Finalist & Highly Commended, the Albany Art Prize, Western Australia

A national, acquisitive prize for painting, the City of Albany Art Prize is open to living Artists working in Australia, and features a $25,000 major acquisitive prize as well as a range of non-acquisitive awards.

Judged by Ms Susan Jenkins, Senior Curator at the Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia; Ms Clotilde Bullen, Curator of Indigenous Art at the Art Gallery of Western Australia; and Mr. Ric Spencer, Curator at Fremantle Arts Centre in Western Australia, selected just 15 non Western Auastralian artists (out of a total of 30 finalists).

Shirley Hannan Art Prize & Percival Portrait Prize

This portrait of Hamish Blake has made the finalists of the prestigious Shirley Hannan National Portrait Award, in Bega NSW and also the Percival Portrait Painting Prize. To give the award its full name, the Glencore Percival Portrait Painting Prize is a $40,000 acquisitive prize, and is on at the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, located in one of Townsville's finest heritage buildings, on the corner of Denham and Flinders Streets, in the city centre.

 

Calleen Art Prize

Also made the finalists for The Calleen Art Award. This is an acquisitive national art award for painting in any subject, and was established in 1977 by Patricia Fagan OAM and is made possible by the support of the Calleen Trust.

The winner will be selected by the awards judge and announced at the exhibition opening on Saturday 3 May 2014.

Exhibition dates are Sunday 4 May to Sunday 15 June 2014
Cowra Regional Art Gallery, 77 Darling Street Cowra 2794 NSW
Tue – Sat: 10am – 4pm  Sun: 2pm – 4pm

Solo Exhibition at Art Equity, Sydney starts Thursday 27 Feb 2014

To be opened by the REAL RAKE ( the man on whom the TV character Rake is based) Charles Waterstreet, Australian author, barrister and filmmaker. Opening Thursday 27th February 6-8pm. Exhibition showing until 14 March 2014

Art Equity, Level 1, 66 King Street, Sydney, Tel | +61 2 9262 6660  www.artequity.com.au

Works featured in respected online art magazine Hi Fructose

The Accidental Empires series by painter Matthew Quick investigates the power behind monuments and effectively undermines their seriousness.  Well known monuments from around the world are altered with mundane objects such as cell phone tower antennas or clotheslines.  However, the simple contrast between the commonplace and monumental is jarring.  It undermines the grand stories behind the memorials and questions their purpose.  In his statement, Quick says: “The ebb and flow of Empires can be determined by the monuments they leave. Periods of optimism are punctuated by statues that mythologise the success of the enterprise. Times of tragedy are marked by similarly mythologised affirmations of resilience, bravery and triumph over the odds. In time, these myths come to define the events themselves.”

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performs Introduced Species by Dr Katy Abbott

Join Melbourne-based composer Katy Abbott as she presents her new work – Introduced Species – in a live performance workshop across metropolitan Melbourne. Inspired by the paintings of the same title by Australian artist, Matthew Quick, Katy’s composition explores the impact that human interference can have on music in the same way that Matthew’s art explores the impact that human interference can have on our environment.

Works featured in the online art magazine Juxtapoz

“When the US seized Baghdad, the soldiers celebrated by destroying art. Removing contemporary politics, this destruction illustrates how little has changed psychologically in the 1500 years since the barbarian sack of Rome. With one notable difference. Rome was destroyed by uneducated warriors. In Baghdad, the event was stage-managed for TV.”

Paintings featured in the online art magazine Boooooooom

This is how they describe themselves: Booooooom was launched in 2008 by Vancouver-based artist Jeff Hamada. It is now Canada’s highest traffic art blog, and one of the largest on the Internet. The site has become an authoritative voice in the new contemporary arts scene, highlighting emerging talents, and launching the careers of many young artists internationally.

Works featured in the online art magazine Supersonic Electronic

Supersonic Electronic is an Art blog that seeks to chronicle the rise of the Electronic School of contemporary art. A movement defined by a generation of artists merging Illustration and Fine Art. By use of the Internet and other electronic means these artists have been exposed to endless amounts of aesthetic inspiration and saturated with pop culture their entire lives. With over 330,000+ Tumblr followers Supersonic Electronic is one of the most popular and most viewed Art blogs on the Internet.

iGANAT magazine story feature on Accidental Empires

iGNANT is an interdisciplinary Berlin-based blog featuring creatives in the fields of art, design, photography and architecture. The team behind iGNANT is dedicated to the picture, to moods and esthetics, finding its expression in our in-house productions of photographs, videos and original written content. Since its launch 2007 it steadily built up a strong esthetical identity, appealing readers from all over the world. In 2011 iGNANT won the ‘Golden Lead Award’ in the category ‘Weblog of the Year’ and was furthermore nominated for the ‘Grimme Online Award’.

