Queensland College of Art doctoral candidate Robert Andrew has won the $40,000 Alice Prize, which recognises the country’s best contemporary art.
The biennial acquisitive prize is open to artists from across the country, attracting hundreds of entries.
Robert took out top honours with his work ‘Whitewash over the burn’, a striking textural piece that features burnt timber boards, aluminium, ochre and chalk.
Robert said he couldn’t believe his luck when a call came through from this year’s judge, Brian Ritchie – MONA FOMA curator and Violent Femmes bassist.
“It was a major surprise – I was absolutely speechless,” he said.
“The money will give me the opportunity to keep making art, and winning a prize like this also helps get your work out there and seen by the right people.”
Photo credit: Carl Warner
Robert’s prize-winning work was a tribute to his great-grandmother, a Yawuru woman from the Kimberley region whose struggles to gain citizenship in the early