April 2019 | Antonia Howarth-Wass

THE MUCH anticipated Glover Prize 2019 did not disappoint. The criteria for landscape referencing Tasmania saw 42 paintings chosen from 482 entries, attracting nationwide attention. The diptych, Pedder Prime Cuts (Piers Greville, Vic) was the winner with a presentation in oils, acrylic and concrete representing mountains and hills on a flat grey board, Lake Pedder outlined in deep blue-black to reflect tannin coloured waters.

A dystopian view of a man-made lake impacting landscape, had it been more beautiful, more finished and less of a political statement! The People’s Choice award went to Monument of Memory (Jennifer Riddle, Vic), a realist painting of Celery Top Islands, a pristine environment where trees emerge from a promontory shining above dark waters. A more dramatic scene, The Day of the Mountain (Jason Cordero, SA) won the Young People’s Choice award – a surreal representation of a floating vermilion Cradle Mountain in an ethereal landscape.’

And finally (and importantly) the Hanger’s Prize, Surfers are the Worst (Seabastion Toast NSW) – a smashing of colour and paint, fanciful waves crashing against Shipstern’s Bluff. Well deserved, as were all the awards.