WINNER

Artist Name: DAVE GROOM

Artwork Title: CENTRAL FLOW

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 96 x 242cm

Artist Statement:

The landscape surrounding me at Beechmont stems from lava flows and rivers that have shaped the land over millennia. Central Flow encompasses this timeless energy and is inspired not only by the flow that exists in the natural world, but also the flow of the mind, when working from memory.

Judge’s Comment:

"Dave Groom’s Central Flow is lush, layered, and alive. An expansive, immersive panorama, this work draws the viewer into a thriving forest scene where ancient trees twist and reach toward the sky, their trunks rendered with a precise sculptural intensity. Groom’s use of scale and perspective evoke the sensation of standing on the forest floor, looking upward. Surrounded by life, ferns unfurling, one can almost hear the birds in the distance; taste the soft blanket of mist; feel the soil and roots underfoot. What elevates this painting beyond technical mastery is its quiet reverence. There is a spiritual quality to the composition- a stillness that suggests a deep listening to country and a slow passage of time. It is not a romanticised vision of the landscape, but one that honours complexity, decay, and regeneration. This year's winning work is a testament to Groom’s deep connection to place and his ability to render the natural world not only as it appears, but as it feels. It is a work that commands both attention and contemplation, and one that lingers long after you’ve looked away."

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Lethbridge Residency Award

Artist Name: KAREN BROCK

Artwork Title: BETWEEN FENCES AND STARS

Medium: Oil on board

Size: 43 x 43cm

Artist Statement:

This painting captures the contrast between an enclosed backyard with a luminous marine blue pool and the expansive night sky. The pool reflects violet light onto the house eaves above, while a tall yucca tree stands before a Prussian blue sky, evoking the nostalgia of warm summer nights.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Artist Name: DAVID ROSENDALE

Artwork Title: ULYSSES' GAZE- VIEW TO LALGAMBUK (MT FRANKLIN)

Medium: Pigment Print

Size: 105 x 140cm

Artist Statement:

From an immersive series of photography, “The Trees endure, the land has memory”. Emerging from the global pandemic, the series explores resilience, an enduring connection to "place" & the profound ties that bind us to the land. Evoking a sense of belonging, of being exactly where I need to be.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Artist Name: AMANDA PENROSE HART

Artwork Title: SHEPPERDS LOOKOUT

Medium: Oil on linen

Size: 122 x 122cm

Artist Statement:

In paintings there is stillness. Looking at the landscape I'm just looking for peace. As a painter and a person. I try to go lightly - I'm careful in the landscape - I want to go lightly yesterday today, and tomorrow I want to go lightly as a meadow hawk.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Artist Name: TODD SIMPSON

Artwork Title: A MOMENT OF REFLECTION

Medium: Acrylic on Aluminium

Size: 102 x 102cm

Artist Statement:

"A Moment of Reflection" invites viewers into the silent dialogue between giant Eucalypt and palm trees at the water's edge. In monochrome, the perfect symmetry creates a tranquil sanctuary where time pauses. This hidden pocket of Melbourne's Royal Botanical Gardens reveals how wilderness persists within urban spaces, awaiting quiet discovery.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Artist Name: BEN TUPAS

Artwork Title: INVISIBILITY BARONG

Medium: Video

Size: 67 x 38cm

Artist Statement:

"Invisibility Barong" is a meditation on Filipino Australian identity within the natural landscape. Wearing a garment inspired by the traditional Philippine barong, I embody the tension of dual identities—bridging past and present, home and diaspora. This work reflects on ancestors and cultural artefacts as guides in understanding the present.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Sponsored by Art of Framing

Artist Name: CRAIG ADDLEY

Artwork Title: RESOLUTION CREEK, BRUNY ISLAND

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Size: 92 x 122cm

Artist Statement:

Resolution Creek is a beautiful, windswept and easily accessible location on Bruny Island. I have tried to capture another view looking back inland, rather than the more recognisable view looking out to sea from below the ‘two trees’ that tower over the small rocky headland.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Sponsored by Art of Framing

Artist Name: LARS VESTER

Artwork Title: PURPLE GLOW NO.2

Medium: Oil on linen

Size: 76 x 76cm

Artist Statement:

In Brisbane, the perennial presence of purple jacaranda flowers has presented itself earlier than usual for the past two decades.
While it is an ethereal sight for me as an artist, I can’t help perceiving it as a glowing reminder of the effects of climate change, manifesting itself as beauty.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Sponsored by Art of Framing

Artist Name: SCOTT BRETON

Artwork Title: SOUTHERN VORTEX

Medium: Oil on ACM

Size: 39 x 58cm

Artist Statement:

I was attracted to the incredible twisting form of this tree that snaked along the ridge, rolling over like an ocean wave. This evidence of great forces in tension forming the tree, slowed to decades, was juxtaposed against the lethargic waving in real-time of the leaves and casual little branches.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Sponsored by Art of Framing

Artist Name: TIMOTHY GREY

Artwork Title: BULIMBA FERRY TERMINAL

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 61 x 76cm

Artist Statement:

A nostalgic glimpse of Bulimba’s 1922 'waiting shed', glowing in the afternoon sun against stormy skies. This painting preserves a moment in Brisbane River’s history before its transformation with a multi-berth CityCat pontoon in 2014.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Sponsored by Art of Framing

Artist Name: NAT WARD

Artwork Title: BEAUTIFUL SCRUBLAND #2

Medium: Oil and wax on canvas

Size: 90 x 110cm

Artist Statement:

‘Beautiful Scrubland’ is a study of the harsh Australian bush. The nuances and contrasts in this fragile and complex landscape I find interesting and thought provoking. My hope is that the viewer will engage with the idea that a sometimes-innocuous landscape can have an understated, curious and gentle beauty.

Packer's Prize

Artist Name: MICHELLE HENRY

Artwork Title: YOU LEAVE THE SAME IMPRESSION, OF SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL BUT ANNIHILATING

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Size: 46 x 97cm

Artist Statement:

This painting of an open field of opium poppies, observed during a visit to Tasmania's Table Cape, simultaneously symbolises seduction and destruction. These blooms, cultivated for medicinal purposes serve as a reminder of the delicate balance between allure and peril. The title comes from the Sylvia Plath poem “The Rival”.

Best Of Brisbane Award

Sponsored by Ray White Paddington

Artist Name: BLAIR GARLAND

Artwork Title: GREETINGS FROM REDCLIFFE

Medium: Wool, cotton, canvas, acrylic paint, paper

Size: 32 x 45cm

Artist Statement:

Greetings from Redcliffe is an album hosting 19 painted portraits of houses with personality. The essence of Redcliffe is reflected in these images and they speak to a sense of place. The homes were chosen for their quirkiness, quaintness and their nostalgic stirrings.