Maritime Art Prize 2022

Winners of the 2022 MSC Maritime Art Prize were announced to rapturous applause at the Opening Night & Awards Presentation at the Mission to Seafarers on Thursday 29th October.

Invited guests were clearly thrilled not only with the selected works, but also to have the opportunity to view the exhibition in person, after the previous two years were held online.

70 artworks were shortlisted from a highly competitive field of 145 entrants – including a greater number of interstate artists than previous years – all of whom responded to the perpetual theme ‘The Relationship of Humanity to the Sea’.

VIEW ART PRIZE 2022 CATALOGUE

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“The exhibition’s theme exploring the relationship of humanity to the sea has been a long story in the history of art and one that can be interpreted in many ways.

In the exhibition we see examples of the power of the ocean itself and of the human effort in actions and activities both for industry and pleasure, the human story, and the power of nature.

All the artists in the exhibition have brought their own vision and skillful interpretation of the theme, through either a traditional lens or through a poignant human story, or indeed through the lens of visual experimentation.

The winners and those commended should be warmly congratulated for their talent and vision and their continuing commitment to the eternal and glorious challenges of painting as both an ancient and a contemporary art.”

Professor Su Baker AM – JUDGE

2022 MSC MARITIME ART AWARD – $15,000

Original Smith – See Forever the Sea

Mixed Media on Aluminium Panel, 2022

“The unintended beauty in ships and shipping compels me. The scale. The form. The colour. The mass. The large and slow movements in and over tides and seas that are forever changing.”

Original Smith weaves creativity, technology and story-telling into artworks that both engage and challenge; creating tension through beauty and imbalance via images that are at once figurative and abstract.

From afar, colour and composition stimulate sense-making and draw viewers into the work.
At close proximity rich detail reveals itself adding secondary layers and narratives, while abstraction and depth entangle the viewer in the work.

PORT PHILLIP SEA PILOTS

BEST IN TRADITIONAL MARITIME ART – $5,000

John Woodland – The Apprentice

Water Colour on Paper, 2021

“The old commercial sailing vessels used to take on boys and young men as an apprentice. The scene shows a young man working with older men aboard such a vessel”

NEVILE & CO RUNNER-UP AWARD – $2,000

Mia Laing – Bounded by Sea

Oil on Canvas, 2022

“Punished for crimes of poverty, exiled to life across the ocean, the convict women of the colonies, over time and through their ingenuity, skills and strength, unlocked the key to surviving this harsh new land bounded by sea…they created a place to call home and gave birth to modern Australia. The objects in this painting are symbolic to the sea and their importance to colonial life, carefully gathered and placed. The Quandong seed acknowledges the traditional owners of the land and their displacement and endurance through this brutal time when people came across the ocean. This was painted specifically for the Maritime Art Prize and the theme of ‘The Relationship of Humanity to the Sea’.”

GULF AGENCY COMPANY

EMERGING ARTIST AWARD – $1,000

Simon Brown – Tides

Oil on Linen, 2022

“Our ocean is fragile, and water is the indispensable factor of life, easily destroyed and like us, may become a discarded memory like the crumpled image it is depicted by.”

VIC PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD – $2,000

Min Siman-Kevicius – Life Boat

MARITIME ART AWARD – COMMENDED

Kylie Blackley – Floating on Steel

Merrin Eirth – How’s That Miss!?

Paul Hodges – Catching Fish

Warren Lane – The Shuffle

Min Siman- Kevicius – Life Boat

BEST IN TRADITIONAL MARITIME ART – HIGHLY COMMENDED

Peter Andrews – Retired from Service – MV Cape Don

BEST IN TRADITIONAL MARITIME ART – COMMENDED

Karen Bloomfield – Safe Harbour

Raymond Hewitt – Under Guidance

Jill Rogers – No Man is an Island

Maxwell Wilks – Heavy Weather

EMERGING ARTIST – COMMENDED

Minal Karim – Stationary Yet Facing Forward

Astrid Lempriere – Salty Dog