Gallery 2.2 | Free
Rockhampton Museum of Art is proud to present its much-anticipated acquisitive painting prize, The Gold Award in 2026. This invitational award showcases the finest in contemporary Australian painting practice, with the most outstanding work to be acquired into Rockhampton Museum of Art’s nationally significant collection, judged by renowned artist Jenny Watson.
Jenny Watson is one of Australia’s most significant contemporary artists whose conceptual painting practice spans more than four decades. In 2022, Watson was curated into the group exhibition Embodied Knowledge: Queensland Contemporary Art at Queensland Art Gallery with a group of 48 new paintings on proofs of the exhibition catalogue from her 2016 survey exhibition Chronicles at Griffith University Art Gallery, Brisbane. In 2019, Watson presented Jenny Watson: A Horses Tale with Vigo Gallery at Saatchi Gallery, London. In 2017, she presented a major survey exhibition, The Fabric of Fantasy, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. This exhibition later went on tour to Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne (2017-18). Watson has exhibited extensively in Australia and internationally since 1973, representing Australia at the 55th Venice Biennale in 1993.
Watson has been included in prominent group exhibitions and biennales in Australia and overseas, and works are held in major regional and state galleries in Australia as well as overseas collections. (Biography courtesy of Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery)
Image: Rosella Namok (b. 1979) Old Gals Yarnin’ I-III 2023, acrylic on canvas, 225 x 90cm each. Rockhampton Museum of Art Collection. Winner of the Gold Award 2024. Gift of the Moya Gold Trust through Rockhampton Museum of Art Gift Fund 2024. © The artist and FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane
Exhibition Launch and Winner Announcement | Friday 10 July 6:00pm