august, 2020
17aug(aug 17)9:00 am14sep(sep 14)5:00 pm
Event Details
Place your vote to help your favourite Queensland Regional Art Awards 2020 entry win a People’s Choice Award. Selected artists will also be in the running to be included in the Decadence touring exhibition, touring across Queensland 2020 – 2022.
People’s Choice Award Prizes
Adults: $1,250 cash, non acquisitive, thanks to TAFE Queensland
Youth (aged 17 – 25 years): $750, cash, non acquisitive, thanks to TAFE Queensland
Voting Process
You may vote once for an Adult Category artwork, and once for a Youth Category artwork.
- Click on the individual images below to view an artwork, read the artist statement, and reveal their voting link.
- To vote you must fill out the form and provide your real name and email address for confirmation.
- A confirmation email will be sent to your nominated email address to confirm your vote. You will need to click ‘confirm vote’ to validate and confirm your submission. If you do not confirm your vote through this email your vote will not be valid.
In 2020 the Queensland Regional Art Awards (QRAA) celebrates 10 years, a decade of rewarding and celebrating Queensland regional arts and the wealth of creativity and imagination thriving in the regions.
The QRAA is an annual visual arts prize and exhibition for established and emerging artists living in regional and remote Queensland. The program aims to provide a platform for further professional development. The Queensland Regional Art Awards is open to all Queensland artists living outside of the Brisbane City Council area.
Theme: Decadence
Decadence may invite notions of luxury and self-indulgence. It may evoke ideas of wanton excess or wastefulness, perhaps with a casual or deliberate disregard of consequence. Dependent on circumstance, personal definitions of decadence can shift quite suddenly.
Artists are encouraged to explore the complex notion of decadence within their own communities and households across Queensland – both in times of shortage, and in times of plenty.
Adult Category – Click on individual images to view and vote
Fraser Island
Caitlin Broderick, 2019
Artist Location: Toowoomba
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 76 x 50.5 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
Standing on cascading shores, breathing in the clean, salty air, watching the waves roll gently over the turquoise seas and golden sand. This is nature’s decadence. Fraser Island is a guilty pleasure, a place of self-indulgence, where we can embrace a lifestyle that values the outdoors and appreciate the natural wonders of our Australian landscapes. Many places in Australia have lost their natural beauty, their history, their culture, as our greed for more takes away from the land in which we live. Fraser Island remains almost untouched; rich in colour, history and nature.
Photographer: Caitlin Broderick
Redemption Series – Echidna
Deborah Mostert, 2019
Artist Location: Ipswich
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 103 x 76 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
I picked up this little female echidna after she was hit by a car and took her back to the studio to both mourn her passing and try to redeem her death. I drew and painted her over a day or so before taking her to the Queensland Museum where she will prepared as a study skin for the collection. When there is decadence in our society it seems it is so often at the expense of the natural world.
I have inverted the traditional museum cloche with it’s attendant practices of killing animals for specimens and hinted at the redemptive threads that bind all living creatures.
We no longer shoot animals for our museum collections, but we probably kill many more in wanton carelessness.
Photographer: Deborah Mostert
High Tea (Vote for this Artwork)
Second Image of Artwork
Barbara Stephenson, 2020
Artist Location: Toowoomba
Medium: Textiles
Dimensions: 25 x 50 x 52 cm
Artist Statement:
Nothing says decadent pleasure and fun quite like the timeless ritual of a high tea. We frock up elegantly and sip champagne. Time stands still and food is elevated to an art form. Centuries ago, the ingredients of tea, coffee, chocolate, sugar and spice brought by explorers and traders from distant exotic lands to pique jaded palates. Sumptuary laws ensured these luxuries remained the decadent pleasure of the rich and influential. Today they have become an addictive everyday pleasure and their increased production is detrimental to the natural habitats of rainforests, reefs.
I have wrapped and twisted strips of discarded blankets and clothing until the soft yielding fabric takes on solid dense forms. Reminiscent perhaps of a childhood dolls’ tea party. Are they food or flowers? Cake or coral? The sugary pastel colour palette is dominated by white, reflecting on the dying beauty of bleaching coral.
Another slice of cake anyone?
Photographer: Allan Lisle
Utopian Dream (Vote for this Artwork)
Second Image of Artwork
Pamela Kusabs, 2020
Artist Location: Whitfield
Medium: Acrylic on paper mache, wire
Dimensions: 100 x 8 x 6 cm
Artist Statement:
To me, decadence is a symptom of a culture out of balance. Civilisations can fall, even those with the highest ideals. Our current collective cultural viewpoints are skewed, we commodify, classify, nullify, vilify. “Utopian Dream” is a call for a softer, kinder world.
The heart shaped motifs are my interpretation of the natural decadence of colour visible to the human eye. We look and see resplendent natural phenomenons, each glittery, and showy, not mere baubles. Regardless of our gender, age, postcode, we can all experience and the savour the sight of a sunset, flowering plants, the colours of the Queensland bush and soil.
Inwardly, my motifs represent the gamut of human emotions. In the most recent times, an outpouring of generosity has taken place in communities, across our great state and nation. The motif at the mid-point, the heart centre, is open, I hope this represents our future that is to come.
Photographer: Michael Marzik
W-O-M-A-N (Vote for this Artwork)
Meaghan Shelton, 2020
Artist Location: Noosa Waters
Medium: Assemblage, found objects
Dimensions: 16 x 12 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
W-O-M-A-N
The impetus for this work is the escalation of Domestic Violence which has corresponded with government edicts for us to remain in that very sphere during COVID-19. Many people’s lives- no matter race, creed nor socio economic background, have been disrupted. Some have found themselves jettisoned from all that is familiar, lives laid bare, having to begin again.
The assemblage W-O-M-A-N was made from discarded children’s toy building blocks found during isolation. A tiny figure of a woman, features faded with wear, she is an icon in miniature. The blocks create huge architectural columns within the scale of the assemblage. A tiny red house nestles under the brand- like letter W. The polka dotted pillars that hold her up are tired, she hasn’t worn a sundress for a long time because… four children!
She seems to have just turned towards us, even without arms she takes us in hand. Her hat tilts jauntily, come along children she seems to say, let’s burn this polka dotted bridge down.
