored in the folio works, there is a serious layer to the proposition. The candidate explores issues of greed, waste, food supply, consumption, society, obesity, and health – as well as religious references to iconography, such as the da Vinci's Last Supper and the sharing of food.

 
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