The Opening night of the 2018 Matthew Flinders Art Prize saw a sell-out occasion again, as artists, members and friends of the Bribie Island Community Arts Society gathered to get first look at the 274 entries this year – and to learn the winners.

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Judges, Wyn Vogel and Karl de Waal, from Brisbane, chose a poignant work by photographer Craig Rohse, from Deception Bay, as the $5000 winner. Titled “Three Wise Veterans’’, it depicts three uniformed army personnel in the Confucian monkey see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil pose. The judges chose it for the “intricate capture of the subjects, the detail highlighting the fine lines and sculpture of the skin, which heightened the emotion in each protagonist’s pose. It is a subject the eye can dwell on over and over again. A compelling, conceptual work that combines the two staples of humanity, war and philosophy to comment on realities of modern warfare.’’

 

Jennifer Pullman, from North Lakes, won second  prize of $2000 for her landscape of Innisfail canefields. They liked it for “the gamut of light across its surface, an exceptionally beautiful painting that radiates expressionism, skill and confidence.’’

 

The two highly commended works were a delicate ceramic pot titled “ Early Spring’’ by Doonan potter Dennis Forshaw and an abstract by Graeme Spencer, of Kiels Mountain, titled “Formica & Vegemite”. Both win $500.