martin rek― hadley’s honour
The 2021 Hadley’s Art Prize attracted a record field of 721 this year, and Handmark artist, Martin Rek, is thrilled to be amongst the final cut. In fact, Martin is still pinching himself that his Highly Commended work, Reverie, was selected as a finalist in this prestigious landscape award.
Known for painstakingly detailed carbon sketches of Tasmanian wilderness, the judges praised Reverie, as a “deeply sensitive and detailed drawing created with incredible precision which reveres a place as both real and imagined.” They further applauded the piece as “a reflection on the expansive views and fine details that form the cumulative experience of bushwalking.”
Martin created Reverie especially for the prestigious art prize, deliberately stepping outside his comfort zone during the process. He explains that in the past he has always started off with small scale sketches to plan out how his landscapes will finally take shape. But, with Reverie Martin threw caution to the wind and adopted a “very spontaneous and organic approach with no preliminary drawings.” Furthermore, rather than depicting one traditional scene, Reverie pulls together fragments of many of Martin’s favourite locations to roughly form a posed figure.
Now that Martin’s new-found sense of artistic adventure has reaped such impressive results, it would seem there is no turning back for this artist: “In the future I will continue to challenge and push myself with my drawings. You can expect the unexpected!”
The Hadley’s Art Prize Finalist exhibition runs until August 29.