Tesselaar Sculpture Prize 2017

A message from the exhibition curator

The outstanding visual delight of looking at the abundance of very colourful tulips rippling across the sloping fields is a challenging context in which to place contemporary sculpture.

The interest in and success of the Tesselaar Sculpture Prize is due to the imagination, flights of invention, skill and dedication of the sculptors presenting their works for exhibition. As such, I continue to derive much satisfaction in working closely with the artists and it remains an honour to curate this exhibition and competition.

The 43 selected finalists showcasing their artistic styles and creative talent in the $20,000 tenth annual exhibition come from across Victoria and Tasmania, and included some well-known and highly-regarded Australian sculptors, along with a number of established and talented emerging sculptors.

I trust the 2017 exhibition was a memorable event for all concerned.

Mark Cowie
Curator

Judge’s Report
Simon Perry


First of all, I would like to thank all of the 43 entrants for their selection and participation in what I believe is a very strong and exciting sculpture exhibition.

I would also like to thank the Tessalaar family and the curator, Mark Cowie, for inviting me to judge this great event. There were a number of excellent works in contention this year and it was, as ever, a difficult task to single-out one outstanding work.

However, I am very pleased to announce that I have chosen Mark Cuthbertson’s work, ‘Gold Scout’, as the winner of the $20,000 Tesselaar Sculpture Prize for 2017.

 Mark has written an artist statement, which goes someway to articulating his intentions, but I also feel inclined to say write a few words detailing why I came to choose this work.

From a distance, Mark’s sculpture reads as a strange anthropomorphic inflatable with all the attendant, if in this case, darker ephemeral references of ironic pop culture, infantilisation and mock celebration.

On closer inspection, one realises that rather than a temporary inflated, black vinyl structure, the sculpture is in fact made from solid, polished black concrete and that the form has actually been created through poring soft-form liquid concrete into a fabricated plastic pattern. This process has resulted in a beautiful and striking artwork, which is simultaneously surreal, disturbing and humorous. Its shape and dark silhouette is reminiscent of an over-sized rabbit-like sentinel and brings to mind the cinematic apparitions of Donny Darko and David Lynch.


One of the work’s major strengths is the way that it sits between both figuration and abstraction, and appears to stare blankly out at the viewer and beyond into the landscape. It raises timely and poignant questions about our relationship to place and history and will continue to fascinate and intrigue the viewing public into the future.

I congratulate Mark for creating what I believe to be a sophisticated and thought-provoking contemporary artwork and I am certain that It will make a great and worthy addition to the existing Tesselaar sculpture collection.