They bill themselves as Cairns answer to the ‘Archibald Prize‘ … a bold but very tongue in cheek comparison.
The ‘Blunt Edge of Portraiture Awards’ were the brain child of Cairns locals Roland Nancarrow and Dominic Johns back in 2007 and they have been amassing street cred ever since. Unlike the famed Archibald’s the portraits are not restricted to just brush, palette, paint, crayon or ink … and invited ‘Blunt’ artists may use any (or all) mediums available to create a ‘portrait’ including wet clay, film, mixed media, photography, metalwork, mosaic, poetry etc. One memorable past entry was constructed out of custard !
I have been invited (at the suggestion of fellow photographer Glen O’Malley) to be a part of this years ‘Not Quite Blunt Awards’ – along with twenty three other Blunt ‘Virgins’ or newcomers who will be competing for a spot in the next full scale ‘Blunt Edge’ awards in 2016. Each ‘Virgin’ is drawn out of the hat to make a portrait of one other of the twenty four and the works will form an exhibition and vie for awards announced on the eve of December 11th at Crate 59 Gallery in Cairns.
Indeed fortunate to have been tasked with making a portrait of the delightful performance artist Kloe Gee … whilst artist Maree has the unenviable task of having to make a likeness of me interesting ! The works will be judged by eminent artists from southern climes who are not familiar with the Cairns art scene.
All in all it sounds a load of fun … ‘Thanks’ for the Blunt invitation!