People's Choice Voting: Queensland Regional Art Awards 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
Inside Tension (Vote for this Artwork)
Second Image of Artwork
Seinileva Huakau, 2020
Artist Location: Mundubbera
Medium: Textile
Dimensions: 84.5 x 63.5 x 1.5 cm
Artist Statement:
Inside Tension represents an intergenerational memory of creating objects and the balance traditional and contemporary weaving in the Pacific diaspora. The piece is woven out of readily accessible bargain shop ribbon, reclaimed plastic buttons and discounted feathers which are the hoarded remnants of her family’s sewing. This necklace can be worn but these usually adorn picture frames of people who have passed; however she framed her work thus acknowledging the art and skill of her predecessors. By doing so she preserves the memory and skill of her teachers as well as acknowledging the land she lives on.
Photographer: Seinileva Huakau
TWO UP Come in Spinner (Vote for this Artwork)
View Video Artwork
Warren (Buck) Richardson, 2020
Artist Location: Kuranda
Medium: Digital Art Video
Dimensions: Variable
Artist Statement:
Captivated by their beauty, I have photographed a ‘collection’ of over 1500 species of moths, spending countless hours staring at my screen as I magnify and move their patterns and colours around in my digital art. Decadence put me in mind of gamblers who can similarly get hooked by the colours and movement on their pokies screens. But decadence and beauty combine in a paradox – whether it’s roulette wheels or the roll of the dice on casino gaming tables, the colours, sounds and lights are exciting. Betting is part of our culture. Even governments are dependent on the revenue. From the ANZAC tradition of TWO UP Come in Spinner, to the gee-gees at the Melbourne Cup or even the stock market, most Australians have a wager on something. But for some gamblers such mesmerising patterns become a decadent addiction, a vice, leaving the punter in a spin, their money burnt.
Photographer: Warren (Buck) Richardson
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
Spirit Journey (Vote for this Artwork)
Emma Ward, 2020
Artist Location: Gracemere
Medium: Mixed Media on Canvas
Dimensions: 51 x 51 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
During a heavily emotional time in lock down (Covid 10 March -May 2020) I found myself abandoning my previous painting style in favor of creating abstract landscapes. From feelings of isolation, I became obsessed with the desire to connect with country in a more meaningful way. It was as if the act of painting landscapes was ‘grounding’ me during this anxious time. I began experimenting with crushing my own pigments from local sedimentary rocks, and making paints which I have used in the creation of this work. I have also incorporated walnut oil, gold leaf and salt and created the work in a free form, intuitive fashion. The artwork represents the view I get from the airplane window leaving Central Queensland on a trip to the ‘big smoke’ (Brisbane). It was a view that had been etched in my mind since my last visit to the city in January 2020 visiting the previous year’s Flying Arts exhibition. I found the whole experience inspirational and mentally transformative. Much like my impression of our landscape.
Photographer: Emma Ward
hoc est pulchritudinem – ac interitus et exitium
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:
hoc est pulchritudinem – ac interitus et exitium (this is the beauty – their destruction and decay) 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.
Photographed on black velvet and digitally arranged to evoke concepts inherent in medieval funerary art, this work describes the inevitable decay of life – a flower decomposing from the moment of separation from its life-giver. The spectrograph (visual analysis of soundwaves) reads the title – a reminder that while there is much beauty in the transient commodities that we immerse ourselves within, they, like life, will pass and may lead to self-destruction and demise.
Photographer: Cara-Ann Simpson
Seagull and Crane – a traditional Lardil story from Mornington Island
Joelene Roughsey, 2020
Artist Location: Gununa, Mornington Island
Medium: Acrylic on linen
Dimensions: 101.5 x 101 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
This Traditional story shows that avoiding responsibility and assuming a decadent, privileged attitude and being a bully will result in some real consequences. This story is told often here on island.
Seagull and Crane – A traditional Lardil story from Mornington Island
On peaceful Bende Reef, out from Biberr, lived the Seagull Woman and her husband, the Crane Man and their little baby. The Crane Man would go out hunting for fish, oysters, and crabs. Sometimes he’d bring back a little bit of food for the family, but not always.
One day when he did come back with food, Crane said to his wife, “Well, Seagull, you gotta get up and cook now. I got some food here for you to cook and it’s my turn to have a rest.” And, then he went and laid down. Sometimes he would just eat his catch out there where he was hunting, and sometimes he didn’t come back at all. One time he was gone for three years.
