BEST VISUAL ARTIST

Dara Gill

Dara Gill is one of those rare artists who manages to distil the total banality and futility of Modern Life into a body of work that is simultaneously funny, engaging, poignant and accessible. Working across video, sculpture, painting, sound and installation, Gill has won a swag of awards since graduating COFA in 2009, including the Gallery Barry Keldoulis Grant for Emerging Artists, the COFA Emerging Artist Award, runner up in the 2010 Art Month Speed Dating program, and the ArtStart Grant for Emerging Artists from the Australia Council. 2011 saw the prize hog participating in JUMP Mentorship, a national mentorship program with MCA curator Glenn Barkley, culminating in his most recent solo show at MOP. Website

Bridie Connell

Bridie Connell won our candy hearts this year with her cute and crafty multimedia works exploring representations of the fairer sex (women, obvs). Her impressive body of work is an explosion of lady things – love hearts, pictures of unicorns, embroidered hankies – all of which evoke the awkward beauty and feminine charms of these everyday ephemera. Having sashayed her way through a solo exhibit at Paper Planes as part of Sydney’s pimped out 2011 Fringe Festival, following up on her much-loved 2010 series Hanky Panky Fiction, and contributing to numerous group shows (including the MCA staff show), this lil’ lady shows no sign of slowing down. Website

Dan Boyd

Daniel Boyd is a Kudjla/Gangalu man from Far North Queensland. Since 2005, Boyd has been a fixture of the local scene, drawing serious attention from some very serious sources with his beautifully rendered oil paintings and mixed media works exploring Indigenous life, masculinity, and Australian mythology. Despite his youth, Boyd has exhibited in an astounding array of spaces, including the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Gallery 4a, and Roslyn Oxley9, winning fans and accolades with his frank and insightful portrayals of modern Australian life. Website

Daniel O’Toole (aka Ears)

Daniel O’Toole, better known as Ears, has made a name for himself as a street artist, exhibiting in pubs, at live art shows, and through commissioned murals around Sydney. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, you’ve probably seen his stuff – at Sappho Books, Single Origin, The Record Store in Surry Hills, or at Newtown markets being peddled by the man himself. His style reflects this street background, throwing in an art school education to form a nifty nexus between the graphic focus of a street artist and a formalism that belies his anti-institutional bio. 2011 saw Ears transitioning from the streets to the gallery and making it look easy with his formidable solo show, The Grid. Website

Justin Shoulder

While you may not recognise Justin Shoulder, you’d be hard pressed to forget his visually arresting and elaborate Fantastic Creatures costumes should you have had the pleasure to catch a glimpse of them over the last few years. In a practice blending visual arts, dance, sound, sculpture and theatre, Shoulder has created a dazzling array of urban mythologies through his wild and wacky costumes, including the black-bubbled Hubub, red-tinselled Caenus Cerabrallus, feathered Woulthum, and trash-loving Glut Glut, all of which Shoulder inhabits in his intense and stunning performances. A member of the infamous Glitter Militia, Shoulder embodies Sydney’s more fabulous underbelly, taking his unique brand of performance to warehouses, nightclubs, festivals and theatre spaces throughout the city. Website

Tim Moore

The world owes artist Tim Moore a serious debt, for finally uniting two things that seemed doomed to spend eternity apart, pining for the adorable hilarity that could have been: dicks and embroidery. After graduating from 3D design and trying his hand at jewellery design, Moore dabbled in graphic design before finding mercifully his true calling – sewing doodles onto his intricate and colourful pieces of embroidery, and proving once and for all that being a Ron Swanson manly man and cross-stitching are not mutually exclusive activities. Moore’s work has a quiet humour and a true craftsman’s execution, delighting audiences with his ice-skaters, nudes, and childhood characters such as Elmo and Spongebob Squarepants, all embellished with his trademark wang. Website