22 September 2016

The Art Gallery of New South Wales is pleased to announce that Sydney artist Lucy O’Doherty has won the 2016 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, a national painting prize awarded annually to a young Australian artist and valued at $30,000.

O’Doherty graduated from the National Art School in Sydney in 2011. She was recently a finalist in the Pro Hart Outback Art Prize (2016) and the Mosman Art Prize (2015). O’Doherty’s winning body of work makes reference to Australian suburbia, suffused by nostalgia and mystery in her depiction of huts in the Royal National Park, south of Sydney.

Guest judge, artist Tom Carment, said Lucy has created a quirky, timeless world.

“Her combinations of tertiary and pastel colours are unusual, and her sense of form defies logic and yet makes sense. There is a stillness about these paintings which I admire.

“Lucy’s work shows a level of maturity and qualities of perseverance which I think will serve her well when she goes to Europe; to live in an unfamiliar culture, absorb great art, and take on new challenges and painting motifs,” Carment said.

O’Doherty will spend a three month residency at one of the Art Gallery of NSW’s studios at Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris, and up to a further three months travelling throughout Europe for her professional and creative development. A stipend valued at $30 000 will support O’Doherty’s living and travel expenses while in Europe.

Established by the late Beryl Whiteley in 1999, the scholarship commemorates the profound effect international travel and study had on her son, renowned Australian artist Brett Whiteley, who won the Italian Government Travelling Art Scholarship at the age of 20.

Art Gallery of New South Wales director Michael Brand said the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship consistently attracts a very high calibre of young Australian artists.

“To date the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship has been awarded to 17 young Australian artists and its alumni includes Marcus Wills, Ben Quilty, Mitch Cairns, James Drinkwater and Tom Polo,” Brand said.

“It’s exciting to see that four of this year’s scholarship finalists are also Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes finalists either this year or in years past, including Jason Phu, Abdul Abdullah, Clara Adolphs and Tsering Hannaford,” Brand added.

Carment and Wayne Tunnicliffe, Art Gallery of New South Wales head curator of Australian art awarded Jason Phu’s work The penis emerges, the rooster crows, God awakens as Highly Commended. Phu receives $5,000.

“Jason’s paintings have a refreshing exuberance. He revitalises a traditional form of painting; his scatter-gun ink calligraphy forming a dynamic matrix for the placement of his humorous and disparate imagery,” Carment said.

The painting Shack at Little Garie from O’Doherty’s winning body of work is currently on display at the Brett Whiteley Studio alongside works by finalists Jason Phu (Highly Commended), Abdul Abdullah, Clara Adolphs, Tsering Hannaford, Andrew Hopkins and Zoe Tweedale. These artists were shortlisted from a total of 91 entries.

View the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship winner

View the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship finalists

The Brett Whiteley Studio
Free | Open Friday – Sunday, 10am – 4pm
2 Raper St, Surry Hills
NSW 2010

Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship Alumni:
1999 – Alice Byrne (judged by Wendy Sharpe)
2000 – Marcus Wills (judged by Tim Storrier)
2001- Petrea Fellows (judged by Ann Thomson)
2002 – Ben Quilty (judged by Margaret Olley)
2003 – Karlee Rawkins (judged by Jon Cattapan)
2004 – Alan Jones (judged by Kevin Connor)
2005 – Wayde Owen (judged by Margaret Woodward)
2006 – Samuel Wade (judged by Garry Shead)
2007 – Nathan Hawkes (judged by Aida Tomescu)
2008 – Amber Wallis (judged by Nicholas Harding)
2009 – Nicole Kelly (judged by John Beard)
2010 – Belem Lett (judged by Angus Nivison)
2011 – Becky Gibson (judged by Colin Lanceley)
2012 – Mitch Cairns (judged by Del Kathryn Barton)
2013 –Tim Phillips (judged by Euan Macleod)
2014 – James Drinkwater (judged by Jude Rae)
2015 -Tom Polo (judged by Fiona Lowry)