Tully Arnot wins the inaugural NAB Private Wealth Emerging Artist Award

Posted on Thursday, 11 September, 2014

Art Month and NAB Private Wealth are pleased to announce that Tully Arnot has been named recipient of the inaugural NAB Private Wealth Emerging Artist Award, 2014.

Tully lives and works in Sydney and makes work that investigates the intangible relationships we have with objects, illuminating new, poetic ways of interacting with the world around us. As winner, Arnot has received a $10,000 prize.

The award was judged by an esteemed panel of contemporary art curators: Barry Keldoulis, Director, Art Fairs Australia; Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Senior Curator, Artbank; and Claire Marshall, Art Curator, NAB.

Commenting on Arnot's work, Mudie Cunningham said: "Tully is a stand out artist and Nervous Plant was a stand out work in this group. Through the kinetic activation of otherwise passive and domesticated plant life, Tully's work demonstrates an innovative use of found objects in a corporate context"

Barry Keldoulis said: "All of the artists produced interesting work, but Tully's was the work that most responded to the environment for this exhibition, and the spaces in which the work will ultimately be shown as part of the NAB Art Collection. The work displays an interesting connection to the history of office decoration and a fantastic engagement with the artificial nature of most office environments, as well as the human love of anthropomorphism. Are these 'plants' dancing in the air-conditioning 'breeze', or shuddering in fear of their captors?"

NAB Art Curator Claire Marshall said: "I find Tully's work ingenious. It's striking, and it's the stand out of the group"

NAB looks forward to acquiring Nervous Plant for the NAB Corporate Art Collection.

The NAB Private Wealth Emerging Artist Award reflects NAB Private Wealth and Art Month Sydney’s joint commitment to nurturing the next generation of Australian artistic talent. The $10,000 acquisitive prize represents the final stage of the award.  The award was judged over a three-stage process from February to September 2014. From a pool of over 300 applicants, twenty emerging artists were shortlisted to participate in 20/20, a fast-paced networking opportunity which opened the way for twenty unrepresented artists to meet twenty of Sydney’s top gallerists. The eight strongest artists were then selected for inclusion in the Finalist Exhibition, held at HASSELL Studio, Level 2, Pier 8/9, 23 Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay Creative Precinct, Sydney.

The Finalists Exhibition continues from 11/09/14 - 20/09/14 at Hassell, Level 2, Pier 8/9, 23 Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay Creative Precinct, Sydney.

The NAB Private Wealth Emerging Artist Award is an acquisitive award open to unrepresented Australian artists nationally.  Entries for the Award in 2015 will open in November 2014.

View more photographs of the Emerging Artist Award Finalist Exhibition and Launch here