Linda Judge thrills the judges

The 2024 Bayside Painting Prize saw more than 600 entries this year, and from amongst 46 finalists the work of Linda Judge was selected as this year’s winner. Self portrait as my mother was conferred the award by judges Dr Rebecca Coates, Director of the Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA), and artist Stieg Persson.

“Technically exquisite, the work comprises a magnificent contrast of techniques and methods”, said Coates, adding that “beyond the technical mastery of the work, we come back to the artist’s philosophical reflection on aging and what remains of one’s life”.

“The work demands you to look, and to look again. It’s a contemporary positioning of universal ideas that enables us to see something very familiar in a new light. Like the best paintings, it gives language and space to a profoundly human experience”.

Also recognised was David Ralph’s work Jeanie, which took out the acquisitive Beckett Local Prize, of which the judges said: “Ralph achieves what good painting should – he invites us to engage with the work on our own terms in our own time”.

Both Judge’s and Ralph’s winning works will be on display at the Bayside Gallery until Sunday 23 June. Visitors can cast their vote for the People’s Choice Award, which will earn the artist $1,000 at the close of the exhibition.