After three years he walked back up and said, “Hey, it’s me. I’ve come back.” Seagull Woman was not impressed. Seagull Woman took the baby on her little walpa (raft) and dragged it along, dragged it along with the rope.
And she dragged, and she dragged it round and round and round. Cutting deep channels into the land until the water flooded in. While she dragged that walpa she sang that lajirambena (lullaby) song. And so she separated the islands from the mainland by creating those channels of water.
Some people say that Seagull Woman also put a curse on the Crane Man. Because nowadays the Crane can only hunt in shallow water. But Seagull Woman, she’s strong. She can hunt on the open sea, she can fly around and dive, and she can hunt in shallow water or deep water. She has a big family and can look after herself.
Photographer: MIART Mornington Island Art
Grandma’s Gravy Boat (Vote for this Artwork)
Grant Quinn, 2020
Artist Location: Bundamba
Medium: Digital photograph
Dimensions: 30 x 30 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
What started as a gesture of kindness, a simple gravy boat, handed down to me from my grandmother. Little was I to know, that this simple gravy boat would begin my journey and decadent obsession of becoming a collector. Having lived and worked throughout Regional Qld from Goondiwindi to Blackwater to Ipswich, Grandma’s Gravy boat was always with me. Reminding me of my need to explore thrift stores, op shops, antique stores and more. Searching for that elusive piece that finishes a collection, or starts a new one. Pieces that tell a story. Stories of family, of love, of tragedy, of life, and like the memories I have of my grandmother and her white gravy boat with the navy blue stripe.
Photographer: Grant Quinn
A Plastic Sea (Vote for this Artwork)
Lyn Laver-Ahmat, 2020
Artist Location: Slade Point
Medium: Found plastic pieces sourced from the sea
Dimensions: 90 x 120 x 6 cm
Artist Statement:
I created this wall art piece by collecting marine debris and plastics gathered from the Great Barrier Reef, close to where I live. I was amazed at the patina of these pieces of sea-worn coloured plastics and their unusual shapes and profiles.
I have always had a passion and concern for our beautiful environment. I used the theme of Decadence to bring light to the dangers of carelessly discarding these plastic products that find their way into our waterways and destroy our precious sea life. My piece will hopefully inspire the need for everyone to recycle.
Photographer: Lyn Laver-Ahmat
summa prospectum ex, inferno itur (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:
summa prospectum ex, inferno itur (the view from the top is the path to hell) 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.
Just as the vanitas still life paintings became vanitas (vanity of vanities) objects themselves through the irony of being collectible commodities, so too does this series. Cut flowers and subsequent development of art objects are in themselves a decadence and luxury that few can afford. Behind this more obvious symbolism, is another incorporated through the spectrograph (visual analysis of sound) and composition – the luxury of good health, another vanity unnoticed until it is lost. While we stand at the summit, rarely do we realise that the only way forward is down.
Photographer: Cara-Ann Simpson
Lavish Attachment (Vote for this Artwork)
Second Image of Artwork
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
Watched (Vote for this Artwork)
Karen Wiz Smith, 2020
Artist Location: Gold Coast
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Dimensions: 76 x 76 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
A piece highlighting an ecological, voyeuristic community mindset.
Photographer: Karen Wiz Smith
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
Mooloolaba Icecream Decadence (Vote for this Artwork)
Sharon Hamill, 2020
Artist Location: Buderim
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 91.4 x 60.9 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
A mellow afternoon playing at a most perfect Mooloolaba beach, with a warm breeze blowing and eating a three serving ice cream cone. My aim with this painting was to evoke the feeling of simple indulgence and decadence that we have sometimes come to accept living on the Sunshine coast. The main focus is the semi abstract child with their dog in the foreground with a way too big ice cream that is starting to melt and is going, going to slip off. The media is acrylic with some areas smooth and other areas that I want to draw more attention worked to be thickly textured with obvious brush strokes. I try to make us remember good memories such as the simple fun and indulgence of the child dreamily licking that ice cream cone without a trouble in the world, until it falls off!
Photographer: Sharon Hamill
Tunes of Opulence (Vote for this Artwork)
Second Image of Artwork
Nora Hanasy, 2020
Artist Location: Zilzie
Medium: Found Object Assemblage on Violin
Dimensions: 60 x 27 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
A defining symbol of decadence is a fondness of nonsensical extravagance’ – Robert Silverberg. But could our desire for opulence have a positive side? Isn’t it exactly that desire that is pushing us to overcome limitations in innovation, investing time and money in artists, designers, and architects to create marvels beyond our wildest imaginations? Frivolous, wasteful and mind-blowingly expensive? Yes, but our yearning for objects of beauty painstakingly designed and executed by master craftspeople over hundreds and thousands of hours is an irresistible temptation. Possessing extravagance and innovation has been part of history, became a part of our identity, and responsible for the development of cultures.
