GARY SAUER-THOMPSON'S LIGHT GALLERY SHOW WINS SALA AWARD

Gary Sauer-Thompson has won the Atkins Technicolour Photographic Award as part of the final round of 2015 SALA awards. The award was based on Gary's SALA exhibition, "Australian Abstractions".

Our congratulations go to Gary; CCP and the Light Gallery are thrilled to host this beautiful and important exhibition.

The award itself is for Artists working with photo based artwork, including, but not limited to, manipulated photography (digital or otherwise). Prize consists of an edition of three A1 Giclee Archival Fine Art Prints. The prize is supported by Atkins Technicolor.

The judges felt that
" Gary’s current work “Australian Abstractions” is a deep exploration of abstractions past and present. The black and white series are stunning and show a mastery over the tonal range, bringing a glow to granite and bark that has not been seen since the work of John Sexton. The colour work is a strong contemporary look at Australian abstracts with a colour pallet and human touch distinctly industrial Australia."

In this show Gary celebrates the tradition of abstract photography in Australia. While this tradition is very visible in other countries, in Australia abstract photographs are not shown or talked about as much, despite the fact that the work exists. Gary wonders if the curatorial establishment has conveniently forgotten this work due to a lack of understanding.

In part, Gary's black and white abstractions (showing details of the Australian landscape—bark, coastal rocks) function as a placeholder for the photographs that were made in the mid-20th Century, but have been lost. A personal project of Gary's is to unearth the original works and produce a book, a "family tree" of sorts, displaying the lost history of abstraction in Australian fine art photography.

You can follow Gary's photographic work, and htoughts, at his website: http://thoughtfactory.com.au/