A powerful painting for Murray

ARTIST Murray Charteris from New Beith has been named as a finalist in a prestigious art competition featuring 6542 entries from across the country.
His painting of a desolate, drought-stricken African landscape, telling the story of a struggling Baobab tree, was selected in the top 400 entries overall and got a special mention by one of the judges in this year’s Bluethumb Art Prize.
Mr Charteris was thrilled to be in the top picks in one of the nation’s biggest art pieces, with over $50,000 worth of prizes.
The who’s who of Australian art were on the panel, including Ken Done AM, Kathryn Longhurst, Wynne prize winner Hubert Pareroultja, and Bronwyn Bancroft.
In addition to being named as a finalist, Mr Charteris’ piece was awarded as a top four pick by Mr Pareroultja.
“Even to just get in the finalists given there were over 6500 entries and then it wasn’t until after the competition when winners were announced that they told me I’d be included in this curation by one of the judges, in the top five picks of his selection,” he said.
He started the painting, ‘The Consequence of Ignorance’, just over a year ago after drawing inspiration from a trip to Africa.
“It’s about the state of nature,” he said.
The painting features a sepia toned African landscape featuring a Baobab tree – one of the hardiest trees in the world – dying off due to drought.
In the foreground, there is a small green sapling that the tree dispatched as its final act on earth.
“With this work, I’ve got the new growth that’s just come up, and by pure ignorance, someone’s just walked through and stood over it without recognising the importance of it,” he said.
When Mr Charteris is not painting, he is coaching people who love the sound of doing art but lack the confidence to start by themselves.