Peek behind the curtain of the Bluethumb Art Prize 2021 with this curation of judge (and 2020 art prize winner) Hubert Pareroultja's picks for the judges' scorecard. Discover below Hubert's top 5 picks from the prize, his comments, and the rest of the curation for his category picks.
Describing his top pick as "a strong painting of a strong man", Hubert's number one slot goes to Amos Hampton's portrait of the legendary David Gulpilil.
In the second slot comes a stunning Aboriginal piece in glowing hues of orange and red - Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming) - Ngalyipi by Pauline Napangardi Gallagher. "We all have a dreaming - this reminds me of country," explains Hubert in regards to what makes this piece such a stand out.
Wayne Smith's The Grinding Pace comes in third. An intricate abstract that has multiple layers, the imagines historical figures in the place they traditionally whittled and ground their weapons. The mysterious, ghostly figures form part of the landscape, emerging only when the viewer looks closer. The piece was chosen by Hubert for it's strong use of colour.
In fourth place is a landscape painting by Murray Charteris. The Consequence of Ignorance depicts an ancient, dying Baobab tree, which has just produced a seedling before it's own life ends. Murray Charteris uses the seedling to show the conseuqences of humanity on this fragile growth; "New growth giving hope to future life. In an instant of ignorance someone steps onto the new plant as if it didn't even exist, just because it happened to be in their way. Remaining life continue to suffer the consequences of our ignorance."
Hubert's final selection is Nadia Culph's celebration of Australian flora. A striking still life photograph of native Aussie flowers on a black background, the image pays homage to "all the nice flowers" in Hubert's eyes.

Curated by Hubert Pareroultja