The best young artists of 2021’s HSC revealed through ARTEXPRESS
It was a tough year to be a student, but the class of 2021 drew inspiration from Covid, the environment, mental health and adolescence to create some incredible artworks.
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To be a young person often means providing a sense of truth, vulnerability and creativity that is both refreshing and hopeful to others.
Last year, 43 up-and-coming HSC art students tapped into their experiences of what was happening to themselves and the world, and in turn produced stellar artworks that are currently being displayed at ARTEXPRESS.
The exhibition is made up of the best of the best in NSW, as chosen by HSC markers for the visual arts examination, and is at the Art Gallery of NSW from February 3 – April 25.
The ARTEXPRESS exhibition curates the bodies of work around five different themes: ‘Common Ground’, ’Unexpected Delights’, ’Viewpoints & Conversations’, ’Where did that imagery come from?“ and ’You, Me, Us, Them.’
NSW Department of Education secretary Georgina Harrisson said students should not only be proud of their artistic achievements, but also the resilience shown in a year like no other.
“The artworks produced by NSW students that are featured in the annual ARTEXPRESS showcase are always incredible, but this year their talent and dedication is on full display,” Ms Harrisson said.
“It’s so pleasing to see the students’ ability to adapt and still produce such amazing work, and to have their hard work rewarded by being selected to participate in ARTEXPRESS.”
NewsLocal spoke to several of these inspiring young artists about their work. Students submitted one to approximately four artworks each, some of which are showcased below.
Kaitlyn Mateta
Age: 18
School and suburb: Trinity Catholic College, Goulburn
What sparked your interest in art?
I have always been interested in visual arts, both in the theory and practical aspects of visual arts. I was always creative as a child, and was open to trying new mediums like crochet for example. My interest in visual arts however really developed into a passion during my few final years of High School, typically in my Preliminary and HSC years with the amazing support and encouragement of my Visual Arts teacher Clare Cummins.
What’s the inspiration for your artwork?
The inspiration behind my artwork, ‘Stop the Spread’ responds to my own personal and collective experiences during the current global pandemic. As a year 12 student who completed their preliminary and HSC years among various lockdowns, isolations, and restrictions, the last two years were most definitely challenging, as our long awaited final year of high school was significantly impacted by the pandemic.
How do you feel about having your work exhibited?
I remember the day I found out about my acceptance into ARTEXPRESS, it was quite literally a dream come true. I had never imagined that MY body of work would be accepted into ARTEXPRESS. It is truly exciting, however I also feel that having my work exhibited furthers the discussion on the coronavirus and its impact on each and every one of us.
What’s next? What career are you hoping to pursue?
My current plan is to attend the Australian National University in Canberra to complete a Bachelor of Visual Arts minoring in History, where I will then complete a Bachelor of Secondary Education to become a Visual Arts teacher, influencing and encouraging my future students to express themselves creatively as my art teacher has done for me.
Pradeep Kandel
Age: 17
School and suburb: Graduated from Tempe High School and currently live in Kogarah.
What sparked your interest in art?
I was always drawn to art. As a child I loved to draw and that love just grew in high school with such great art teachers supporting my passion. I saw art as an escape from reality in a way as it allowed me to explore my inner thoughts which I felt unable to express through words.
What’s the inspiration for your artwork?
For this specific piece, I’ve named it ‘Who am I?’ as it explores my search for an identity. I am surrounded by different cultures in Australia and as a result I am unable to really fit into any cultural identity and in this piece I showcase myself as being in the middle, unsure of where I belong.
How do you feel about having your work exhibited?
Quite amazed really. I told myself I would make it into ARTEXPRESS and having achieved that is so amazing. Still in disbelief.
What’s next? What career are you hoping to pursue?
I always wanted to get into a career relating to design and arts. However my focus shifted towards psychology having experienced mental health issues and this led me to pursing a career in which I would be able to understand the human mind better and help people. I will be attending Macquarie University starting February 22.
Dave Chua
Age: 17
School and suburb: St Marys Senior High School & Ropes Crossing
What sparked your interest in art?
I got into art from doodling and some minor art projects in elementary school in the Philippines. However, I didn’t pursue art till my later high school years (yr9-12) when I was able to start drawing really well with the standards I put for myself at the time. I got into art through seeing so many art styles as well as anime/manga, that I wanted to pursue my own art style and hone my craft.