The inspiration for the series ‘Accidental Empires’ by Matthew Quick, was the fall and rise of Empires in the history. ‘When the US seized Baghdad, the soldiers celebrated by destroying art. Removing contemporary politics, this destruction illustrates how little has changed psychologically in the 1500 years since the barbarian sack of Rome. With one notable difference. Rome was destroyed by uneducated warriors. In Baghdad, the event was stage-managed for TV’, he explains. His series shows ancient sculptures with odd requisites, which put them in a completely different light while depriving their solemn seriousness. The arising ironic undertone provides the perfect foundation for a revisionist take on the notions of beauty, pride, and nationalism.

Gold Coast Art Prize

The work Perfect Angel has been selected by Chris Saines, Director of the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, as a finalist for the prestigious Gold Coast Art Prize.

It will be on display at the Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Arts Centre Gold Coast
135 Bundall Road Surfers Paradise QLD 4217. Phone: (07) 5581 6567

The exhibition runs from 7 December to Feb 9, 2014

Winner, Sponsor's Prize at the Eutick Memorial Still Life Award

The piece Remedial Measures has won the Sponsor's Prize at the prestigious Eutick Memorial Still Life Award. Selected by John McDonald, Sydney Morning Herald art critic, as a finalist, this is the fifth time Matthew has been represented in this prize. It will be on display at the

Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, Cnr Coff and Duke St, Coffs Harbour, NSW, 2450
Phone: (02) 6648 4863 from Sat November 16 to January 18, 2014
10am – 4pm Tuesday – Saturday

Doug Moran National Portrait Prize

Matthew's work, in Search of Gaps is a semi-finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. It will be on display at Juniper Hall in Paddington, Sydney NSW from October. This work has also just returned from exhibition at the Black Swan Portrait Prize in Perth, as part of the Salon des Refuses.

Accidental Empires, solo show at Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide

Matthew Quick’s paintings layer meanings to convey insights into contemporary culture. Within
his amalgamation of the landscape, realist and surrealist traditions, Quick creates visual metaphors and contradictions that exude a unique imaginative realm. In ‘Accidental Empires,’ statues commemorating past victories by colonial powers, are refigured as props for the artist’s take on history’s unfolding narrative of power and corruption.

Quick explains; “Accidental Empires was inspired by footage of US soldiers celebrating their taking of Baghdad by destroying some art. Removing contemporary politics and looking from an artistic and historical context, this destruction illustrates how little has changed psychologically in the 1500 years since the sacking of Rome.”

Outback Open Art Prize

The Lost Tribe, was selected for the prestigious Outback Open Art Prize, and was displayed at the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery from July-Sep 2013.

Established in 1904 following the bequest of three major artworks by Mr George McCulloch (one of the founders of BHP),  Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery is the oldest regional art gallery in New South Wales. Officially opened by the Governor-General of Australia, Lord Northcote, in October 1904, the Broken Hill City Art Gallery was renamed Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery in 2002 to reflect its important cultural position and role in the western New South Wales region.

Nillumbik Art Prize

Matthew's work, Crowning Glory has been selected for the Nillumbik Art prize. It will be on display at the Monsalvat in The Barn gallery from June 14.

This year’s judge, Christopher Menz, former Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia will announce the winner and two special commendations at the opening on 13th June @ 6.30pm. You are invited to attend this significant event in the Nillumbik arts calendar, meet the artists and enjoy this celebration of their work.

Art Fair Hong Kong

Three works, Darwin's Children 1-3, featured at the Hong Kong Art Fair. A three-day event hosting a wealth of galleries and a huge array of contemporary art, Hong Kong’s first Affordable Art Fair took place between the 15 – 17 March in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The Affordable Art Fairs have become something of a global phenomenon. Upon the success of the initial British and American fairs, they now takes place in Amsterdam, Bristol, Brussels, New York, Milan, Singapore, Hamburg, Mexico City, Rome, Seattle, Singapore and Hong Kong. Globally, over 1 million people have visited an Affordable Art Fair, buying over US $250 million of art.

Featuring thousands of original paintings, prints, sculpture and photography all under one roof, and all between HK $1,000 and HK $100,000, with 75% priced below HK $75,000. The work of young, emerging artists hangs alongside some of the biggest household names. 

Ready For My Close Up

New portrait of Hamish Blake, comedian, broadcaster, actor, writer and all round nice guy, featured in the Daily Telegraph.

December - January

A pair of new paintings, Home of the Brave and Land of the Free, featured on the main exhibition wall for the Salon show at the Abbotsford Convent. Featuring the works of Convent based artists, the salon show is a fixture on the annual calender of Convent events.

CD's, a Sympony and an App

Matthew has collaborated with Dr Katy Abbott to create 3 CD's of Katy's compositions.

Work for 2013 includes the release of two new discs – The Domestic Sublime: the vocal music of Katy Abbott and Famous (choral music). Both discs feature the art work of Matthew Quick on the album covers as does Katy's first disc Sunburnt Aftertones (2010).

Katy is also using Matthew's series Introduced Species as a launching point for a new orchestral work for Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Abbott's piece introduces some unusual 'species' into the orchestra and is based upon the real events around Matthew's painting, Intrepid Travellers (2011), pictured. This piece will be recorded and performed in 2013/14 by the MSO. Visit katyabbott.com for updates mid-2013.