Melbourne-based artist Fiona O'Byrne has won the $50,000 Richard Lester Prize for Portraiture for Luci, now, an oil-on-linen painting of her 20-year-old daughter. O'Byrne said the prize money would let her explore new ideas without feeling pressure to sell the pieces.
Prize Money and Artistic Work
O'Byrne has painted her children for more than a decade. She described sitting with her daughter while painting Luci, now, as a chance to watch their relationship change and hold onto a moment in her daughter's life.
"Sitting together, you really see time move, and you see how the relationship changes," O'Byrne wrote. "It's an opportunity for me to stop and spend time observing her in this moment of her life. Painting her was just a way of holding onto that fierce, generous heart."
She picked up a paintbrush for the first time at 36. For the past 10 years, O'Byrne has split her time between painting and landscape architecture. She told the ABC that when her youngest child was one, she wanted a creative outlet beyond her day job, so she signed up for an art class.
"I found my tribe, I found my happy place - it was life changing for me," she said. The $50,000 award, she said, gives her freedom as an artist: she can develop new ideas without having to sell the work that comes from them.
Judges Alan Dodge, John McDonald and Bryony Nainby said the portrait's softness and tenderness captivated them, and pointed to its "unlaboured handling of paint". They also cited the intimacy between sitter and artist, the apparent ease in the subject's expression, the treatment of light, and details of the jacket and nail varnish.
Emerging Artist Award
Perth-based artist and honours student Yasamin Khadembashi has won the $10,000 Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize for Immoral Warrior, a two-metre-long re-imagined self-portrait inspired by Iranian folklore.
"It's an ode to Iranian women... it really shows the Iranian spirit," Khadembashi said. "I wanted something to be distinctive for representing queer Iranian joy and pride." The judges praised her use of rhinestones, synthetic eyelash extensions and metal leaf. "The artist did not play it safe, but their bravery paid off."
Other prize recipients included Sky Parra for Portrait of Scott Austic, Sharon Billinge for Celeste 3, Kim Harding for Kim with Black Cockatoo, Ben Howe for Matilda in Blue and Dapeng Liu for Guido.
Submissions and Exhibition
This year, the Lester Prize received more than 1,100 submissions, the most in its history, and offered a total prize pool of $140,000. Russell Lester, founding partner of The Lester Prize, said the number of submissions reflected the prize's impact on the arts community.
"Our ongoing stewardship of Australian talent and creativity is of utmost importance," Mr Lester said. More than 60 per cent of entries came from outside Western Australia, he said, describing the event as a way to bring the community together to celebrate portraiture.
Forty finalist works are on display at Perth's WA Museum Boola Bardip until November 29.