Ben Apfelbaum

ART EXPRESS 2021 @ ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Alexa Stuart – At Your Door
Amy Fairleigh – Liability
Cooper Polley – The Queiter You Are, The More You Can Hear
Esther Wong – The Little Things Hold The Biggest Memories
Haylee Mills – Aboriginal Bush Medicine
Jaeyoon Kim – Dark World Of The Wealthy
Mark-Lawrence Maureira – The Sole Trader
Mustafa Ismail – Xpedition X

I always look forward to ART EXPRESS to feel the youth, exuberance and optimism of the finalists selected for the walls and floor space of the New South Wales Art Gallery. Understandably this year was different.

At times unable to go out, or to socialise with their friends or even take a break away from their environs, the mood was more inward looking, reflective and, in some cases, sombre. 

Many of the subjects were depictions of family life, siblings and views from windows. 

For some reason, many of the finalists’ art consisted of panels, as if to indicate that one frame was insufficient to contain their ideas.

There seemed to be a dearth of sculptures, as if materials during lockdown were unavailable. 

ART EXPRESS is not a competition. Even the photos I selected for this article are not an indication of superiority over the other artwork. It was merely the case that given the imitations of my photographic gear, I thought that the above photos would reproduce the best.

Congratulations to all the finalists!

ART EXPRESS 2021 is showing at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until the 5th April, 2021.

Featured image : Charles Newton-John ‘Feel’. All images by Ben Apfelbaum.

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.