Photographer: Nora Hanasy
ATYB.1 (Vote for this Artwork)
Second Image of Artwork
Petalia Humphreys, 2020
Artist Location: Peregian Beach
Medium: Acrylic on plywood
Dimensions: 60 x 60 x 10 cm
Artist Statement:
The colours of yellow and green were largely associated with the Decadent movement, the artistic and literary movement of the late 19th century. These colours feature in works of the era, including Ramon Casas’ work, whose “Decadent Young Woman (After the Dance)” 1899 holds a copy of “The Yellow Book”, a popular British periodical of the decadent “Yellow Nineties. This use of yellow and green, often partnered with greys or blacks informs my work ATYB.1. Concerned with the architecture of forms upon the painted surface, ATYB.1 is a three-dimensional painting that invites the viewer to actively participate in considering the work from multiple perspectives in the gallery space, in turn revealing visual playful shifts and transmutations.
Photographer: Petalia Humphreys
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
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
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
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
Leaving Only Memories (Vote for this Artwork)
Tricia Reust, 2020
Artist Location: Clontarf
Medium: Mixed Media on Canvas
Dimensions: 76.5 x 76.5 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
Deteriorating farm structures I see when driving through inland areas are poignant reminders of dreams and hopes lived through and then abandoned. As more powerful elements finance extraction of minerals and water and ore from the Australian land, smaller farmers and producers are forced from this land.
The level of decadent wages and benefits enjoyed by those in power is in strong contrast to the level of earnings by those faced with bankruptcy and then ultimately the reality of losing their property.
‘Decadent’ can mean morally corrupt. It is a corrupt practice to benefit from business and banking measures that profit from misfortune.
This artwork has texture applied over acrylic on collage, with layers of charcoal.
Photographer: Mark Lutz
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
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
Repair Yourself (Vote for this Artwork)
Nadia Vargas, 2020
Artist Location: Sunshine Beach
Medium: Graphite on cotton paper
Dimensions: 35.5 x 30.5 x 0.4 cm
Artist Statement:
In the capitalist world we live in, we grow up influenced by consumerism. We learn to heal the wounds of our soul with material goods, brands and names that seem to enhance us socially. We create a false sense of belonging, of self worth, of status. We become blinded and deafed by it. We struggle to realise that we have to look inside to be able to truly repair ourselves.
Photographer: Nadia Vargas
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
Decadence 2020: The Hug (Vote for this Artwork)
Lee FullARTon, 2020
Artist Location: Blackstone
Medium: Acrylic inks and ink on Watercolour paper
Dimensions: 12 x 12 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
For me the perception of Decadence made a significant shift in 2020.
COVID-19 restrictions cut my connections to nature and loved ones.
These aspects of connection that I engaged in freely prior to lockdown moved to the notion of indulgence when given an opportunity to seek nature and be with love ones.
Those moments are small, pure, fragile and golden.
Photographer: Lee FullARTon
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
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
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
Group (Vote for this Artwork)
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Barbara Pierce, 2019
Artist Location: Townsville
Medium: Mixed media
Dimensions: 29 x 38 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
During the period of the current pandemic we have had isolation imposed upon us. Combining isolation at home – physically separating or distancing from each other – with restrictions on our movements has provided more time for reflection on our surroundings and circumstances.
These individual small works brought together as a group have qualities in common: restraint, separateness, a connection to shelter and each other also the use of household materials and acrylic paint. The pieces tied with string have recorded respectively the measurements of: a table top, cupboard, and window perimeters.
A stitched folded and tied piece of tablecloth secures the tongue of a shoe in one piece while collage pieces are attached to the outside of another ‘shelter’ shape. It seems decadent that the pandemic has given the luxury of time in which to contemplate our household surroundings whilst the full blown horror of it all unfolds somewhere.
Photographer: Barbara Pierce
Butterfly frenzy (Vote for this Artwork)
Tarja Ahokas, 2020
Artist Location: Ninderry
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 51 x 40.5 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
Earlier this year there were butterflies everywhere. It was an event that happens once in 10 years.
Butterflies symbolise hope and hope is what we needed after the horrendous bushfires and floods. Then COVID 19 hit us all like a sledge hammer.
