An excerpt from John McDonald’s review of the 2025 Salon des Refusés at the National Trust’s S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney:
“There are works by consistent artists such as Mary Tonkin and Peter Stevens, inexplicably omitted from the Wynne; and a big, very lively painting by Luke Sciberras in which there has been a concerted effort to pull together different strands of colour to create rhythms in a busy, congested bush landscape. Think of Pollock’s Blue Poles, with gum trees and gully.”
Luke Sciberras’ painting titled ‘Along the Clays, Wilcannia’, from 2024-2025 was included in the Wynne Selection of the Salon des Refusés 2025, curated by Katrina Cashman [Director, NAS Gallery] and Jane Watters [Director, S. H. Ervin Gallery].
From S. H. Ervin Gallery website:
The Salon des Refusés was initiated by the S.H. Ervin Gallery in 1992 in response to the large number of works entered into the Archibald Prize which were not selected for display in the official exhibition. The Archibald Prize is one of Australia’s most high profile and respected awards which attracts hundreds of entries each year and the S.H. Ervin Gallery’s ‘alternative’ selection has become a much anticipated feature of the Sydney scene.
Each year our panel is invited to go behind the scenes of the judging process for the annual Archibald Prize for portraiture and Wynne Prize for landscape painting and figure sculpture at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to select an exhibition from the many hundreds of works entered in both prizes but not chosen for the official award exhibition.
The Salon des Refusés exhibition at the S.H. Ervin Gallery has established an excellent reputation that rivals the selections in the ‘official’ exhibition, with works selected for quality, diversity, humour and experimentation, and which examine contemporary art practices, different approaches to portraiture and responses to the landscape.
The Salon des Refusés also features the work of Wendy Sharpe, and two by Tom Carment. This year’s Salon des Refusés will run from 10 May – 27 July, 2025.