What’s the inspiration for your artwork?
The inspiration of my artwork, ‘The Ebb And Flow Of the Subconcious Mind,’ in terms of what inspired my art style was Studio Ghibli and Orange Studios that created a range of iconic movies and shows today. Other than that, an idea usually pops into my mind getting inspired from that idea and building it on from there. The iconic 2D woodblock Japanese artist, Takashi Murakami and the creator of the ‘Great Wave off Kanagawa’, Hokusai, also inspired my artwork for ARTEXPRESS.
How do you feel about having your work exhibited?
I feel really honoured and happy for my work to be exhibited, since it gives me a sense of achievement and acknowledgment of the hard work and I effort I put into making it.
What’s next? What career are you hoping to pursue?
I am going to keep drawing and making artworks, experimenting with my style as I go to uni. I am hoping to pursue a job in the industrial design field while drawing and hoping to do commissions as a side hobby. My recent works/art is posted on my Instagram: @_davepua_
Pranav Sarjeroa Patil
Age: 18
School & Suburb: Gosford High School & Hornsby
What sparked your interest in art?
My lovely mum got me interested in art and drawing at a young age (year 2ish) and I was into drawing animals and nature, then transferred into improving my practice specialised in graphite drawings, my strongest medium. Since then I have been doing various types of artworks in order to diversify my medium pallet.
What’s the inspiration for your artwork?
My artwork is an appropriation of The Raft Of Medusa by Gericuault and it embodies the emotions of stress and anxiety depicted in the HSC year.
How do you feel about having your work exhibited?
I am super proud of my artwork and it being held in the ARTEXPRESS exhibition and am very excited to go and see it hung up on the wall.
What’s next? What career are you hoping to pursue?
In the future I‘m hoping to go into the animation and VFX field while also improving my drawing skills and hopefully learning some new mediums.
Jet Marsh-Cashman
Age: 18
School and suburb: Waverley College. Live in Bondi Junction and Paddington
What sparked your interest in art?
My preschool teacher Megan taught me how to draw initially, more specifically skulls and crossbones ever since then I was engrossed in creating art. When I was young, my main inspiration was Jeremyville due to his graphic cartoon style. In 2013 I was in a group exhibition in Butchers Hook Art Gallery in Paddington and sold quite a few of my works. My pieces were very graphic back then and were only done with thick black poscas (water-based markers), I was actually in the newspaper for that.
What’s the inspiration for your artwork?
I wanted to make my piece more of an experience than a painting, by having relatable scenarios such as divorced parents, angry siblings, joyous grandparents, friends in need, for the audience to connect with and attach their own experiences to. This created a vulnerable and intimate experience with the missed calls from people in my life. I formulated the idea just after my parents divorce last year when I first visited my mum’s apartment in Paddington when I saw the wall phone next to the front door for the downstairs buzzer and after 30 minutes of thinking about a concept I gradually got to this finalised idea in ‘Missed Calls’. Covid and isolation also influenced me on choosing phone calls as a concept as sometimes that was the only means of communication between loved ones. Artists that inspired me include Picasso, George Condo and James Turrell.
How do you feel about having your work exhibited?
This has been a goal of mine ever since I knew about ARTEXPRESS. Not trying to be cocky but I always knew I was going to be in it if I put in the hours and had a strong concept for it, because I’m a perfectionist. I drew up the layout of how it would look like in the exhibition in the first few pages of my visual arts progress diary to truly work towards what I was trying to achieve. Felt surreal going into the exhibition for the first time and seeing it where I manifested it.
What’s next? What career are you hoping to pursue?
I was accepted into both the National art school and UNSW but still deciding on which one to go to. Also continue to do commissioned paintings and drawings and continue to create in general. I’m also working on creating a clothing brand and I am about release my NFT collection (@trackstarsnft) soon.
Zev Donovan
Age: 17
School and suburb: Emmanuel Anglican College in West Ballina.
What sparked your interest in art?
I started sketching and doodling super heroes and monsters in class when I was in primary school, then in year 5 I started doing a local art class with some friends and loved it. We learnt all about different types of art and how to make it. There I was really drawn to portraiture and human form so ever since I kept sketching and drawing as a regular hobby until more recently in year 10 my art teacher urged me to try out painting and I really liked it. Up until then I had only really done drawing and some digital painting. I just really like being able to express forms through shapes and colour. It‘s fun and lets me express myself.