Photographer: Meaghan Shelton
Rainbow (Vote for this Artwork)
Aaron Chapman, 2019
Artist Location: Southport
Medium: Giclee print
Dimensions: 44 x 112 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
In ‘Rainbow,’ the artist indulges his own memories of an Australian childhood, evoking the taste of ice-creams on summer holidays and the sound of lorikeets. Ultimately, the diptych mourns the colourful imagination of childhood innocence. ‘Rainbow’ is from Purple is Black Blooming, an ongoing series exploring themes of home, family, memory and grief primarily through the observation of suburban environments.
Photographer: Aaron Chapman
Degeneration of our coffee culture (Vote for this Artwork)
Beatrice Prost, 2020
Artist Location: Tinbeerwah
Medium: Print on canvas
Dimensions: 90 x 60 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
Where are we going with our degenerated obsession of coffee intake? It is not enough that humans pollute the world with their take away plastic cups. Now comes the era of aluminium capsules.
As I am working toward a large installation made of thousands of recycled aluminium coffee capsules, it amazes me how easy and fast it is to gather them locally. The irresponsible coffee aficionados feel good with the so call excuse that aluminium is cheap and ubiquitous, that it can be remelted ad infinitum and that the capsules can be recycled anyhow. But are they really? Have you ever tried to separate the grind from its capsule? I dare you especially when it is old and moulded. It is a messy, expensive, energy and time consuming business. A simpler way is to stop using them.
Photographer: Beatrice Prost
Here’s Looking At You, Kid – Last Drinks
Anne-Louise Ciel, 2020
Artist Location: Eatons Hill
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 76 x 76 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
“Here’s looking at you, kid”, Humphrey Bogart says to Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca, as he bids her farewell.
Likewise, we are looking on as the last fragile habitat of the Black Throated Finch is wantonly destroyed in the name of short term gain by a few. What can be more decadent in a time of ecological crisis, than to frivolously erase a Queensland treasure, to squander our precious pristine environment, only to pointlessly extend a dying industry.
A circular composition, we are first caught by her eyes, travel along wayward hair to a small stand of trees symbolising the Finches’ remaining shelter. Dropping, we discover this plucky little bird perched ever-so-lightly with us, then her scarf swings the return. Her expression is split: the right side a sweet smile of joy in the moment; the left side full of grim awareness of its brevity.
Photographer: Anne-Louise Ciel
Pandora
Ange Venardos, 2020
Artist Location: Bribie Island
Medium: Watercolour
Dimensions: 110 x 100 x 10 cm
Artist Statement:
Where is the line between luxury and greed?
In Greek Mythology, Pandora let her curiosity get the better of her and opened ‘the box’. Her choice unleashed many evils into our world and triggered complicated problems. My painting tells the story of where Decadence begins – that point where we choose to plunge into an existence beyond what we need to live comfortably day by day.
It is a reminder that everything is linked. Our choices and actions may seem inconsequential, but affect the world in ways we might not even imagine.
Photographer: Ange Venardos
Chocolate Cake (Vote for this Artwork)
Alana Read, 2020
Artist Location: Cawarral
Medium: Watercolour on Paper
Dimensions: 23 x 30 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Chocolate by nature is decadently rich, sensuous, luxurious and sinful.
Where there is sin, there is guilt and pleasure.
‘Chocolate Cake’ takes us on a journey beginning with a spiral path which leads us downward into the dark, delicious central depths of our wanton being.
Taking a bite means succumbing to our need for satisfaction and rewards us with a state of contented, indulgent bliss.
Experimentation with luscious pearlescent gold and blue metallic watercolour paints to highlight some areas, added an extra sparkle of luxury to this painting.
I took almost as much pleasure in painting this piece as I do eating chocolate cake, which is my personal choice of self-indulgence when life gets too much.
Photographer: Alana Read
Squander! (Vote for this Artwork)
Gregory Wuth, 2020
Artist Location: Buderim
Medium: Acrylic on board
Dimensions: 40 x 40 x 2.5 cm
Artist Statement:
The replacement of anticipation, striving and achievement with immediacy, instant gratification and wasteful abandonment is indicated by the loss of belonging to a group in the face of acquiring belongings. The disregard for others is evident in the swirling temptations of the new gain, the grabbed power and the chiming clamber of risk as the brief clasp on the replaceable is held in higher esteem than the priceless moments of authenticity and sharing. The text, in Gothic hand, emphasises the fate of self-interest as the yearning figure (near shameless subjectivity) is so engrossed in the darkness of what may be it is unaware of its entombment in the pitiless decadence. The use of metallics, pearl essence and warm enticing hues is attributable to the distraction of bling in an environment that apparently honours celebrity over substance, want over need and individual greed over the common good.
Photographer: Gregory Wuth
Paradise Lost (Vote for this Artwork)
Amanda Dickson, 2020
Artist Location: Maroochy River
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 76 x 101 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
The word ‘decadence’ probably won’t be associated with 2020; however, having escaped illness, unemployment and homelessness, my family’s life could be considered decadent by those who have been touched by tragedy. The biggest loss we suffered was the cancellation of our annual family holiday camping on Masthead Island. Nothing devastating, but to us this holiday is everything – it binds our souls as a family. Two weeks of snorkelling, living on the beach, in touch with tide and moon cycles. No housework, homework, cars, internet; no care for the world… cancelled due to lockdown. We grieved and felt guilty for grieving as we watched the horror unfold overseas. We understood how lucky we were, which made our grief seem petty. It seemed decadent to mourn our island holiday, making it the perfect subject matter for my work.
Photographer: Amanda Dickson
CONSTRUCTED LANDSCAPE (Vote for this Artwork)
Karen Stephens, 2020
Artist Location: Winton
Medium: Acrylic on handmade paper
Dimensions: 27 x 33 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
I confess, I?m a painter with a decadent, greedy eye. I’ll often examine my conscience when experiencing landscape because of my wild delirious hunt for more. These rituals that are a constant revision and focused looking at familiar subjects for painting take place within a reduced zone surrounding Winton in far remote Queensland and I am inspired by the landscapes and still life paintings of late Italian painter Giorgio Morandi.
Morandi was an outsider and artistic innovator whose subject matter was reduced to the 47km between Fondazza, Bologna and Grizzana – and this small triangular zone became his whole world. Like Morandi, I treasure solitude and my time exploring these regions. I search for new possibilities and discovery from limited or overlooked subject matter.
‘Constructed Landscape’ is a treasured memory of the setting sun illuminating the landscape at 5.46pm on the Opalton turn off road. Easy to miss. Hard to forget.
