A photographic artist from Allawah has won the prestigious Dobell Prize for Drawing.
Justine Varga used a photographic negative as the medium for her abstract drawing called Photogenic 2018.
Photogenic, which blurs the line between photography and drawing, was chosen from 57 finalist artworks by artist and lead judge Ben Quilty, who called it "a powerful playful and sophisticated 21st Century drawing and a deserved winner."
"Drawing is a fundamental part of many visual art practices," Quilty said.
"Her work is a distillation of so many components of our collective lives. Drawing plays a pivotal role in this artist's exploration of us all.
"The winner of the Dobell Drawing Prize #21 uses drawing in the most meaningful and sophisticated way."
The Dobell prize was formerly held at the Art Gallery of NSW but has moved this year to the National Art School.
The $30,000 award allows artists greater latitude in their choice of medium than the Archibald Prize, which stipulates that each entry must be a "portrait painted from life".
While drawing for many people involves pencil and paper, the Dobell this year included animation, textiles, sculpture and even performance.
"It (the Dobell prize) encourages innovation and a contemporary approach to drawing," Steven Alderton, director of the National Art School in Sydney, which hosts the award told The Australian.
"We welcome all artists' interpretations of drawing. If their practice revolves around drawing in new or different mediums, they can submit it to the Dobell drawing prize and they are very happy to consider it as part of the exhibition. We have reviewed the conditions and we are able to do that, whereas the Archibald has a very particular frame of reference."
In 2017 Varga was the centre of controversy in the art world when she won the $20,000 Olive Cotton Award for Photographic Portraiture.
Her work, Maternal Line, was a portrait of her grandmother Katalin, who does not appear in the image, and was created without a camera, when Varga asked her grandmother to scrawl and "user her saliva" on a piece of film.
The work sparked debate over whether it was actually a photograph and portrait and whether Varga, or her grandmother, was the owner and creator of the work.
On Saturday, May 18, Varga will be speaking about drawing at the National Art School.
From 2pm-3pm, the artist will present a free panel discussion that details the work behind her drawing, Photogenic 2018.
Also speaking on the panel are 2019 Dobell prize finalists Tony Albert and Wendy Murray.
- The Dobell Drawing Prize exhibition is on display at the National Art School until May 25.
