Mosman Art Prize - Winner 2015
Painting 131 (North Coogee), 2015, acrylic on linen, 112.5cm x 117.5cm
Mosman Art Prize
Alan Jones wins the 2015 Mosman Art Prize for his painting titled ‘Painting 131 (North Coogee)’.
Guest judge Michael Rolfe (Chief Executive Officer, Museums & Galleries NSW) writes:
“First prize was awarded to Alan Jones. His work has always interested me for its discordant approach to colour, shapes and texture used. But more than that I find his painting quite distinctive and representative of a way of seeing that gives me confidence in his picture making. Painting 131 (North Coogee) will prove to be a strong addition to the Mosman Collection. Jones has been quoted as saying ‘some paintings can happen in half an hour’, but obviously that’s not always the case. For me judging usually takes a while, but not in this instance. I knew I had found the winner as soon as I saw the work.”
Established in 1947, the Mosman Art Prize is Australia’s oldest and most prestigious local government art award. It was founded by the artist, architect and arts advocate, Alderman Allan Gamble, at a time when only a small handful of art prizes were in existence in Australia and the community had very little support and few opportunities to exhibit their work.
Over the past sixty-eight years, the Mosman Art Prize has developed in stature to become Australia’s most prestigious municipally funded art prize with a national profile. It regularly attracts over 900 entries annually and currently offers over $60,000 in prizes.
The inaugural winner in 1947 was a young Margaret Olley. Since the prize has been won by scores of artists including Guy Warren, Grace Cossington Smith, Weaver Hawkins, Nancy Borlase, Lloyd Rees, Anthony Galbraith, Elisabeth Cummings, Tim Johnson, Guan Wei and Michael Zavros among many others. Past adjudicators also include notable Australian art figures such as Margaret Preston, John Olsen, Tim Storrier, Jenny Sages and Edmund Capon.