Photographer: FAUN PHOTOGRAPHY FAUN PHOTOGRAPHY
The Bower Bird Collection (Vote for this Artwork)
Carmen Beezley-Drake, 2020
Artist Location: Rockhampton
Medium: Acrylic, collage and found objects on canvas
Dimensions: 62 x 62 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
Looking for inspiration outside the human experience to portray the theme Decadence, I felt the Bower bird fitted into this niche. It’s ritual display and excessive arrangement of collected objects during the mating season speaks to me of decadence.
The Bower bird is renowned for his decorated courtship ‘bower,’ an elaborate arrangement of found objects, highly decorated with objects scavenged from near and far. This eclectic display is entirely for the purpose of winning a female’s acceptance, and so these found objects become meaningful to the male Bower bird because of the purpose they serve.
The Spotted Bower bird Chlamydera maculate, collects mostly white, shiny objects. Shells, bones, glass, silver items are found in these elaborate bowers. The female sits waiting to make her judgement on his labour intensive and decadent offering. One could say both the female and the male Bower bird indulge in decadence with their courtship rituals.
Photographer: Carmen Beezley-Drake
Decadence and Decay
Tracey Lloyd, 2020
Artist Location: Deception Bay
Medium: Digital Print
Dimensions: 59 x 84 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Tracey Lloyd is a digital artist and historic fiction writer living in Deception Bay. Her work is based on manipulation of photographs taken by her, normally during research trips for her historic fiction.
Decadence and Decay explores the meaning of architecture to humanity. Decadence and Decay asks the viewer to consider the relationship between our selves and the buildings that surround us. Through the positioning of a woman in a bridal gown in front of a red brick archway in the grounds of the former 19th Century lunatic asylum at Callan Park, Sydney, the artwork explores how areas formerly known for cruel treatment of vulnerable people are now used for celebrations of humanity, such as weddings.
Photographer: Tracey Lloyd
Our Cup Runneth Over (Vote for this Artwork)
Paul de Zubicaray, 2020
Artist Location: Albany Creek
Medium: Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas
Dimensions: 60 x 30 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
To me, decadence stirs up thoughts of personal indulgence, luxury, abundance. It can also be defined as a moral or cultural decline.
When I considered this topic I immediately thought of the waste and thoughtlessness associated with decadence. What natural resources did we once take for granted? The choice was simple. Water. The image of a running tap to me represents extravagance that can no longer be afforded when 67% of remote and regional Queensland is drought affected. Total decadence and indulgence and deliberate disregard of consequences. My aim was to paint an image that would provoke thought and emotion in this regard, therefore the brass tap with a gold façade.
Photographer: Paul de Zubicaray
Daydreaming of lotuses
Ming How Chan, 2020
Artist Location: Rockhampton
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 70 x 95 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
Coming from an academic tradition of oil painting from life, my current practice focuses on moments of silence that people experience. The moment you begin to drift into a daydream and reality begins to dissolve.
These moments feel harder to come by in our day and age, and taking time for oneself to just sit and be, becomes something indulgent and decadent, almost selfish.
The idea to take a bath long enough to daydream is a luxury many take for granted and many hardly consider.
Photographer: Ming How Chan
straightjacket snakeskin (Vote for this Artwork)
Danish Quapoor, 2020
Artist Location: Townsville
Medium: Acrylic and paint pen on primed, stretched paper
Dimensions: 40.5 x 50.5 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
straightjacket snakeskin’ references personal and observed experiences to explore the perception of non-heteronormativity as a self-indulgent choice. The subject sheds clothes and skin – his death a punishment for, and presentation of, perceived moral decadence. The inner skeleton sits erect inside of a naked man – a sexualised enactment of ‘coming out’ and shedding the mask of heterosexuality. The skeleton appears willing to kill the man to live deliciously – a parody of the view that queer people may as well be committing violent crimes.
The skeleton’s naked human jacket also references the potency and hypocrisy of ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes.’ The class divides and perils of capitalism highlighted by COVID-19 parallel the fictional emperor buying luxurious clothes at the expense of his people. The work also suggests shedding the hypocrisy of seeing decadence in others’ behaviours and possessions, but not admitting or seeing our own luxuries.
Photographer: Danish Quapoor
Mango Bounty (Vote for this Artwork)
Marina Hooper, 2020
Artist Location: Yungaburra
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 101 x 77 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
The tropical Atherton Tablelands is a vast wondrous food bowl, spread over hundreds of square kilometres. A myriad of tropical fruits, vegetable, nuts, swamp the markets. Then there are Mangos. They call it the mango madness season, when a bite into the scrumptious mango overwhelm the senses with an abundance of sweet juicy deliciousness which runs off the face and fingers. Millions of mangos fill our larders, fridges, preserves and ourselves. Millions of mangos, bananas and other fruit fly around the world to countries that can afford to buy them. Unfortunately many countries don’t have the money and many tonnes of mangoes are deemed imperfect and can’t even be given away by growers and shamefully, decadently go to land fill and compost. Yes, that waste is decadent. There has to be another way to share this abundance.
Photographer: Marina Hooper
societatem ab intus putrescit (Vote for this Artwork)
Cara-Ann Simpson, 2020
Artist Location: Toogoom
Medium: Pigment print on Ilford gold fibre gloss rag
Dimensions: 76 x 76 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
societatem ab intus putrescit (society rots from the inside) is from Furari Flores (Stealing Flowers) – a series of vanitas artworks exploring ephemerality and societal decay.
This series acts as a nexus between commentary on personal challenges and an outward interpretation of global news. They are an ironic reminder of the innate beauty found simultaneously in decadence and decay.
A nod to the Victorian symbol of jealousy and momento mori post-mortem photography, ?societatem ab intus putrescit? reflects our society and the inherent decadence and selfishness of individual acts leading to rot and decay. I am not innocent, and have often chosen the convenient, accessible or affordable option, rather than review my daily choices to reflect my ethical beliefs.
This work also symbolises my health – that visually I often appear vibrant, while my inner workings continue to degenerate as my neurological illness wreaks unseen havoc. My work often incorporates spectrographs (visual analysis of soundwaves), and this one is found sparkling in the lower petals – imperfectly perfect.
Photographer: Cara-Ann Simpson
The Blue Lion Spectacle (Vote for this Artwork)
Anitha Menon, 2020
Artist Location: Rockhampton
Medium: Oil and paper on canvas
Dimensions: 100 x 75 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
Even the placid complacency of a regional home is not beyond the enchanting avatars of a make-believe world of consumerism. The scramble over some rare Lion King Ooshies like Blue Mufasa and Orange Simba last year had its ripple effect in Queensland too. Today, the market is king and consumer its slave. Too many offers, options and many dreams to sell – these aspects have led to market dominance on daily lives to the extent that consumer entitlement, judgement and wastage have become commonplace and a way of life in societies, big or small.