Many people turned to drink, eroding their mental and economic wellbeing even further. Cracks started forming in the fabric of our society. That was their decadence.
My decadence is bottling the butterflies and indulging in hope.
Photographer: Tarja Ahokas
Torn apart (Vote for this Artwork)
Tarja Ahokas, 2020
Artist Location: Ninderry
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 69 x 81.5 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
Our lives are torn.
We are torn apart.
The touch is gone. We can’t indulge in hugs and kisses.
Did we over indulge in them in the past?
Was that the decadence in our lives?
Love is still there in the eyes and the smile behind the mask.
Photographer: Tarja Ahokas
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
The rose-coloured glass she was looking through
Hannah Murray, 2020
Artist Location: South Townsville
Medium: Mixed media on watercolour paper
Dimensions: 64 x 53 x 0.31 cm
Artist Statement:
Created using a selection of drawing and painting media my work is from an ongoing series titled Happy Hour. With origins as far back as Shakespeare, the words ‘happy’ and ‘hour’ have appeared together for centuries and used to reference designated periods of drinking, entertainment and pleasurable times. ‘Happy Hour’ in tropical paradise is the absolute epitome of decadence in hedonistic Western society. The exotic allure of North Queensland is no exception. Promoted as being “no place like it on Earth,” holidaymakers are enticed to “escape to luxe island hideaways and indulgent retreats.”
The aim of my work is to challenge the treacherous duality of “Happy Hour” by asking viewers to look beyond the rose-coloured glass and consider the consequences of such fleeting pleasures. My greatest concern is that in our insatiable pursuit for happiness we are inadvertently contributing to the demise of already fragile environmental and cultural systems.
Photographer: Hannah Murray
Postcode (study three) (Vote for this Artwork)
Barbara Pierce, 2020
Artist Location: Townsville
Medium: Acrylic and collage on stitched canvas
Dimensions: 21 x 81 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Everything originates from – or is contained within – a landscape. Postcodes are used as a unique identifier of place within a given landscape. This doorstep sized work with landscape qualities has been created with colourful areas contained within ‘Postcode’ rectangles on a ‘coal black’ ground. The canvas has been cut and stitched – mended – before painting. Each rectangle contains pieces of photographs: imagery of the environment near where I live.
Building more fossil fuel infrastructure and indulging in the economic benefits whilst ignoring environmental concerns can be viewed as an act of decadence. Mining for coal provides an immediate solution for employment while at the same time poses a very real threat to the environment and global societies in the long term.
In the colourful tropical north we currently have Adani mining the natural habitat not far from our doorstep. It could be said that decadence has a postcode.
Photographer: Barbara Pierce
Paper Sky (Vote for this Artwork)
Andrea Baumert Howard, 2020
Artist Location: Eastern Heights
Medium: Recycled office paper
Dimensions: 70 x 60 x 0.29 cm
Artist Statement:
This year has been difficult, the world feels like it is falling apart. There have been many challenges put before us. Personally, I struggled with anxiety for several months. I had lost my motivation to create.
Small acts of self-love and reflection are a way of finding joy and not be tempted to fall into melancholy.
If you look at it the right way, something as simple and humble as taking the time to watch clouds roll by can be decadent. Finding daily decadence is an exercise in the practice of gratitude that is not only reserved for the elite.
Photographer: Andrea Baumert Howard
King Of the Toilet Rolls and His Golden Bowl (Vote for this Artwork)
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Kerry Sanders, 2020
Artist Location:
Medium: Ceramic, gold leaf, wood and paper
Dimensions: 50 x 40 x 40 cm
Artist Statement:
I have been inspired by the community response during the COVID-19 Pandemic and used this to guide my work to express ‘Decadence.’ I want to make a statement on the ‘first-world problems,’ that we live with and often refer to in Australia. Specifically, I was amazed at people’s reaction to buying up toilet paper ultimately creating a shortage. Showing the toilet roll as a decadent, but precious household item seems appropriate. The Toilet Roll became so rare and sort after in resent months, it rose to a Regal status. I used Gold Leaf on the crown and ceramic bowl to create a whimsical sculpture relating to community and its obsession with access to toilet paper and the decadent roll it played. Of course, the toilet has often also been referred to as a ‘throne’ and it’s history as a ceramic bowl is well known!
