Sue Poggioli

Sunshine Coast National Art Prize 2024 - Finalist

_{[Image courtesy of the artist]}

Artist Statement

This hand-coloured lino print is part of an ongoing series concerned with paying homage to iconic works of art. A group of people views paintings in an imaginary art museum of my making.  

This image is a homage to John Brack and shows ‘Collins Street 5pm’,‘Two Typists’ and ‘The Bar’.  ‘The Bar’ is John Brack’s own homage to Manet’s painting of the same name. The man next to ‘The Bar’ is a shop assistant from one of his other paintings. 

The paintings have been coloured with the people remaining mainly in black and white. The artist is also coloured, in the foreground and is looking out at us. Colours from the paintings appear in the clothes and sometimes the hair of the crowd. My intention is to draw the viewer to the works as little gems glowing on the wall behind the crowd. 

The crowd is composed of people I have drawn from life, seen in art museums, cafés, and in the street. I collect people and they become the museum crowds. 

Works are chosen that have retained my attention in some way over a period of time. Through the processes of translating an oil painting into a graphic representation I gain a deeper understanding of that work.  

Apart from the drawing of the image, the cutting into lino, printing multiples, there are the attempts at matching colours and the challenge of size differences as well.