Peter westwood: Finalist in the 2021 Geelong Contemporary art prize

Peter Westwood has been selected as a finalist in the 2021 Geelong Contemporary Art Prize, an acquisitive prize for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian painting. 

Peter’s painting, Field of Sorrow (Untethered) 2021, depicts a peculiar and arcane central plant form, derived from the European thistle. The areas surrounding this dominant form depict a visceral, almost bloody red soil, infused with other emerging and strange plant forms. The central plant is reminiscent of an incarnate otherworldly persona affecting a turbulent and changing landscape. The painting contains seven blue, loosely hung threads, that represent the untethering of this unbridled struggle.

Familiar and unfamiliar forms populate Field of Sorrow (Untethered) evoking a clash of worlds, and of times, where conflict and dominance conjure an ever-changing, and chaotic epoch.

Selectors for the 2021 prize exhibition were Grazia Gunn, art historian and curator; Jenepher Duncan, art historian and curator; and Jason Smith, CEO & Director, Geelong Gallery. 

We would like to congratulate Peter for his commanding painting and being selected for this very notable Australian painting prize.

Peter Westwood, Field of sorrow (Untethered) 2021, oil on linen, cotton threads 166 x 125 cm.