back issue

In art one finds an ongoing dialogue between the established and the upcoming, between the artistic canon and the underground, with energy and influence flowing both ways. Throughout its forty-six-year history, the front cover of Art & Australia has often heralded an artist in mid-career or at the peak of their creative achievement. Six years ago, with the diversification of contemporary art practice in this country, we saw the need to create a platform to celebrate artists at an earlier stage of their development. Reserving the magazine's back cover for the work of an artist in the first five years of their professional practice seemed a natural choice to encourage this dynamic exchange. And so the Art & Australia Contemporary Art Award was born.

Since June 2004, Art & Australia has functioned in this way, with the front and back covers working in tandem. In this respect, each issue resembles a curated exhibition for many different audiences. If the front cover is the equivalent of an institutional space, one might see the back cover as offering room for artistic experimentation and early exposure much in the same way as an artist-run initiative operates. Reclaiming the back cover for this purpose meant that we could showcase work free from commercial constraints and often by artists without official representation. In order for this editorial freedom to flourish - as magazines function primarily on advertising revenues - we have been fortunate to have the assistance of ANZ Private Bank from the prize's inception until December 2009.

The Contemporary Art Award offers exposure in two distinct ways: by bringing new work to the attention of the public through the back cover exhibition space and by the purchase of the work for the Art & Australia Collection. The latter part of the prize has enabled artists not only to be supported through acquisition, but to have their work exhibited on rotation at Art & Australia's Sydney offices and loaned to national museums on an ongoing basis. To date, institutions such as Melbourne's Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts and the University of Queensland Art Museum have exhibited works from the collection, seeding the work of these emerging artists across Australia and in different contexts.

Reflecting the diversity of emerging practices in the region, the award has evolved over time. Beginning its life as a closed award, recipients were originally nominated by Art & Australia's Editorial Advisory Board, members of which continue to share their expertise and time in the judging of each award. From 2006, the program expanded to become an open award partnered with, and administered by, the National Association for the Visual Arts. In recent years the award has been further invigorated with the participation of New Zealand artists. A further refinement has been the change in our collection policy, with one major acquisition made annually from the four winners.

Six years and twenty-three recipients on, we have seen annual award applications soar (now in the vicinity of 600) and many careers flourish - with Del Kathryn Barton's 2008 Archibald Prize win just one measure of a once emerging practice becoming central in our visual arts culture. This year sees another key change to the prize which, we believe, will further strengthen it for the future. As of this Autumn 2010 issue, readers will notice a new sponsor for the award. Credit Suisse Private Banking is already an international supporter of many leading cultural institutions, including the Singapore Art Museum and the National Gallery, London. We welcome this important new partnership that will further champion contemporary art in Australia and New Zealand, and look forward to sharing with readers a multiplicity of new artistic voices in the region.