What’s the inspiration for your artwork?
My main inspiration for this work was Abdul Abdullah’s art. I really love his style and the strange humour found in many of his works. I also just really liked the idea of layering images and symbols directly on top of each other. His works were conceptually rich but also just fun in a way that I really admired.
How do you feel about having your work exhibited?
I feel very lucky to have my works exhibited in ARTEXPRESS 2022, there’s so many great works in the exhibition and I am incredibly grateful that someone has chosen to display my works alongside some really great pieces. I’m really happy and excited to see the whole exhibition in person when I’m able to. It’s really kind of surreal.
What’s next? What career are you hoping to pursue?
In terms of a career I plan to continue to make art and pursue a career as a concept artist for video games and film. I plan to keep painting and drawing, possibly to one day enter the Archibald or other such art competitions/showcases in the future while I work towards a bachelor in games design. I’m just going to keep on making stuff that, hopefully, people can connect with.
Daisy Tosh
Age: 18
School and suburb: Bowral High School, Bowral
What sparked your interest in art?
My interest in art was sparked so early I don’t remember it. My entire family is very creative and encouraged me to pursue the arts beyond the average colouring book taking me to Picasso exhibitions as a 5 year old and buying canvases taller than me to paint on. Since then my interest has only grown and matured as I have.
What’s the inspiration for your artwork?
My artwork centres around the small town I grew up in and the way it impacted my growth. it explores the minutia of the small town mentality as well as the town itself with streets maps and landmarks being embedded in the layers of the paintings and forms of the ceramics. It also represents how the town’s core values conflict with my own ultimately pushing me to leave after school and find a home I’m more comfortable being me in.
How do you feel about having your work exhibited?
It‘s very surreal as I have dreamt of being in the ARTEXPRESS exhibition since year 7 and it hasn’t quite set in that I truly achieved that goal. This feeling is exasperated by the fact that I spent so much time with my piece to then spend months away from it feels unnatural. It’s incredibly exciting none the less.
What’s next? What career are you hoping to pursue?
I’m moving to Melbourne in a week to attend the Victorian College of Arts for fine arts to hopefully do art full time.
Alexandra Angus
Age: 19
School and suburb: Wenona School in North Sydney.
What sparked your interest in art?
My first artistic love was illustration and other forms of visual storytelling, which I feel was influenced by my love of books and film. I started taking photos of flowers, plants, and nature, then chose a high school photography elective. This led me to use it as an expressive form for my HSC body of work.
What’s the inspiration for your artwork?
I wanted to represent my two passions: art and the biological sciences (particularly botany). I intended to create an intersection where art meets science. The artists that have influenced my artmaking practice for this body of work included (but were not limited to): Deborah Cameron, Margriet Smulders, Martin Klimas, Lasma Vitolina, Janet Tavener, Raku Inoue. My art teacher was very supportive and helpful in mentoring me during the course of the body of work.
How do you feel about having your work exhibited?
I feel very humbled and excited to exhibit my work in such a prestigious showcase at the Art Gallery of NSW, then later across the state.
What’s next? What career are you hoping to pursue?
I have been fortunate to gain a place at the University of Sydney to study a Bachelor of Visual Arts and Bachelor of Advanced Studies (Anatomy and Histology). While I do not have a fixed idea of a career yet, I would love to be involved in animation, illustration, curation, botanical or biological sciences.
Shayla Sanna
Age: 17
School and suburb: I went to Narara Valley High School on the Central Coast.
What sparked your interest in art?
I got into art through the interest of enjoying drawing and sketching and so I decided to continue art as a subject in my senior years of High school.
What’s the inspiration for your artwork?
My artwork is inspired by an Instagram artist Karen Wicks. Who does printmaking using cardboard boxes from food packaging and pill packets. I used her idea to create my own work of art and to share my view on people in society.
How do you feel about having your work exhibited?
I feel extremely excited and overwhelmed that my artwork was chosen and being exhibited! It really gives my work a chance to be recognised.
What’s next? What career are you hoping to pursue?
I am actually hoping to pursue a career in healthcare, starting with a bachelor of nursing at UON. My love for art will go on as I continue to print, sketch and draw from home and with friends.
Jonathan Lin
Age: 17
School and suburb: Macarthur Anglican School and live in Narellan Vale.
What sparked your interest in art?
