Narcissus has been selected as a finalist for the Kennedy Prize Art Award 2015 and will be exhibited from 20-28 Nov 2015, Adelaide, South-Australia.

The Kennedy Prize is an annual Australian art award of $25,000 for ‘beauty’

The prize, offered by the Kennedy Arts Foundation, is based and exhibited in Adelaide but open to Australian artists nationwide, and is awarded to works that embody, comment on or celebrate beauty.
The winning artist will receive the Kennedy Prize of $25,000, and their artwork will be acquired by the Kennedy Arts Foundation, toured nationwide and auctioned at the next year’s Kennedy Prize exhibition. The work’s increased recognition, prestige and market value will thus contribute significantly to the prize’s funds, ensuring continued annual growth. The main exhibit will present finalists’ works, demonstrating their exceptional quality.

The Foundation’s Choice,  a separate exhibition comprising a selection of the remaining entries, will run alongside the main exhibit. The Foundation’s Choice exhibition will showcase the scope of the entries and feature a diverse, exciting array of emerging and established Australian artistic talent.

A people’s choice award will also be awarded to the audience’s preferred entrant.

NARCISSUS 2015 © Christophe Canato

Judges Commendation presented to Christophe Canato for the artwork title " self portraits, Inspired by Patricia Puccinini" - 2015 City of Joondalup Community Invitation Art Award

Juges:

ROBERT COOK

BRANDON BALLENGEE

GREG PRYOR

WORK IN PROGRESS

GREY GARMENT, SELF PORTRAIT, NARCISSUS © christophe canato 2015

As in many societies, religious doctrine is a factor in the policing of hair.

To mark their status, ladies never cut their hair among the fashionable middle and upper classes of Victorian society. In contrast, hair became the focal point of sexual interest and the primary expression of femininity could be seen as decadence if untied. What was decadent not that long ago now finds its civilian status as a third gender. Beyond sexuality, what some people consider a vice or confusion between gender will reveal balanced identities with one of its famous representatives, talented bearded lady Conchita Wurst.

Narcissus saw his own reflection in the water and fell in love with it. From the Greek myth we find the origin of the term narcissism, a fixation with oneself and one's physical appearance. Some say that narcissism is the direct expression of same-sex attraction but can we reduce homosexuality to a single schema, given the complexity of our human brain. Considering recent introduction to same sex marriage in our Western world, Canato’s Narcissus is a way to examine ethic and the relationship between narrative and representation.

Much like artists might look to religion or myths as a catalyst for their work, Patricia Piccinini with The Carrier, 2012, uses biology as a narrative to understand and express the issues of our contemporary world sparking a dialogue with our desire to homogenise the human body. Inspired by this particular work of hers, Christophe Canato’s ludic self-portrait with his partner in life, expressing the challenges of our ability to accept those who don’t meet our concept of the ideal.

This trilogy serves as an expression of the membrane between two worlds; that by which we are surrounded, and another which belongs to the individual, a sort of no man’s land. Intense of emotion and metaphor, this interior space could be portrayed as circus freaks with the bearded lady, the giant and the conjoined twins.

link to CATALOGUE - finalist of the 2015 City of Joondalup Community Invitation Art Award

2015 Catalogue of the Community Invitation Art Award

GREY GARMENT 2015 © Christophe Canato