SYDNEY.- Viscopy has announced the 22 finalists for this year’s John Fries Memorial Prize for emerging artists, worth $10,000.

The works will comprise the John Fries Memorial Prize Finalists Exhibition to be held at Sydney’s Gaffa Galleries from 24 August to 14 September.

A record number of entries were received this year from Australia and New Zealand with a strong representation of Indigenous artists – three of whom are among the finalists.

Curator Sebastian Goldspink described the entries as “impressive in quality with many surprises from a generationally important group of artists”. The works span many mediums from video and installation to paintings, prints and photography.

The prize’s judges Dr Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Felicity Fenner, Dr Sanné Mestrom and Kath Fries will have the enviable challenge of selecting just one winner to be announced at Gaffa Galleries on Tuesday 27 August.

The John Fries Memorial Prize 2013 finalists are:

New South Wales
LUCAS ABELA (NSW)
Waterloo
Medium: installation
Title: Flip Off

DARA GILL (NSW)
Randwick
Medium: photography
Title: Untitled (Rubber Band Portraits)

SAMUEL HODGE (NSW)
Elizabeth Bay
Medium: photography
Title: Tickets Still Available

KEG DE SOUZA (NSW)
Waterloo
Medium: mixed media
Title: Living Under The Stars

JESS OLIVIERI & HAYLEY FORWARD WITH THE SYDNEY CHAMBER CHOIR (NSW)
Potts Point
Medium: video
Title: Harlequins V’s Visitors

SVETLANA BAILEY (NSW)
Bondi Beach
Medium: print
Title: 13/11

SOPHIA EGARCHOS (NSW)
Rockdale
Medium: mixed media
Title: Levels #2

AARON ANDERSON (NSW)
Ashfield
Medium: mixed media
Title: Suburban Ruin #5

SARAH CONTOS (NSW)
Elizabeth Bay
Medium: mixed media
Title: Souvenir

GREEDY HEN (NSW)
Chippendale
Medium: print
Title: We Just Ignore the Neighbours

TOM POLO (NSW)
Smithfield
Medium: painting
Title: Fields of Uncertainty

ELLA BARCLAY (NSW)
Bondi
Medium: mixed media
Title: Ebb

JOHN A DOUGLAS (NSW)
Arncliffe
Medium: video
Title: The Visceral Garden

BRYDEN WILLIAMS (NSW)
Glebe
Medium: sculpture
Title: Techno Fire

Northern Territory
SERENA BONSON (NT) (ATSI)
Maningrida
Medium: mixed media
Title: Wangarra Spirits

Queensland
CHRIS BENNIE (QLD)
New Farm
Medium: video
Title: The Western Fields

LIAM O’BRIEN (QLD)
Bowen Hills
Medium: video
Title: Whistling in the Dark

South Australia
VINCENT NAMATJIRA (SA) (ATSI)
Alice Springs
Medium: painting
Title: Award

MAUREEN BAKER (SA) (ATSI)
APY Lands, via Marla
Medium: painting
Title: Ngayuku Mamaku Ngura (My Father’s Country)

Victoria
SIMON MacEWAN (VIC)
Brunswick
Medium: watercolour
Title: All that is solid melts into air

GEORGE EGERTON-WARBURTON (VIC)
Fitzroy
Medium: video
Title: Boredom is a desk with human legs in a fish spa

Western Australia
BENJAMIN FORSTER (WA)
Perth
Medium: mixed media
Title: Dysgraphia

The John Fries Memorial Prize recognises and celebrates the work of emerging and early career visual artists through a $10,000 non-acquisitive award donated by the Fries family in memory of former Viscopy director and honorary treasurer, John Fries.