Decadence is chaos of thoughts and actions in a market-driven world… a state of trance, pleasure and carelessness…. decay starting from the roots…over influence of social media… a lack of care for the environment. It happens gradually… merging the virtual and customised world with the real, for kids and adults alike, and the King watches on.
Photographer: Anitha Menon
Decadence Ruins (Vote for this Artwork)
Chelle McIntyre, 2020
Artist Location: Toowoomba
Medium: Disgarded plywood and oak veneer assemblage with wax
Dimensions: 70 x 80 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
Humans maintain a rage against nature through demand and desire, a hungry appetite fed by the machine that rumbles on, making money out of making stuff. Environment is under pressure yet we persevere in the pursuit for more, forsaking the natural world for industrial progress and material prosperity. As a horticulturalist, I have been moved by changes in our weather systems and the on-going disrespect for trees, our aquifers and their contribution to planet. 2019 was another dry time in my region, without rain old established trees were dying and the hottest season ended in the new year’s summer of fires across the country. Nature and forests are my true decadence, an escape from a hectic, manufactured world to another where the wealth of life and growth perhaps may soon be rare and then finally appreciated. This memory of trees was salvaged from processed, discarded wood.
Photographer: Don Hildred
Branch Creek Chinchilla
Helen Dennis, 2020
Artist Location: Chinchilla
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 100 x 100 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
Mother Nature’s self-indulgence and paradoxical frugality can be found throughout the Natural World that surrounds us. One season may be abundant, the next woefully lacking, subject to her whimsy.
When she chooses to be indulgent her decadence is shown in the abundant blooming of the land, the filling of the waterways and the returning of joy to all its inhabitant. When she chooses to be frugal, her decadence shows in a callous disregard for the land with cataclysmic consequences for all.
Subsequently, life for rural communities is one which swings between periods of plenty to one of austerity.
As an artist I am drawn to the decadence of Mother Nature… the patterning upon the land, within the trees and grasses, the reflections on water, the relationship between sky and ground, the negative spaces between natural objects and much more. ‘Branch Creek’ is one such place that intrigues me…
Photographer: Helen Dennis
Decadence of Man (Vote for this Artwork)
Beverley Teske, 2020
Artist Location: Alexandra Hills
Medium: Mixed Media on Canvas – Acrylic inks, paint and hand printed papers
Dimensions: 60.5 x 76.5 x 5.5 cm
Artist Statement:
Toondah Harbour is a unique internationally recognised wetland, under threat from the “Decadence of Man.”
This development will reclaim 40+ hectares of foreshore and waterways with half a million cubic metres of sea bed and wetlands to be dredged. Protected habitat supporting many birds, turtles, dugongs and other marine life, will be lost forever.
Home for part of the year, migratory birds instinctively follow their innate flight path of approximately 25,000km. Flying over oceans to China and Alaska, and then returning to Toondah Harbour.
Imagine flying non-stop for 10 days, only to arrive at your feeding grounds, to find them destroyed.
My Klimt-inspired ‘towers of gold,’ created with hand printed papers, represent the apartment buildings that are proposed to be constructed in this protected area of Redland City.
What price must our environment pay for the Decadence of Man?
Photographer: Beverley Teske
Snappy Gums in the Pilbara (Vote for this Artwork)
Nonie Metzler, 2019
Artist Location: Gympie
Medium: relief print
Dimensions: 22.5 x 30 x 0.1 cm
Artist Statement:
Definitions of ‘decadence’ include *’falling into decay’ or, almost diametrically opposed, ‘luxuriously self-indulgent’. When travelling through Karijini National Park in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia I was struck by the dramatic profusion of white gums against the red, stony landscape. On closer observation many limbs of the trees were starkly black – as they decayed and dropped off. Hence the name – ‘Snappy Gums’. The glowing white with a deep black was striking and reflected a ‘decadent’ contrast.
* Reference: Macquarie Concise Dictionary
Photographer: Nonie Metzler
Hurry Cup! (Vote for this Artwork)
Second Image of Artwork
Lucie Verhelst, 2020
Artist Location: Yugar
Medium: Textiles, thread, ribbon, beads and glue.
Dimensions: 29 x 17 x 19 cm
Artist Statement:
Coffee culture initially symbolised upper-class luxury, to later inspire the Penny Universities, forerunners of social hubs or cafes we recognise today. Testimony to societal transitions, in this increasingly fast-paced lifestyle, coffee has become a motivator that launches the day, creates time for a breather, a routine, or even a ritualistic addiction mostly recognised in absentia.
Enter the disposable cup, that caters for instant gratification and portable comfort. An appropriate motif for society’s skewed prioritisations, with ethics teetering and environmental concerns piling up. The awareness of its major contribution to landfill is common knowledge, and has converted many conscious drinkers to reusable solutions. However, due to the development of COVID-19 this progress has quickly slipped backwards.
Creature comforts are crucial to maintaining a sense of normality but what is the tipping point between necessity and decadence that costs more than it gives?
Photographer: Jon Linkins
ABUNDANCE
Second Image of Artwork
Christine Holden, 2020
Artist Location: Boyne Island
Medium: Marine Debris and plastics
Dimensions: 10 x 41 x 28 cm
Artist Statement:
I reside on the central east coast of Queensland where seafood is plentiful, but is still regarded as a very decadent food choice which is only available to some. Ordering a seafood platter with oysters, prawns, scallops and crab claws is available in local restaurants, but remains something that many locals only dream about or savour for those special occasions. It is regarded as a decadent choice so it was the first thing I thought of when considering this year’s theme and the region I live in. The use of marine debris such as plastics, netting and fishing line highlights something else that is also sadly in abundance. We are lucky to have fresh wild caught seafood on our doorstep, but how decadent of us to threaten this resource by continuing to produce single use plastics…food for thought.
Photographer: Christine Holden
Rise (Vote for this Artwork)
Second Image of Artwork
Amber Countryman, 2020
Artist Location: Rockhampton
Medium: Fine black leather, cast sterling silver.
