ABC Online: King Street painting wins Sydney art prize

King Street Newtown by Jessica Geron has taken out the City of Villages art prize run by the City of Sydney Council.

A painting depicting a stationary bicycle standing on Newtown’s busy King Street, in Sydney’s south-west, has won the City of Sydney Council’s City of Villages art prize. The work, by local artist Jessica Geron, was chosen from 10 finalists in a competition designed to showcase local contemporary works by up-and-coming artists.

Deputy chair of the council’s Cultural and Community Services Committee, Councillor Marcelle Hoff, says the competition allows Sydney artists to focus on a much-loved, well known, quirky, or hidden aspect of village life in the city. “The images encapsulate Sydney’s villages beautifully,” she said.

“We see the city skyline over a clothes line in Redfern, the iconic Badde Manors Cafe in Glebe, a green Sydney Park, the bow of a ferry on Sydney Harbour, walkers across the Bridge and Five Ways in Paddington.”

The 10 finalists were selected by a panel of distinguished judges including the head curator of Asian art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jackie Menzies, and high-profile Sydney artists Wendy Sharpe and Ben Quilty.

Mr Quilty says Ms Geron’s painting is a deserving winner.

“The winning entry is bold and strong with an experimental edge that set it apart from the other finalists,” he said.

Two other works received highly commended by the judges, including Jennie Pry’s Village Life Lines and Candice Reid-Latimer’s Paddington Round About.

Sydneysiders will have the chance to view all 10 works over the next two weeks, with the images being reproduced as giant posters and displayed at several sites around the city.

The originals are also on display in a free public exhibition at the Pine Street Creative Arts Centre in Chippendale from today until August 3.