Gallipoli Art Prize 2023 winner announced

His bedroom at his parents' house was always "off limits" to his nephew, Andrew Tomkins, who described Uncle Ray's space as dark, with a bed made, and the door not always open.

"He went away a young man but returned a very different person," Andrew said.

"It was always expected that personnel returning to civilian life from active duty 'just got on with it'. More often than not, the only support came from each other. Ray did get on with it, leading a productive life and supporting fellow servicemen and their families."

Andrew's painting of his Uncle Ray's bedroom, titled Ray's Room, has won the 2023 Gallipoli Art Prize, which has a $20,000 acquisitive prize auspiced by the Gallipoli Memorial Club.

The work is created with a technique Andrew has developed whereby he draws and paints on to a translucent polyester sheet, then hand cuts around the shapes with a scalpel. Rather than discarding the 'stencil' like sheet, it turns into a layer of the artwork.

In Ray's Room, the polyester sheet is mounted about 25mm away from the textured backboard, thus creating shadows and what Andrew describes as an "indescribable volume" to the work.

Art prize judge Elizabeth Fortescue said the concept of negative space is one of the first things art students learn in class.

""They're taught what negative space is, and why it matters. To Andrew, negative spaces hold a fascination and even an obsession," she said.

Andrew, of Sydney, is an acclaimed Australian artist who started painting at age 12 and has studied at the Julian Ashton School of Art.

A licensed builder by trade, Andrew's appreciation of the natural world and the environment combined with his passion for art has resulted in numerous art prizes including winner of the inaugural Burwood Art Prize 2017.

He has exhibited across Australia including Sydney Contemporary 2017- 2019 and has also exhibited at Art Central Hong Kong 2018 and 2019.

Andrew was selected to exhibit at the Beijing International Biennale at the National Art Museum in Beijing in China in 2019, and his work is in that museum's collection.

He has been a finalist in the Gallipoli Art Prize four times and was highly commended by judges in 2021 for his work The Guns Fell Silent, recounting the story of his Scottish mother who was based on the anti-aircraft guns overlooking the English Channel on D Day, June 6, 1944.

The 2023 Gallipoli Art Prize judges highly commended Richard Crossland for his painting 24 Days, Simpson and his donkey depicting Private Simpson, who came to fame at Gallipoli for rescuing wounded men with a donkey. Simpson was killed by sniper fire after 24 days at Gallipoli.

The club's creed is: "We believe that within the community there exists an obligation for all to preserve the special qualities of loyalty, respect, love of country, courage and comradeship which were personified by the heroes of the Gallipoli Campaign and bequeathed to all humanity as a foundation for perpetual peace and universal freedom."

Club president John Robertson encourages artists thinking of entering in the future to "think more broadly and consider the special qualities contained in the Club's Creed outside of military themes."

The 2023 Gallipoli Art Prize will be on exhibition at 6-8 Atherden Street, The Rocks, Sydney until May 14, 2023. To view the works online visit www.gallipoliartprize.org.au