Dimensions: 4 x 26 x 23 cm
Artist Statement:
In this artwork I am acknowledging the situations I have let myself fall into simply by not standing my ground. I have formed a habit of keeping others happy, disregarding my own wellbeing and begging for approval. While I continue to build strength and know myself better, I am aware that habits are hard to break and I need to firm up personal boundaries. My solution is this stylish knee attire, using the fear of physical self-harm to prevent the inevitable emotional self-harm, made with these lavish materials to remind myself that I am worth it, that I am not here to play the submissive role any longer, I deserve better.
Photographer: Amber Countryman
An abundance of water (Vote for this Artwork)
View Video Artwork
Elisha Habermann, 2020
Artist Location: Gracemere
Medium: Digital photograph and audio
Dimensions: Variable
Artist Statement:
Droplets of gold. Sunlight glistening through a steady spray of water as the sun slowly sinks in the west. It is the dry season; the grass is dying. But we have an abundance of water, so every second afternoon, I turn on the sprinkler and water the lawn. It feels quite decadent in a state that is experiencing drought across 67.4% of its land area.
I have been exploring still photography enhanced by sound of late. It intrigues me. There is something a little odd about hearing motion but seeing non. I choose to photograph my subject matter with a grainy film filter. I like the texture and the noise. I am not interested in technical perfection, I am interested in composition, shape, texture and contrast. With this specific work, I moved in close, to the point of abstraction, with the focus on the water droplets glistening in the sun.
Photographer: Elisha Habermann
Content (Vote for this Artwork)
Second Image of Artwork
Nora Hanasy, 2020
Artist Location: Zilzie
Medium: Found Object Assemblage
Dimensions: 30 x 22 x 22 cm
Artist Statement:
“My crown is called content, a crown that seldom Kings enjoy” – Shakespeare.
A crown represents royalty, glory, immortality. It can wield so much power and command so much respect. A symbol of wealth made from the finest of metals and jewels. The more one has the more one wants and anyone not wearing one is insignificant. A slave to the system. My crown is made from street sweeper bristles and rusty bottle caps. It may not be shiny or studded with gemstones, but I believe the greatest wealth one can achieve is contentment. When you are content you have enough, you are thankful for what you have. Contentment is the greatest and most secure of riches. Decadence, excessive indulgence in luxury results in never ending comparison and status which in turn becomes the moral and cultural downfall of societies.
Photographer: Nora Hanasy
Black Tree Caligraphy I
Rose Rigley, 2020
Artist Location: Whitfield
Medium: Mixed media (monoprint, ink, ink wash, hand stitching, machine stitching, glue) on board
Dimensions: 105 x 76 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
When considering the theme DECADENCE, I couldn’t navigate past the idea of self-indulgence and for me, (like many), that involves the luxury of time. Time allows an artwork to evolve, with no specific purpose other than the sheer joy of conceptualizing, discovering, and finally creating. Such a creation is enabled with methods that are often repetitive and occasionally tedious but permits the artist the luxury of pondering thoughts and long-drawn-out pauses.
In “Black Tree Calligraphy I”, the blackened husks of the tree bodies become memory’s text, creating their own language above the printed, drawn and stitched surrounds. By placing the tree ‘words’ over this landscape, I could consider the space in between. It is this place – where shadows form, where silent pauses rest and where memories linger – that I am seeking to understand.
In today’s busy-ness, what an extravagance to be able to do so!
Photographer: Michael Marzik
Mottlecah, Eucalyptus macrocarpa study
Jenny Gilbertson, 2020
Artist Location: Bundaberg
Medium: Pencil on paper
Dimensions: 19 x 93.5 x 6 cm
Artist Statement:
In-your-face opulence; a visual stunner! That’s how I remember my first encounter with Eucalyptus macrocarpa, or Mottlecah. Innumerable encounters later this tough, ungainly beauty still stops me in my tracks. If I could grow it in my garden I would. Geometric spirals of tightly packed blue grey leaves spread in patches along dark spindly branches, winding towards the sky and trailing downwards. Soft white velvet fur on each new leaf contrasts with a smooth sharpness as they age. And the flowers; the shear size of them is astounding! They burst from their enormous gumnut cocoons as vibrant flashes of red, tipped with yellow pollen. Luscious. This indulgent display in a harsh, dry landscape seems to sing of absolute joy in being: a show of decadence even when things are tough.
Photographer: Jenny Gilbertson
They ate all the flowers (Vote for this Artwork)
Veronika Zeil, 2020
Artist Location: Rockhampton
Medium: photograph on aluminium
Dimensions: 90 x 90 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
“They ate all the flowers” hints at longing for beauty and pleasure, but also portrays self-indulgence at the expense of nature.
Red Lips and flowers -age old symbols for beauty and passion are juxtaposed in a collage of neon-coloured papers, hand-painted perfect lips and teeth and filled to the brink with native flora from the Queensland bush. Faceless mouths emphasize insatiable hunger and decadent perfection. We savour short-lived gratification, act on desires and indulge with little empathy for other living beings.
The tragic consequence of such indulgence is that it does not sustain passion, and whole ecosystems are decimated for our short-term gain. Our longing for more each day – how much longer can that be sustained?
We may live in a land of plenty but times of distress over natural disasters such as bushfires, floods or drought, bring home notions of what life looks like in times of shortage.
Photographer: Veronika Zeil
Two Boys and Two Devils – a traditional Yangkaal story from Forsyth Island (Vote for this Artwork)
John Williams, 2020
Artist Location: Gununa, Mornington Island
Medium: Acrlic on Belgian linen
Dimensions: 102 x 102 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
This Traditional story tells about how greediness and disrespect always come back to bite you on the bum. This is a cautionary tale and is also one of the important dances and songs of the Lardil people here on Mornington Island.
Two Boys and Two Devils – a traditional Yangkaal story from Forsyth Island
A long time ago on Gurraben Reef off Forsyth Island, two little boys were making a fire with firesticks. Up above, two malgarn (devil-birds) were singing out, “Wii!”
The two boys heard them and mocked them, singing out, “Wii!”
The two malgarn again sang out, “Wii!”
And the two boys again copied them – “Wii!”
Then the malgarn sang out louder, “Wii!”
And the two boys again copied them – “Wii!”
And again, the malgarn sang out even louder, “Wii!”
And again, the two boys copied them, singing out even louder, “Wii!”
The malgarn jumped down and grabbed those two boys and wrapped them up in a net. They dragged the net south onto a sandbank. One malgarn said, “Come over here, let the two boys lay down there in the net. You and I can go to the point and make some firesticks.”They left the boys tied up in the net near the ocean in the south-west and went to the north-east to try and make a fire to cook them.
