Tesselaar Sculpture Prize

John Bishop "Synergy"

The eleventh annual Tesselaar Sculpture Prize exhibition is underway in Silvan at the world famous Tulip Festival. Judging of the 2018 $20,000 acquisitive Tesselaar Sculpture Prize, has been completed.

As was to be expected, the judge, Michael Meszaros, had a very stimulating yet difficult exercise to undertake given the broad-ranging nature of the sculptures exhibited in the competition. He was very impressed by the quality, standard and styles of work presented and commented on the innovative and stimulating utilisation of media and presentation.

Ultimately, after thoughtful consideration of each work, Michael narrowed the works down to several selections; finally coming to the decision that the work, ‘Synergy’, by John Bishop be awarded First Prize. Congratulations, John!

Judge’s Report Michael Meszaros

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

This was a difficult decision because there were a number of works which I thought were worthy of consideration. Each of these works was quite individual, well considered and had a thought conveyed with expression and technical expertise.

In the end, I chose No.3, ‘Synergy’ by John Bishop as the winner.

John Bishop "Synergy"

There are a number of reasons for this choice:
John’s work has an apparent simplicity which disguises a subtlety of form and meaning. The title gives a clue to this subtlety. As I walked around it the forms played with each other as the viewing angle changed. These forms are elegant and feminine with a gradual development of complexity as they move upwards. They have a calculated dislocation which uses the light as it plays across the surface and as the day progresses. The work retains the suggestion of its original block of stone, utilising it while transforming it to another level of meaning. The work is fully three dimensional, encouraging one to walk around it and to notice the shifting counterpoint of the carefully composed forms. Finally, it is beautifully crafted, utilising the potential of the material, its texture and its colour.

Other works which caught my attention especially, were, in no particular order:

‘Bums on Seats’ by Nicole Allen
‘Orcaplastica’ by Wayne Foenander
‘Mustang’ by Hovik Israelian
‘Swarm’ by Rod and Gill Lee
‘Curious Dream of an Architect’ by Fatih Semiz
‘Flight’ by Todd Stewart

Each of these works had a strong message backed by a good expression and three-dimensional form, good and interesting technique and a title which gave a lead-in to the work’s idea and expression.