art prize finalists — nick glade-wright + luke wagner
Talented Handmark painters, Luke Wagner and Nick Glade-Wright, have been selected as finalists in two of Australia’s prestigious art prizes.
Pops of colour, often in vivid orange, explode from the canvases of Nick Glade-Wright. In Peace Will Come a lone bright tree, its branches bare, dominates the changing landscape. “The tree of life is pink, symbolising vulnerability, and stands firm,” Nick explains, “as the blue skies of change push the dark skies of war out of the picture.” Impressing the judges, Nick’s painting has just been nominated as a finalist in the Caleen Art Award at NSW’s Cowra Regional Gallery.
Success also for Luke Wagner, who’s haunting subdued landscapes of Tasmania’s northern Midlands, proved a sell-out success at his last Handmark exhibition. Now a new painting in the series is in the running for Sydney’s significant Mosman Art Prize which dates back to 1947. Luke describes his entry, The Last of the Night, as “a dusky evening scene which was painted in the same area around Woolmers near Longford.”