The malgarn rubbed their firesticks, jila, jila, jila, jila! They started to get fire. They rubbed again, but the fire wouldn’t start. Maltha (nothing). Meanwhile, the two boys were still on the sandbank, struggling to escape from the net.
“Have you got anything like a knife or tomahawk to cut this net?” asked one boy. “No,” replied the other boy, “but look! I’ve got a bottle here beside me!” “Well, that’s alright,” said the first boy, “Go on, cut it with the bottle!” So, he tore and cut at the net until he made his way out.
The first boy was still inside, looking to see how far away the malgarn are. He was worried they would see them escape. The other boy reassured him, “They’re far away, far off to the east.”
“You go out first, then I’ll come out after you.” The first boy came out then and together they rolled down the sandbank. Rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, right into the saltwater. They swam and they swam, all the way west back to Forsyth Island. The two malgarn were still trying to make fire.
“Right,” said one, “Go and get them now. We’ll eat while it’s still light.” The other malgarn went and looked. He called out “Hey, there’s nothing here! No boys! They’ve gone!” “Get them!” said the first malgarn, “Don’t hide them! I won’t give you any. Get my food!” “They’re not here,” said the other one, “Look, there’s nothing!”
“Get them! Don’t hide that food of mine. I want to eat them. Don’t hide them for no reason!” “They’re not here! You look for them!” The first, malgarn started heading to the north-east, ready for a fight. He picked up the net and looked in every corner. The two boys were really gone.
Of course, the two malgarn blamed each other for losing the boys. And then of course they started fighting. They fought each other all over the place – in the west and north and south and east. While they were fighting shooting stars fell down into the ocean. Well, when they finally had enough of fighting, the two malgarn thought that maybe they should try looking for the boys.
“Come on, you go to the north side and I’ll go to the south side.” While they were looking, they sang a song in Yangkaal. “Danda gurra, danda gurra, danda gurra, danda gurra, danda gurra, danda gurra, danda gurra. Danda warrirr!”
After a while two malgarn still hadn’t found any sign of the two boys. They took off and flew over Robert Island and back to Forsyth Island in search of the boys. They landed on a sandbank at Marragadba, wandered around to the west and did durlda (shit) there. The people saw those malgarn in the west and quickly sent the boys to the east side. But then the malgarn went east too. “Here they are on the east side, wandering around. Hide the children, those boys. Hide them all!”
They did their best to hide the children, but the malgarn must have heard them, because next thing they flew over and landed right there in the middle of the people’s camp. The malgarn asked the people, “Are our good ones here? The ones who ran here a little while ago?” “We don’t have anyone,” the people replied. “Don’t hide them! Don’t hide them! yelled the malgarn. “Get my devil’s children! Get my children!”
The people were worried, so they bring out one little child to offer to the malgarn. “This is the one, right? This one?” “No, that one’s bad, he has a big stomach. That one’s yours, he’s bad.”
They brought out another child. “Is it this one?” “That one’s bad too. He’s bad, with a skinny body.”
They brought out two more children. “How about these two?” “No, those are your bad ones, leave them. Those are bad, they’ve got skinny bodies.”
They brought out two more children. “How about these two?” “No, those are your bad ones, leave them. Those are bad, they’ve got skinny bodies.” The malgarn explained exactly what they were looking for. Eventually the people were forced to bring out the two boys who had escaped from the devils’ net. “How about these two people?”
“Yes, those are ours,” the malgarn said. “Bring them up!” Well, the people weren’t so silly as to give their boys away that easily. “Righto!” said one of the men, “Before you take these boys, go over there and shake-a-leg.” The malgarn started to shake-a-leg, because by now they were ready to do anything to be able to eat those two delicious boys. But the people continued with their plan …
“Go on, put your legs wider apart,” they said. “Open your legs.” The two malgarn opened their legs wider still, and the men all speared them. The malgarn were writhing in pain. And then they flew straight up into the sky with the white spears sticking out behind them. And they kept on going up until they disappeared out of sight.
Photographer: MIART Mornington Island Art
Black Tree Caligraphy II (Vote for this Artwork)
Second Image of Artwork
Rose Rigley, 2020
Artist Location: Whitfield
Medium: Mixed media (monoprint, acrylic paint, hand stitching, machine stitching, glue) on board
Dimensions: 110 x 86 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
When considering the theme DECADENCE, I couldn’t navigate past the idea of self-indulgence and for me, (like many), that involves the luxury of time. Time allows an artwork to evolve, with no specific purpose other than the sheer joy of conceptualizing, discovering, and finally creating. Such a creation is enabled with methods that are often repetitive and occasionally tedious but permits the artist the luxury of pondering thoughts and long-drawn-out pauses.
In “Black Tree Calligraphy II”, the blackened husks of the tree bodies become memory’s text, creating their own language above the decadent orange and matt black surrounds. By placing the tree ‘words’ over this landscape, I could consider the space in between. It is this place – where shadows form, where silent pauses rest and where memories linger – that I am seeking to understand.
In today’s busy-ness, what an extravagance to be able to do so!
Photographer: Michael Marzik
Two Pair too Many (Vote for this Artwork)
Joolie Gibbs, 2020
Artist Location: Gympie
Medium: Handmade inks (bunya, Indonesian spinach, lichen) on paper
Dimensions: 32.5 x 64.5 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
At 18 I had two pairs of shoes – thongs and sandshoes. Now I have over 40! I am reflecting on these two pairs, one made in India, the other in Thailand before I toss them out. My purchase of these shoes has added to the $250 billion footwear industry. An industry responsible for one-fifth of the environmental impacts generated by the apparel industry. The debate of who has the larger footprint (pun intended), leather or viscose or plastic, as they all lead to deforestation in critical systems, not to mention the labour violations in a not too transparent industry. Do we question where they come from or how they were produced? My decadence has caught me out. Yes, I definitely have more than two pairs of shoes too many.
Photographer: Joolie Gibbs
Decadence (Vote for this Artwork)
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Jane du Rand, 2020
Artist Location: Ipswich
Medium: Glazed ceramic sculpture with oxides and gold lustre
Dimensions: 8 x 36 x 41 cm
Artist Statement:
Three dead charred rainbow lorikeets are arranged on a decorative platter, as left overs from a feast.
The word decadence makes me think of excessive indulgence, I imagine a banquet with waste and uneaten food.
