By Tyler Wright
A Dandenong Ranges artist has won the 24th People’s Choice Award at the 2022 Salon des Refusés: The alternative Archibald & Wynne Prize selection exhibition.
Mary Tonkin’s landscape oil on linen work ‘Hot Kiss, Kalorama’ was among 17 works selected from the Wynne Prize in addition to 38 works selected from the Archibald Prize.
Mary’s work was painted entirely outside in bush on her family’s farm in Kalorama during late summer and early autumn 2021.
The painting is named after a particular kiss; the “somewhat shattering tingle and sparkle of which seemed alive in the forms as I painted them,” Mary said.
“The director of the gallery said that this is the first time [the People’s Choice Award] had been awarded to a landscape, which is I thought was rather delightful,” Mary said.
“It’s interesting culturally that there might be a shift away from this obsession with famous people or people in general towards the landscape, which I think will be healthy.”
National law firm Holding Redlich presented Mary with the award at the National Trust’s S.H. Ervin Gallery in Sydney.
Holding Redlich’s Sydney Managing Partner, Stephen Trew, said it was an honour to recognise Mary for her art.
“Mary’s work draws your attention as soon as you enter the room,” Stephen said.
The Salon des Refusés was initiated by the S.H. Ervin Gallery in 1992 in response to the large number of works entered into the Archibald Prize which were not selected for display in the official exhibition.
It has since become a much-anticipated event among Sydney’s thriving arts scene.
The exhibition and People’s Choice Award is an annual event, with the winner voted by visitors to the National Trust’s S.H. Ervin Gallery in Sydney.
Holding Redlich has been a proud sponsor of the exhibition’s People’s Choice Award at the Salon des Refusés exhibition for the past 24 years.
Stephen said Holding Redlich is proud of its longest-standing arts partnership with the Salon des Refusés exhibition and strong support for the arts nationally.
“Our firm’s founder Peter Redlich loved, and was an advocate for, the arts. It’s wonderful to acknowledge our heritage and continue his passion through our ongoing partnership with the S.H. Ervin Gallery,” Stephen said.
While Mary’s work has been exhibited before, it was the first time her work had been hung in the Salon des Refusés.
“I was delighted to be hung even in the Refusés and to win it was just extra special,” Mary said.
“I grew up at Kalorama. I grew up on the farm where I work, so it’s home and it’s private land I have access to so I can work in an uninterrupted way.
“It is home in every sense. I just adore that bush, so it’s a constant source of joy [and] a constant delight.”
