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Emerging Artist Award 2025
Emerging Artist Award 2025
presented by fortyfivedownstairs
Exhibition dates: 8 July – 19 July 2025
hours:
Tuesday – Friday: 12pm – 7pm
Saturdays: 12pm – 4pm
…a proven catalyst for ongoing recognition and professional development…
It is our pleasure to present the tenth annual Emerging Artist Award.
The Emerging Artist Award at fortyfivedownstairs is a proven catalyst for ongoing recognition and professional development and allows audiences the privilege of accessing early-career works by exciting emerging artists.
A $3,000 prize pool was awarded to two submissions that best aligned with the award criteria. The prize recipients were announced at opening night on Tuesday 8th July at 6:00pm. Special thanks to guest judge Anthony White, Head of the Art History and Art Curatorship Program at the University of Melbourne.
The First Prize of $2,000 was awarded to Steph Everett for their artwork backseat of a commodore.
The Second Prize of $1,000 was awarded to Ruby Li for their artwork I Wish I Knew Anything At All.
Special mentions: family portrait by JJ Le, Barbie by Rhys Parkinson, Open, Into space. by Yiming Wang, Lost in Translation by Vanessa Vun
Additionally, the People’s Choice Award gave the public the chance to vote for their favourite work, with the winner recieving an artist prize pack donated by Liquitex and Jasart. The People’s Choice Award was awarded to Claudia Peck for their artwork Graceful Weeping Tree.
Congratulations to all of the 2025 finalists!
Alexis Orosa, Anastasia Comelli, Bec Smith, Cate Laidler, Claudia Peck, Daniel McAuley, Emme Southey, Fiona Davey, Hazel Lanyon, Holly Hunt, Indy Heath, Jacinta Maude, Jent Do, Jesslyn Murphy, JJ Le, Justin Legaspi, Kylie Jayne, Natalie G Daskalou, Rhys Parkinson, Ruby Li, Samira Khadivizand, Sophia Slaney-Marsch, Steph Everett, Sze Yek, Vanessa Vun, Yiming Wang, Zahra O’Dea, Zoe Kamarinos.
These works will be shown for a two-week exhibition from 8 July – 19 July 2025 held across our two gallery spaces at 45 Flinders Lane.
The Emerging Artist Award 2025 is proudly supported by Equity Trustees Charitable Foundation – The Cuming Bequest, Future Leaders, Terry Swann, Bambra Press and MSC Signs, Fourth Wave Wine, as well as Liquitex and Jasart.
1. Entrants are to be in the early stages of their career
2. The Award is open to Australian residents
3. Winners from previous years are ineligible
4. Maximum of two entries per artist, with one artwork per entry
5. The entry fee is $30 per artwork. This is non-refundable
6. Artworks must be complete at the time of submission
7. Selection of artworks will depend on the ability of the gallery to accommodate installation
8. Successful entrants must provide materials and relevant equipment to install their artworks
9. All artworks must be available for sale (20% commission payable to fortyfivedownstairs on all sales)
10. Entrants must submit this form along with a one-page supporting statement, an artist CV and up to 3 high-resolution images of the artwork via online webform, email (to [email protected]) or USB. (NB. Images must be no larger than 9MB in total)
11. Entrants submit their work with the knowledge that they are committing to the below dates:
Deadline for submissions: Monday 19 May 2025, 5pm
Artwork delivery: Saturday 5 July 2025, 12pm – 5pm
Exhibition: 8 July to 19 July 2025
Unsold works collected: 20 July 2025, 12pm – 5pm
12. The judge’s decision regarding the award recipient is final
13. Successful and unsuccessful entrants will be notified Tuesday 3 June, and physical proposals cannot be returned
14. The final decision regarding eligibility resides with fortyfivedownstairs. All works must be in sound condition on arrival. fortyfivedownstairs reserves the right to withdraw shortlisted works if deemed unsuitable for display for any reason at our discretion. Due care will be taken whilst the works are at fortyfivedownstairs. No responsibility will be taken by fortyfivedownstairs for any loss or damage.
15. fortyfivedownstairs reserves the right to use selected finalists’ work for promotional purposes
Opening Night
Tuesday 8 July, 5-7pm