Ben Apfelbaum

ART EXPRESS 2022 CLOSES ANZAC DAY

A Portait in Frequency by Kittu Hoyne
Animated Identity by Zev Donovan
Emergence by Bella Luu
FRACK by Emily McGhee

Perspectives of a Negative Space by Amelia Medbury
Stop The Spread by Kaitlyn Mateta
Within Passing by Ivy Riddle (video still)

The Art Gallery of New South Wales is delighted to present ARTEXPRESS 2022, a showcase of outstanding artworks developed by young artists from across NSW for the art-making component of the Higher School Certificate (HSC) examination in Visual Arts in 2021. One of the Art Gallery’s most popular exhibitions, the annual showcase provides insight into students’ creativity and the issues important to them.

This year’s exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW features 43 bodies of work selected from 8440 student works submitted for the 2021 HSC, including works by students from government and non-government schools from across metropolitan and regional NSW.

The 39th edition of ARTEXPRESS at the Art Gallery encompasses a broad range of approaches and expressive forms, including ceramics, collection of works, documented forms, designed objects, drawing, graphic design, painting, photomedia, printmaking, sculpture, textiles and fibre, and time-based media. 

Art Gallery of NSW director Dr Michael Brand said that the Class of 2021 should be extremely proud of what they achieved in an exceedingly difficult year.

‘The 2021 Visual Arts students had a disrupted HSC, with many students completing their artworks from home in lockdown. Despite the many obstacles of finishing school in a pandemic, these students have produced the most exceptional bodies of work.

‘Their accomplishments can be seen throughout the exhibition. This year’s students have approached their creative practice with positivity and optimism, looking beyond the immediate impacts of the pandemic and towards a brighter future,’ said Brand.

This year, the student works directly address the impact of the global pandemic on their lives, exploring ideas of the interior self and resilience, emergence and optimism, the environment and still life interiors.

Art Gallery of NSW curator of ARTEXPRESS 2022 Louise Halpin said each year ARTEXPRESS reveals how young artists creatively interpret the times in which we live.

‘I would like to acknowledge every student selected for ARTEXPRESS 2022 for their elegant and highly resolved bodies of work, which demonstrate creativity, resilience and sustained investigation of the complex world in which they completed Year 12,’ said Halpin.

The exhibition began in Sydney in the late 1950s and has been exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW since 1983. Accomplished artists who have previously been selected for the prestigious exhibition include Ben Quilty (1992), David Griggs (1994), McLean Edwards (1990), Melissa Chiu (1990) and Jasper Knight (1996).

ARTEXPRESS is presented in partnership with NSW Department of Education, Arts Unit and the NSW Education Standards Authority in association with the principal venue the Art Gallery of NSW.

ARTEXPRESS 2022 is on display at the Art Gallery of NSW from 3 February to 25 April 2022. Entry is free. Explore the 2022 student works on our website.

The health and safety of visitors is the top priority of the Art Gallery, which is closely following NSW Public Health Orders. Visitors to the Art Gallery are required to comply with Public Health Orders and are encouraged to plan their visit by reviewing the COVID-safe guidelines on our website.

Featured image :The Commute by Edward Parsons. The photographs of the selected paintings have been taken by Ben Apfelbaum.

 

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborlang. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, United States, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication. To celebrate the opening of a permanent Photography Gallery, the State Library of New South Wales selected 400 shots from its archive of over 2,000,000 images to display in the new gallery. An image of mine was plucked out of the multi million photo archive to be part of the inaugural exhibition.