BEST VISUAL ARTIST

 

Michaela Gleave

Michaela Gleave is your artistic all rounder, traversing mediums and expectations with a body of work that’s simply breathtaking. Conducting experiments into human perception, experiencing Gleave’s art in action is like that moment of existential acceptance staring at a starry night in one of your more profound moments. In fact 2012’s Frozen Moment does away with the whole metaphor business and is just that. Fixated on the burning balls of gas that call our little lives into question, We are Made of Stardust followed suit, treating the public to a moving physical, tactical moment of wonder. None of this has gone unnoticed, Gleave’s Trophy cabinet boasting a shiny Australia Council for the Arts Creative Australia Fellowship, a Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship and Australia Council for the Arts New Work Grants. Website

Benja Harney

We all thought our origami crane folding skills were pretty damn snazzy before Benja Harvey’s paper creations shat all over them. With anything but elementary skill, Harvey engineers the humble medium of paper to charming new heights. From exhibition to shop-front, magazine covers to packaging, his array of paper-folding applications prove him to be as versatile as the medium he models with. From installing giant flowers in the QVB to fashioning a set for Romance Was Born and leather pop-up book for Petit H in Paris, he has continued to grow in cutting-edge concept and scissor skills throughout the year. Harvey’s work acknowledges and extends the world of paper craft into the realm of modern art, maintaining its innocent, vibrant and youthful character. Website

David Capra

David Capra can commonly be found tap-dancing in fountains or rolling around on the ground singing “Shaba-roe-co ro-roro-ro shunda-ra-coco” with operatic enthusiasm. He works across mediums of performance, sculpture, collage and installation and strives to suspend audiences’ disbelief. His rough and haphazard style of composition lays childlike honesty upon themes of religion and faith. Describing himself as a prophetic artist, Capra’s work is inspired by divine encounters and ecstatic notions that transcend logic; and quite the mystical man he is. We’ve watched with an eager, if not slightly surprised gaze as his curious recurring themes of planets and hands have scattered throughout his 2012 body of work, which included exhibitions at the Lock Up Cultural Centre, West Space and Firstdraft Art Auction. Website

Jess Olivieri

Where there’s alcohol and art, we’re never far behind. So it’s no surprise to see Jess Olivieri as a nominee for an annual arty SMAC. That and well – she’s just damn good at her job. Busy guest curating the MCA’s popular ARTBAR Project, and featured in Swedish For Argument at UTS and SEXES at Performance Space, Jess continued her exploration of society, culture and our inhabitation of physical space throughout a successful year. Olivieri co-founded Future Local Association Group (FLAG) and is the co-curator of the performance program Nighttime with Lara Thoms at Performance Space. Collaborating with artists such as Hayley Forward, Jason Maling and Sarah Rodigari, her work is invigoratingly fresh and her practice diverse, welcoming you into her world with a literal uplifting chorus. Website

Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro

It’s about time we stopped beating around the bush and acknowledge that size does matter, and there’s nothing like a gargantuan sculpture to remind us of this hard fact. Prolific pair Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro have been stopping crowds since they blasted onto the art scene in 2005. Demanding the attention of their audiences and centered on themes of the everyday and human possession of place and property, their work has been exhibited worldwide, recently curated into a comprehensive survey on exhibition now at the MCA. Reminding us almost aggressively of the wreckage and destruction that accompanies human aspiration, Healy and Cordeiro’s large-scale, largely conceptual pieces are well and truly cemented within the encyclopaedia of iconic Australian art. Website