Congratulations to Tim Silver who has won the $20,000 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize for 2018.
The annual award is acquisitive so Silver’s winning work, a painted porcelain self-portrait titled Untitled (When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d 02), 2016, will join the permanent collection of Woollahra Council.
Silver, an Australian artist now based in New York, said on winning the award “Public acknowledgements such as this are a rare occurrence in an artist’s career and I am thrilled to be the recipient of the 2018 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize. Art is often an isolating pursuit, yet it is rarely performed alone. I would like to thank my collaborators on this project, both those known and unknown.”
Now in its 18th year, the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize is open to freestanding sculpture no bigger than 80cm in any dimension.
In a 2016 essay, Andrew Brooks linked Silver’s Untitled (When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d 02) to both Duchamp’s 1917 Fountain and Bruce Nauman’s Self Portrait as a Fountain, 1966- 1967, as well as to graffiti.
Lynch commented, “Tim Silver’s winning work conveys a sense of the conventions of sculpture in a way that is very 21st century. It comes from a classical tradition whilst appearing to be very much of the moment.”
“Tim Silver has made a work that speaks to the whole of art history, reworking it in a contemporary way. The winning works this year speak to art and identity in our current times,” Love added.
Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran took out the $2000 Special Commendation award. Danielle Freakley received a special mention, and the $1000 Mayors Award went to Lucinda Kirkby.
Works by all 48 finalists are on show at the Woollahra Council Chambers, from 20 October until 11 November.
Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize Exhibition
Woollahra Council Chambers
20 October – 11 November
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