THE TOM BASS PRIZE IS THE FIRST NATIONAL AUSTRALIAN PRIZE FOR FIGURATIVE SCULPTURE.
The inaugural exhibition of finalists works was held in March 2016 at Juniper Hall, Paddington, Sydney, home of the Moran prize, in commemoration of Tom Bass’ (1916 – 2010) centenary year. The prize is held biennially.
This important and prestigious Prize is a celebration of the human form and its influence on today’s sculptor. The Prize is an acknowledgement of the influence Bass had as one of Australia’s pre-eminent public sculptors.
In John McDonalds words “No artist has done more to shape the face of public art in Australia than Tom Bass. Both as a sculptor, and as an inspirational teacher of sculpture.”
We invite artists to submit works that interpret ‘figurative’ broadly, however the inspiration must come from the figure. In Tom Bass’ own words -
““We do not do it because we are attached to the figurative. Nor do we do it because it is traditional though we do respect the innate value of tradition...Why is it necessary for us to go to the natural form in such an intense way? Because it is the accumulation of that knowledge of natural form as a primary source of our creative work. The alternative to that is to imitate the things that others have done, or to follow fashion.””