Recently the images that have been stuck in my head have been some photographs I saw taken on the beach at Mallacoota after the summer bushfires, of the charred remains of birds caught in the fires with bits of coloured plumage in amongst the black ashes. I have also been coming across a number of dead lorikeets while out bush walking, and have collected these and photographed them.
These images make me think of the decadent way we treat our environment. How we, as humans don?t care, how we waste, not only resources, but also the lives of the creatures that share our planet, and how we do this for our pleasure.
Photographer: Eve Caillon
Headlands Country (Vote for this Artwork)
Chloe Wigg, 2019
Artist Location: Rochedale South
Medium: Acrylic on board
Dimensions: 40 x 90 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
What does decadence mean to me? Revelling in something pleasurable that cannot be the everyday. For me that’s technology free time with my family, soaking in the sun, toes deep in the sand. COVID-19 changed the innocence of this desire. The simple decadence of going to the beach became a rebellious act disregarding all consequence. The pleasurable indulgence of beach, sand and sun was suddenly denied to all but the careless. This denial increased 10-fold the decadence of the location when it could one again be indulged in safely.
This work was created with my fluid impressionism technique, using viscosity and gravity, rather than brushes to create representational landscapes.
Photographer: Chloe Wigg
The Opulent Lady (Vote for this Artwork)
Susan Ball, 2020
Artist Location: Point Arkwright
Medium: Acrylic on framed canvas
Dimensions: 45.8 x 45.8 x 6 cm
Artist Statement:
The Opulent Lady,’ is oblivious to the impending danger of bushfires and the tidal wave about to spoil her decadent high tea at Peregian Beach at the Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
The notion of luxury and self-indulgence is depicted in the painting by ‘The Opulent Lady’ being adorned in a beautiful dress and sunhat with an abundance of food, all of which will be sadly wasted ? a wanton excess!
However, had ‘The Opulent Lady?’ been more aware she would not have proceeded with her whimsical high tea putting others at risk to save her.
Now, more than ever, during these COVID-19 times, it is important for ‘The Opulent Lady’ and others to be mindful of their actions and to consider those around them more and act less selfishly.
It is a time of true awakening.
Photographer: Susan Ball
Sunset Over Purga (Vote for this Artwork)
Grant Quinn, 2020
Artist Location: Bundamba
Medium: Digital photograph
Dimensions: 30 x 30 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Louis Armstrong once sang “What A Wonderful World”.
We live in a world full of hope, but over time, society has taken our world for granted. A world of decadent greed, a world that seems to spend to much time pointing the finger of blame, instead of working towards positive solutions. Topics such as climate change, emissions and waste being top on the agenda, but we need to step up, together, and make this world a better place, not just for us now, but for the generations to come. If we all make a change, we can continue to see our world at the end of each day, as it should be, one beautiful sunset after another.
Photographer: Grant Quinn
Backyard King With Bling (Vote for this Artwork)
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Rosemary Anderson, 2020
Artist Location: Tannum Sands
Medium: Found Metal, Op Shop Jewellery
Dimensions: 50 x 23 x 50 cm
Artist Statement:
The Brush Turkey who lives in our backyard builds a very impressive nest each year by scraping all our garden mulch. He is very attractive to the ladies but with added “bling” he becomes even more decadent.
Photographer: Rosemary Anderson
From the Glen (Vote for this Artwork)
Toni Rogers, 2020
Artist Location: Kuranda
Medium: Textile
Dimensions: 90 x 90 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
This decadent cloak has been made using Elliottdale carpet wool. Elliottdale sheep have been the mainstay of the carpet industry in Australia for many decades. Today with the collapse of carpet manufacturing, flock numbers have decreased considerably and only approximately 300 ewes were recently recorded throughout Australia. This raw fleece came from the property ‘Fairy Glen,’ Collinsvale, Tasmania.
The physical richness of the environment provides the raw materials and the inspiration for my artwork. I have developed a hybrid blend of the traditional and the contemporary to define my signature style. I am passionate about natural fibre and the hand woven.
I marry sustainability and design with a low key pallet and a light-hearted approach.
I love the playfulness of working with different materials and my blend of cultures has provided me with a large design vocabulary.
Photographer: Toni Rogers
A decadent moment (Vote for this Artwork)
Sue Shakeshaft, 2020
Artist Location: Logan
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 30 x 40 x 1.5 cm
Artist Statement:
I chose to create my interpretation of decadence using a combination of colours and energetic explosive mark making, which convey overindulgence and exuberance in an abstract and expressive way. I am influenced by the works of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. To me the process of flicking and throwing down splatters of thick paint over layers of wet paint created an overwhelming feeling of having a decedent self-indulgent moment.
Photographer: Sue Shakeshaft
INDULGENCE (Vote for this Artwork)
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Paula Bowie, 2020
Artist Location: Coolum Beach
Medium: Ceramic
Dimensions: 37 x 50 x 40 cm
Artist Statement:
Like a tranquil still life, this installation of ceramics vessels holds space beautifully.
Candle holders,fruit bowl and wine decanter are a reminder of times of decadence and and celebration….sensual and luxurious. Keep looking and you can imagine draping grapes,a splash of red wine, dim candle light and laughter.
These vessels are wheel thrown with white stoneware clay, mid fired , then finished indulgently with a touch of gold.
Photographer: Paula Bowie
‘Down Down’: Are Good Things Happening (Vote for this Artwork)
Sandra Ross, 2020
Artist Location: Gympie
Medium: Mixed Media
Dimensions: 83 x 59 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
Over 25,000 products sit on the shelves of Coles stores every day waiting for us to choose and purchase. This astonishing realisation motivated me to draw attention to the incredible excess and indulgence humans display in something considered a necessity.
Drawing upon reoccurring themes of mountainous forms in my artwork, I have used ink and watercolour on paper to paint an organic form sitting in a nest-like tangle of dead clear-felled forest. One almost lifeless tree clings precariously to the edge as a metaphor for the destruction of our environment in order to satisfy greedy desires.
Upon closer view it becomes surprising to find tiny subtle text following the contours of the organic form. Written are the names of a mere 5% of the products, further emphasising how decadent our options have become in the choices of flavour, type, colour, size and brand.
Are good things happening…
Photographer: Jazmyn Bowman
Your Reflection (Vote for this Artwork)
Karena, Siu Nga Ip, 2019
Artist Location: Cairns
Medium: Watercolour on canvas
Dimensions: 60 x 76 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
The Artist presents “Your Reflection” with Australian proud – World Natural Heritage Area, the Great Barrier Reef as the background.
