SYDNEY.- One artist is just two weeks away from winning the prestigious $10,000 John Fries Award for emerging and early career artists,

with the announcement to be made at the award’s venue partner UNSW Galleries in Paddington, Sydney on Tuesday 12 August.

Copyright Agency | Viscopy has named 23 finalists from all over Australia for this year’s award, established in memory of Viscopy

Board Director John Fries, who made a remarkable contribution to the life and success of the organisation.

The 5th John Fries Award finalists’ exhibition featuring artists from five states and spanning painting, sculpture, installation, video and a live performance work, will open on Saturday 9 August and run until 6 September.

The award’s guest curator and judge, Sebastian Goldspink, said “The award has really come into its own in this fifth year and the quality and ingenuity of the art is compelling. It is the must-see exhibition in the emerging art space.

“Thematically, technology and its influence is evident in much of the work, as is an exploration of ideas of ‘home’. The judging panel has a real challenge ahead of it to determine the winner.”

Judges for the 2014 award are: Sebastian Goldspink, ALASKA Projects, Alexie Glass Kantor, Artspace, 2013 John Fries Award winner Jess Olivieri and artists Kath Fries and Megan Cope. The award’s 2014 sponsors include: International Art Services, 10 group, Little Creatures Brewery and Small Acres Cyder.

The 2014 John Fries Award finalists are: Abdul Abdullah, Justin Balmain, Ella Barclay, Tim Bruniges, Julian Day, Omar Chowdhury, George Egerton-Warburton, Marc Etherington, Hamishi Farah, Heath Franco, Samuel Hodge, Anna Horne, Juz Kitson, Anna Kristensen, Bridie Lunney, Daniel McKewen, Beryline Mung, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Alair Pambegan, Kate Scardifield, Marilyn Schneider, Jacqui Shelton and Jason Wing.