In the final weeks before his death in 2000, famed Perth dermatologist and art collector Dr Harold Schenberg bequeathed millions of dollars to local bodies such as the Art Gallery of WA and UWA. It was a flamboyant gesture, almost as flamboyant as Dr Schenberg himself.
He was quite possibly one of the most colourful characters our city had ever seen. Dr Schenberg was an accomplished piano player and would dress in a riot of colour. He loved fluorescents and sharp hues, often combining them in daily outfits. It was a love of colour reflected in his art collection, a love he’d pass on to artists whom he’d mentor.
Now, nearly 10 years after his death, Dr Schenberg’s monumental legacy will live on.
This year will see the inaugural Dr Harold Schenberg Art Prize presented to one talented artist who shows their work this April as part of the student showcase that is PICA’s HATCHED National Graduate Show. The winner will walk away with $20,000 that can be used to develop their practice through travel, research and production support.
‘It will just be (awarded to) the artist who presents the most consistent and fine body of work as a part of the HATCHED National Graduates show,’ explained UWA’s Professor Ted Snell, who will be on the judging panel.
‘As you probably know, HATCHED is already a selective show in that the artists who represent their art schools are selected by the teaching staff, so they’re already filtered as being some of the most outstanding and promising students from their particular colleges or art schools.
‘The award is an opportunity for an artist to either travel internationally or interstate and really to focus on their work for a year. It’s a very generous prize of $20,000, so it will give them the opportunity to do something really quite spectacular.’
One such artist already doing something quite spectacular is Tom Penney.
Rhizomic in nature, Penney’s work is largely video based and sometimes 3D in nature. His large scale digital sculpture, The New Spiritual Network (HACKERS), incorporates sculpture, performance art and video work to create a DIY mind map of spirituality. One where YouTube and digital uploads become the shaman’s tools of summoning.
‘I suppose in all my cynicism I… really enjoy the idea of the artist as shaman, a thin anomalous weirdo like me transforming the remnants of post pop and consumer culture into something meaningful or useful,’ explained Penney of his sprawling multi-faceted work which often sees him placed as the central character, a shaman or witch clothed in disposable consumer cast-offs.
‘It’s really fun to think like that, except my cynicism equals my optimism. As a result I make sure the lasting affect is a fine line between the two – (my video work) can never look “too convincing†otherwise people would think I was convinced I was actually an art shaman… and then I really would be crazy. It must always look ambiguous, a bit undecided and slightly brash like my own actual character.’
For UWA’s Caris Lockhart, video art emerges in the form of DIY CCTV. In her piece, footage of people navigating the CBD is projected on to an inflatable structure, blurring the lines between public space and private experience and installation and video art.
‘I observed the city on a regular basis and did some performance art to examine the spaces that we kind of have between each other,’ Lockhart said of her work. ‘From that I placed cameras within the city in a way people wouldn’t realise that they were there so I positioned cameras from the awnings looking down at people walking beneath and then I put the camera on the ground and filmed people passing by.
‘I’m not a very intrusive person normally, but when I’m doing my job I give myself licence to take the footage I want.’
Other students worth keeping an eye out for include Curtin’s Kathryn Haug and her economic paintings and ANU’s Heike Qualitz’s sculptures which capture the weight of sound. Elsewhere and University of Melbourne’s Christo Crocker distorts photographic portraiture while Liam O’Brien from Griffith University presents a fusion of performance and high-speed photography to create truly spectacular images of futility. All up, 39 students will be competing for the prize.
‘The inaugural prize is always interesting,’ concluded Prof. Snell, ‘because you always sort of set the limits and set the criteria and hopefully set the excellent standard. We’re looking forward to seeing the works.’
And no doubt it will commence a legacy that Dr Schenberg himself would be proud to have started.
HATCHED runs at PICA from April 17 until June 13. The Dr Harold Schenberg Art Prize will be awarded on the opening night, Friday April 16.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