Finger corals of the same tone represent thousands of tourists, while expressing how human desire dominates this place, dominates the fate of the innocent future generation in their own hands.
The Artist has begun to explore the Great Barrier Reef since 2012 and witnessed the decadence in our eco-system and the changes of the underwater-environment of the reef. Hoping to awaken the empathy among ourselves. We have destroyed the habitats of one species after another because of our living style and needs. Forgotten mankind is just one of the passers-by on the Earth, not its owner.
The Artist has drawn her inspiration from one of her Dive at Norman Reef (approx.70-80km from Cairns), the Great Barrier Reef.
Photographer: Karena, Siu Nga Ip
Lavish Attachment (Vote for this Artwork)
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Kate Roberts, 2020
Artist Location: Ipswich
Medium: Copper, silver and crystals
Dimensions: 5 x 15 x 13 cm
Artist Statement:
Decadence can be 2-edged sword! We as the average person strive to have a little decadence in our lives, to savour and enjoy on special occasions. Yet if allowed to dwell in the in indulgent decadence as apart of our everyday lives, it brings our world and the wider society to questionable decisions that can bring about certain ruin. This dwelling in decadence has lead to recent turmoil in local leadership and the fallout continues to affect the average person who still just wants a small experience of a little decadence. This piece is designed for just that, within a humble earthy background of copper there sits a Lavish Attachment of a silver and sparkling stone brooch, which can be detached and worn.
Photographer: Kate Roberts
Lantana Hills no. 1 (Vote for this Artwork)
Jenny Neubecker, 2020
Artist Location: Waterloo
Medium: Pastel, graphite and collage on canvas
Dimensions: 95 x 62 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Queensland’s relentless, hot, dry summers strip the life out of the landscape. Soft pastures and rolling hills wisely surrender to the harsh conditions of summer. For month after month the bleached landscape waits patiently and uncomfortably for that first summer rain.
When it finally comes grasses, that seem to be barely clinging to life, burst vigorously into new growth and the landscape erupts into masses of vivid greens. Soon after, other plant species emerge prolifically to join the grasses and the landscape is brushed with swathes of the rich, decadent purples and mauves of creeping lantana. Every living thing seems to rush frantically to grow, flower and seed then bask in some short-lived decadence knowing, and waiting for, the cycle of dry and wet that will inevitably follow.
Photographer: Jenny Neubecker
Distancing from proficiency (Vote for this Artwork)
Ilona Demecs, 2020
Artist Location: Imbil
Medium: Hand woven tapestry
Dimensions: 80 x 60 x 0.5 cm
Artist Statement:
The first land care practices such as cool burning established congruent living conditions for thousands of years on this land. Leaving behind those custom generates unliveable physical and emotional landscapes.
Photographer: Ilona Demecs
Just for the Taste of it. (Vote for this Artwork)
Jamian Stayt, 2020
Artist Location: Andergrove
Medium: Coal, Resin and Danger Tape
Dimensions: 20 x 17 x 9 cm
Artist Statement:
The small indulgences we have daily, the one’s at the time that may seem insignificant, could these be classed as decadent?
For instance, the daily ritual of engaging that one-off single use individual.
Does the consequence of our deliberate disregard to its life cycle emote decadence?
What If we multiply the above act?
Does it now invite notions of luxury and self-indulgence at the expense of a mother?
To help address these questions please find my work “Just for the Taste of it.” Utilising the elements of Coal, Resin and Danger Tape I aim to highlight an environmental decadence.
Yet; I also can’t help but think.
By utilising these elements could this also be classed as decadent to the artist?
Could my self-indulgence in satisfying a creative taste also fall into the realms of excess or wastefulness?
Or can I justify their use as a promotion of the greater message?
Photographer: Jamian Stayt
Lost at the Asylum (Vote for this Artwork)
Kate Douglas, 2020
Artist Location: Moores Pocket
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 61 x 51 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
This is the old Ipswich Hospital for the Insane. It stands abandoned and boarded up on the grounds of what is now the University of Southern Queensland campus.
I have always been interested and disturbed by this building, with its imposing architecture and ominous feel. Recently, watching the ABC news on Anzac Day this year, I learnt about a local veteran, Matt Rennie OAM, who was painstakingly researching and identifying 72 World War 1 soldiers buried in unmarked graves at the nearby Ipswich General Cemetery. They had all died in this asylum, committed for being “vagrant alcoholics, damaged by the horrors of war” or having “shell shock and battle fatigue.” He found some of them had held military medals for heroic actions.
The Oxford Dictionary defines decadence as “moral or cultural decline especially after a peak of culmination or achievement.” This was the historical fate of those suffering moral decay.
Photographer: Kate Douglas
THE PHOTO SHOOT (Vote for this Artwork)
Janice Ford, 2020
Artist Location: Rockhampton
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Dimensions: 76 x 51 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
Australia has recently suffered from intense bush fires which resulted in many deaths and the devastation of the landscape. Smoke, ash and blackened trees were a common sight.
But some people in the fashion industry could see this as a wonderful backdrop for a fashion shoot.
So they fly in with their glamorous models, exotic animals and haute couture garments.
They stay just long enough to take amazing photos and then they fly out, totally oblivious to all the suffering associated with the fires.
The red dress represents the flames.
The exotic animal is in contrast to the native creatures that died in the fires.
The red and green feathers in the head dress represent the birds that were in the bush and the colour of the leaves before the fires.
Photographer: Simon Cox
The Gift – An Abundance of Time (Vote for this Artwork)
Gail Meyer, 2020
Artist Location: North Rockhampton
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 93 x 61 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
During COVID-19 lockdown times, I received a gift of an artfully beautiful coffee cup and spoon set within a decorative gold box. I decided to enjoy using this cup. Usually, I would have displayed the delicate coffee set to just look at and admire, but instead, I took the luxury of the gift and used it daily.
Sitting on my back deck and gazing out over the surrounding vista, I gave to myself an excessive amount of every morning to relax, drink coffee, eat chocolate, cherry and strawberry treats from a stacked servery plate.
Also with the coffee and chocolate at hand, I indulged in drawing a display of delicately withering sunflowers, which as the days passed, became even more artistically beautiful in their decaying shapes.
Such self indulgence with the luxury of time, tastes and creative pursuits – pure decadence for oneself.
Photographer: Gail Meyer