Salon des Refusés 2025
Every year the Salon des Refusés acts as an unofficial critique of the trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW who select the works that hang in the Archibald and Wynne Prizes. Most of the trustees are not art specialists, and there’s always speculation they’ve made bad choices, leaving out some of the best entries. That usually proves to be a false suspicion, but this time, at least with the Wynne selections, the Salon holds its own.
If the Archibald is never a treasure trove of masterpieces, the Wynne Prize, awarded for a landscape painting of Australian scenery or a “figure sculpture”, is no better. This year the trustees have made a decision to include more sculpture, but most of these pieces are so small-scale one might be looking at a display of household ornaments. The Indigenous art that has dominated the Prize in recent years is back in force, but the quality is way down. It feels as if the best works have been earmarked for the Telstra Art Awards in August, and the lesser ones sent to the AGNSW.
This year’s winner, Jude Rae’s Pre-dawn sky over Botany container terminal, is as dull as it sounds. Beautifully painted with near-photographic precision, the work is mainly sky. The ‘landscape’ is a black band at the bottom of the canvas, topped by a row of lights. Rae said it’s the view from her apartment window in Redfern, meaning she didn’t even have to leave home to find a subject.