Photographer: Kerry Sanders
When I was the forest there was nothing I could not love, 2019 (Vote for this Artwork)
Karla Pringle, 2020
Artist Location: Ninderry
Medium: Digital print on silk with oak
Dimensions: 55 x 20 x 0.1 cm
Artist Statement:
We were paradise, the land and I. We were capitalism’s insatiable appetite. Young girls on a backdrop of everlasting sunsets. We’d conjure lightning heating oceans with our sultry bodies. Our dewy mouths gushed waterfalls over ‘virgin’ forests. This was the commodification of women, BIPOC and land. Virgins and terra nullius. Our bodies were owned and used; the land, stolen and sold. I try to re/pair relationships between bodies and environment. I use outlines of pornography re-embodied within stolen land. I’m coupling bodies with place, not as backdrops to entice consumption, but as embodied beings: connected ‘in Country’ through their relationships with living environments. I hope this contributes to change colonial disconnection and disembodied destruction, and helps to create a narrative for the engagement of sentience, connection, reverence, inter guidance, and rapport with our environment.
Photographer: Karla Pringle
Ekka Icon (Vote for this Artwork)
Glen Smith, 2020
Artist Location: Bundamba
Medium: Acrylic on Board
Dimensions: 33 x 28 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Decadence; The process of falling into an inferior state of moral decay. I have to admit I suffer this state of mind every year when the Brisbane Exhibition, commonly known as the Ekka comes around. For its my love and desire for the Strawberry Ice-creams you can only get at the Ekka that drives me into a frenzy mess that I have to travel over two hours on a train, pay ludicrous amounts of money and suffer the pushing and shoving of the crowded show allies just so I can get my yearly fix of the delicious treat. I never leave the show grounds without devouring at least 4 ice-creams before facing another 2-hour trip home. So as simple as it seems the Ekka Strawberry Ice cream is my decadent secret desire and this painting gives homage to the iconic Strawberry Ice-cream Cone.
Photographer: Glen Smith
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
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
‘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
Grey days are gold! (Vote for this Artwork)
Kerry Wilson, 2020
Artist Location: Yandina
Medium: Mixed media on paper
Dimensions: 57 x 0.2 x 38 cm
Artist Statement:
It was a rainy Saturday in lockdown. I spent the morning in bed reading art magazines, drinking tea and eating toast. “How decadent!” I thought. Later that day I did this drawing “Grey days are gold” about the importance of enjoying the simple pleasures in life.
I used an automatic technique to start the work with acrylic washes and a Chinese brush.
Then layered with gesso, colour pencil and oil pastels to bring together soft shades of grey clouds and the blue sky that I knew would be back soon. Gold symbolises the pleasure and decadence that can occur in everyday, ordinary events.
Photographer: Kerry Wilson
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
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
Decadence through the animal kingdom (Vote for this Artwork)
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Rasa Costaras, 2020
Artist Location: Cannonvale
Medium: Ceramic
Dimensions: 26 x 10 x 18 cm
Artist Statement:
The piece is a representation of this present moment of change for humankind, with the excessive indulgence in pigs, changing by merging into the Eagle, the animal never hunted or captured that is associated with wisdom and freedom.
The eagle is an inspiring messenger that offers lessons about looking closely at the most mynute of details in order to see life from a broader perspective.
Photographer: Rasa Costaras
Meet Lenny (Vote for this Artwork)
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Suzanne Furness, 2020
Artist Location:
Medium: Textile
Dimensions: 120 x 72 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Meet Lenny. During the day Lenny becomes Leonard, a Queensland Chief Executive Officer who is still wearing a full business suit and highly polished brogues for his ZOOM meetings. But at night he transforms into Lenny – freewheeling, colourful, decadent and so happy despite COVID-19.
Photographer: Suzanne Furness
Crocodile dreaming (Vote for this Artwork)
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Peta Lloyd, 2020
Artist Location: Coowonga
Medium: Artists book, multi-plate collagraph prints, collage and ink pencil.
Dimensions: 36.5 x 50 x 36.5 cm
Artist Statement:
He?s basking in the winter sun on the side of his waterway, lazily taking in his surroundings, watching under hooded eyes for signs of an intruder, he?s ancient and powerful, he is King of the river.
Not far away, beside a wallow, she sits atop her nest laying up to 60 eggs in a trance, she?s a good mum protecting her eggs from animal or human.
Their love making was in the river, it was a stormy evening, the lightning show stimulated their libido, the stage was set, their music was playing.
She only left the nest for a short while, on her return she finds her eggs gone, her babies stolen! She creeps away to save herself, she grieves for her babies, she grieves for her river, she grieves for the loss of her King.
Nature?s fine balance has been altered because of the greed of a few humans.
Photographer: Peta Lloyd