Brisbane artist Jane James named finalist in 2019 National Still Life Award

MEDIA RELEASE

Date: Friday 12 July 2019

For immediate release

BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA - 12 JULY 2019

Brisbane artist Jane James has today been announced as a finalist in the 2019 Biennial National Still Life Prize.  

Artist Jane James, who is currently in the studio working on a entry for the Brisbane Portrait Prize, was notified by email last Friday and said, “I’m thrilled to be chosen as a finalist, and very humbled to be in the company of so many fine artists.”

Her work ‘ L,O,V,E - Semaphore’ was selected by a panel of art professionals to be included in the 2019 STILL exhibition of short-listed works which opens on Friday 20 September at the Coffs Coast Regional Gallery.

James joins a list of high profile previous finalists including Australian artists such as Tony Albert, Guy Gilmour, Laura Jones, Susan O’Doherty, Vipoo Srivilasa, Greg Weight and Prue Venables.

Her work was originally part of an exhibition to celebrate the Yes vote on same-sex marriage legislation. 

James said about the works, "Each is a comtemplative stil life. A single part of a discourse, and a piece of history. Just as each survey vote cast was an individual signal, collectively creating meaning. Semaphore is the visual language employed here, to spell out LOVE. The element of balance references the principle of Justice, and the tenuousness of it."

The $20,000 acquisitive national art prize run by the Coffs Coast Regional Gallery is a biennial award open to artists at all stages of their career and the winner will be announced at the official opening on Saturday 21 September.  It seeks to highlight the diversity and vitality of still life Australian contemporary art practice.

James's most recent solo exhibition, Seven-Tenths, which included daily artist guided tours of the works, closed on 7 July in Brisbane, and James has been busy completing an entry for the upcoming Brisbane Portrait Prize in August.  She has a work in progress for the ANL Maritime Art Prize in Melbourne in September, and is also completing works for another solo show, 'Evanesce', developed in partnership with CSIRO scientists and researchers, which will highlight the loss of the giant kelp forests off Tasmania's coastline and opens at the Colville Gallery in Hobart, Tasmania on 23 October.

A link to the original exhibition of 'L,O,V,E - Semaphore', and the full artist statement can be found here: https://spark.adobe.com/page/6ulVvmKob6EZh/

PROVIDED IMAGES MAY BE DOWNLOADED FOR MEDIA USE ONLY Access Downloadable Images:

1. Jane James headshot 
2. ‘L,O,V,E - Semaphor' - Polymer on Linen