clifford how ― by invite only
Landscape Painter Clifford How is vying for an art prize, so prestigious, entry is by invitation only. What’s more, just 24 artists have made the cut.
The Kings School in Sydney is one of Australia’s most respected, and it’s Contemporary Art Prize with a $20,000 purse is hotly contested. John Olsen and Ben Quilty are past recipients, and this year it could be Clifford. “Out of the blue I received a phone call inviting me to take part, which is a great honour. Apparently one of the organisers had seen my work in the Sydney Contemporary,” he explains.
Clifford’s landscapes of wild Tasmania have won him a legion of fans, and for the Kings Prize he returned to a vista first spotted on the Overland Track. The result is Secluded with its stunning interplay “between the warm colours of the button grass and tannin in the lake with the cool palette of the misty backdrop.”
The Kings School Art Prize is announced in early June. But in October it’s our turn, when Clifford unveils new works in his solo Handmark exhibition in the Long Gallery, where a new technique has “produced a beautiful freshness and life to my work that I have not achieved before.”
Image credit: Clifford How, Secluded, 2024, oil on linen, 153 x 178 cm