Art
Bright light, local colour
Contemporary, traditional, abstract or figurative, the Scarborough Art Show is a colourful celebration of diversity. Artists just entering the commercial art world hang beside veterans with decades of experience. Local painters, printmakers, photographers and sculptors are showcased beside those from Sydney and beyond. It's a wonderful opportunity for first time buyers to purchase an original piece of art, while seasoned investors can expand their collection. The relaxed and informal coastal atmosphere means you can browse at your leisure and perhaps even meet some of the artists!
The show attracts over 150 artists and craft exhibitors each year who work in a wide range of styles. Celebrated regular artists include Ashley Frost (a former Archibald finalist), Tanya Stubbles, Kate Broadfoot, Chris Ducyznski, Hal Pratt, Gillian Day, Anthea Stead and Alannah Dreise, exhibiting alongside many other interesting and curious works from new and established artists.
Ashley Frost
Ashley Frost is a contemporary landscape artist and a graduate of the National Art School. His career as a professional artist and educator spans twenty-five years, during which time he has had both solo and group exhibitions in Australia and abroad, including New York, Tokyo, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. He has had art residencies in Texas, Antarctica, Norway and Long Island, New York. In 2004 he won the Kings Art Prize, the Hills Art Prize in 2018, the Mosman Art Prize Viewer’s Choice in 2017 and he was Highly Commended in the 2021 Flow Contemporary Watercolour Prize. He was a finalist in the 2021 Wynne and Sulman prizes and in 2017 a finalist in the Archibald Prize for his portrait of Janet Dawson, an Australian pioneer in colour field painting.
Ashley has travelled widely, conducting research for his PhD candidacy on public art in the cities of Brasilia, Beijing, New York and Canberra.
Frost immerses himself in what he describes as a convergence of light and place. His paintings play on the relationship between bodies of water, buildings, roads, cars and vast skies through a communication of colour, light and reflective qualities. He builds up thick, luscious layers of paint to give his works a highly appealing tactile quality.
His works are held in collections around Australia and he is represented by Stella Downer Fine Art.
Tanya Stubbles
A longtime supporter and exhibitor of the Scarborough Art Show, Tanya Stubbles' collaged relief work, made from recycled industrial and agricultural materials, reflects the organic natural rhythms of the coast and the bush.
A two-time recipient of the Bundanon Artist Residency, Tanya’s work has also been exhibited in the Art Gallery of NSW as a finalist in the prestigious Wynne Prize.
In her words.. "I describe myself as a social landscape painter. My goal is to explore the Australian identity, our stories and pastimes. I seek to create iconic images, which weave together stories of the land, its people and history. Through the use of nostalgic and sentimental elements sourced from all over Australia, I create works which speak to the people of their experiences. Construction offers a opening to access the subconscious through materials which in turn trigger the memories of childhood experiences and pastimes. I explore both rural and industrial landscapes and define myself as working in abstraction of the landscape. My use of materials and the interpretations of the places are always constructed through a highly intuitive process."
In recent years Tanya has exhibited her work in Hong Kong, New York and Japan but she maintains her strong connection to the Australian landscape, the bush and her creative process while utilising reclaimed materials as diverse and quirky as pieces of old pianos, wooden furniture, scrap metal and other forgotten items to produce her artworks.