I got into art at an early age, but it was only about three years ago when I got into photography. I found it interesting to be able to capture a moment in time, being able to simply change the mood through editing and create a narrative through the end product.
What’s the inspiration for your artwork?
My work began off with three mindmaps labelled “Insomnia”, “Regaining Trust” and “Burnout”. I ultimately concluded on using the idea of mental burnout and created mood boards based on my mind map. I was mostly left with images taken within domestic settings, from there on my inspiration then branched out towards current issues, with the pandemic being arguably the most prominent event currently. I wanted my work to be suggestive but also open to interpretation so I concluded with the idea of “isolation.” With ideas finalised and pieced together, I concluded on the title ‘Confined’ as it was a depiction of isolation within the same setting.
How do you feel about having your work exhibited?
My initial reaction was shock and joy, but now I feel more of a sense of relief and pride as all the support, advice, and cost provided by my parents, teacher, and peers were not for nothing.
What’s next? What career are you hoping to pursue?
I’ll be moving down to Wollongong to study business at the University of Wollongong. Though I definitely will keep photography as a hobby and hopefully one day if I have the luck and gear, I might be able to do wedding photography as a side gig for fun.
Ruby Ivin
Age: 18
School and suburb: I‘m from West Pymble and went to school at Hornsby Girls High School.
What sparked your interest in art?
I was always interested in art as a kid, and had lots of creative hobbies like drawing, painting and cookie decorating. My first introduction to sculpting was Ceramics in Schools in primary, and then in early high school I started using polymer clay, to make earrings and hairpins for kids like ladybirds or cupcakes. I loved working with polymer clay as it allowed me to focus on detail on a small scale. I took visual arts as an elective in year 11, and experimented with polymer clay to create more sophisticated bodies of work. This major work is the second sculptural body of work I have done and really solidified my interest in sculpture.
What’s the inspiration for your artwork?
For my body of work I wanted to choose a motif that would allow me to explore high levels of detail and texture, and the octopus ended up being the perfect choice. I’ve always been fascinated by the ocean and marine animals so I found the process of studying the octopus’ anatomy in different forms to be really interesting. Watching documentaries like My Octopus Teacher gave me insight into their curious nature and intelligence, and inspired me to portray them in a playful light.
How do you feel about having your work exhibited?
I was so surprised but so stoked to have my artwork chosen for ARTEXPRESS, especially as there were so many amazing works in my class alone.
What’s next? What career are you hoping to pursue?
I‘m studying a Bachelor of Science at Sydney University. I would love to take a course on ceramics and hope to be able to pursue that alongside university.
All the other ARTEXPRESS students:
Angus Baldwin, Northern Beaches Secondary College, Freshwater Senior Campus
Mathew Barrett, Cherrybrook Technology High School
Gerard Barrios, Mosman High School
Jaslyn Brown, Northern Beaches Secondary College, Freshwater
Ian Chae, The King’s School
Stephanie Creigh, McCarthy Catholic College
Leroy D‘Souza, Killara High School
Lincoln Davie, Nowra Christian School
Pei Xiang Deacon, SCEGGS Darlinghurst
Scout Dures, Newtown High School of the Performing Arts
Alexa Dyne, Abbotsleigh
Monique Frasca, Clancy Catholic College
Indiana Grace, SCEGGS Redlands
Qizhi (Alice) Guan, Pymble Ladies’ College
Kittu Hoyne, MLC School
Alex Janoyan, St Andrew’s Cathedral School, Senior College
Phil Javier, Cammaraygal High School
Bradley Jenkins, Colo High School
Rebekah Lee, Regents Park Christian School
Bella Luu, Sefton High School
Ella McGraw, Cronulla High School
Emily McGhee, Northern Beaches Secondary College, Mackellar Girls Campus
Amelia Medbury, Blayney High School
Caitlyn Murray, St John’s College
Tyler Neville-Ross, The Rivernina Anglican College
Alexis Nojin, Terrigal High School
Edward Parsons, St Mary’s Cathedral College
Mathew Pinthong-Phuangphu, Macintyre High School
Scarlett Prowse, Green Point Christian College
Ivy Riddle, Katoomba High School
Milo Ritchie, Cranbrook School
Grace Shattock, Loreta Kirribilli
Liliane Spratt, Meriden
Any other student who would like to be interviewed for their ARTEXPRESS work, can email nicole.iliagoueva@news.com.au.
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