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Central Australian Art Society
“…the Advocate Art Award seems to become even more incestuous…”
Dear Editor:
(Note: This is the letter to the editor of Alice Springs local newspaper, “The Centralian Advocate,” that the editor would not print.)
Despite the locally generated hoo-ha, the Advocate Art Award seems to become even more incestuous and farcical with each passing year.
Prior to the 2007 award, the two Advocate promos depicting the Central Australian Art Society’s forthcoming exhibition featured a painting by a CAAS member and another by a CAAS disciple.
Not surprisingly, both ultimately were awarded prizes.
This might be regarded as sublimal pre-conditioning or at least promotion of selected exhibitors above others.
Exhibitors are under the impression that judging is of anonymous efforts. Not so, if two participants have had their work lavishly publicised beforehand.
Another critical factor is the qualifications of the selected judges. This year’s judges, I understand, were an oil painter, a book illustrator and a bloke who fashions makeshift “sculptures” from random debris scavenged from rubbish dumps. Does their combined artistic experience constitute a general qualification for an exhibition displaying a wide variety of disciplines, some of which quite obviously extend far beyond their village mentalities?
Does the winning entry, a computer-enhanced image, constitute fairness when commercial software was utilised by the “artist “?
Overall, in my view, the conglomeration of exhibits ranged precariously from the occasionally excellent, through the frivolous to contrived and the mediocre. All too often, the latter category won the judge’s approval.
One of the judges, Homer Coderre, was (or still is), I’ve been told, a CAAS member.
Guess who won most of the prizes or who were “highly commended” by the judges?
Yes, friends, colleagues and favoured fellow travellers.
This annual award is allegedly available for local artists whether or not they belong to CAAS.
Would it not be more impartial to have judges who are not CAAS members or in any way affiliated with CAAS members?
When this suggestion is broached, the usual response is the expense factor – how can a small art group in Alice Springs afford to fly in a judge/judges and accommodate them?
Other rural and outback communities do this successfully with the co-operation of airline and motel companies whose practical assistance is publicly acknowledged.
Alice has blossomed into quite a big girl now. Isn’t it about time she started to act in a mature and responsible manner?
-J. Blakely, Darwin, Australia.
