Published: 7 October 2022

Michael Thomson has won the 2022 Basil Sellers Art Prize with his oil on canvas An Encounter on the Path that Leads to the River.

Rain and flooding prevented southern tablelands artist Mr Thomson from accepting his prize in person. Instead his acceptance speech was read to art lovers gathered for the prize winner announcement at the Basil Sellers Exhibition Centre on Friday 7 October.

“My work is focused on the concept of identity and in particular male identity. In this work I hope to show the subtleties within individual male identity and the relationships between those identities.”

Mr Sellers was present to make the winners announcement and said he appreciated all the support for the prize and exhibition.

“Many entries were submitted and there is a lot of work to determine which should make the final cut and go into the exhibition,” Mr Sellers said.

The Basil Sellers Art Prize has grown from strength to strength since its 2004 inception and is now open to artists across the nation. Also at the opening, Eurobodalla Mayor Mathew Hatcher announced the winner of the $5,000 Eurobodalla Prize open to exhibition entrants from the local region.

“The winner of the Eurobodalla Prize for 2022 isGillian Wilde with her watercolour and ink collage Glory Going,” Mayor Hatcher said.

The Mayor had previously expressed his admiration for Mr Sellers contribution to both the exhibition centre and the art prize.

“Both bring extended benefits to our local and national arts community and help support the economic and social recovery of our region,” he said.

“I’m thrilled to be standing in this stunning, purpose-built space alongside Mr Sellers – who made this all possible – and with many of the finalists. It’s fair to say the quality of work in this exhibition is really next-level.”

National Gallery of Australia’s associate curator of Australian art Simeran Maxwell and Basil Sellers Art Prize judge said she appreciated the consistently high quality of work in the exhibition.

“The diversity of subject matter and medium made this a really hard task – I was looking for technical excellence, original thought and aesthetic,” Ms Maxwell said.

The $500 People’s Choice award winner will be announced on Friday 18 November. The Basil Sellers Art Prize exhibition runs at the Basil Sellers Exhibition Centre in Moruya, more fondly known as The Bas, Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 4pm, until Sunday 20 November.

---

Don’t miss out on Council news and events, subscribe to our monthly email newsletter.