Work on our primal side wins top award

A MASSIVE fibreglass bust of a great white ape, representing man's relationship with its closest animal relative, has won Australia's richest sculpture prize.

A MASSIVE fibreglass bust of a great white ape, representing man's relationship with its closest animal relative, has won Australia's richest sculpture prize.

Victorian artist Lisa Roet, who has been researching and sculpting primates across the world for the past decade, was announced yesterday as the winner of the biennial $100,000 McClelland Contemporary Sculpture Survey and Award.

The prize - funded by philanthropist Dame Elisabeth Murdoch -was presented by her son and fellow art-lover Rupert Murdoch at a ceremony in the gardens of McClelland Park, on Melbourne's southeastern fringe.

Roet, 38, said the bust - which is more than 3m tall and 3m wide - was intended to convey the idea that humans and primates are closely linked, even in today's world.

"By making it really iconic, it's giving the power back to this primal side of ourselves," she said.

There were 240 applicants for the award, with 35 making the final cut.

Before announcing the recipient of the prestigious prize yesterday, Mr Murdoch, who said it was "great to come home", paid tribute to his 96-year-old mother, one of the country's best-known philanthropists.

"For me the best thing about this visit is to get with my very favourite patron of the arts and spend some time with her," Mr Murdoch said.

"Dame Elisabeth Murdoch - or I may call her Mum - she really is a big believer in the power of art to enrich our public spaces, our national character and all our lives."

Mr Murdoch, 74, chairman of News Limited, publisher of The Australian, praised the work of all the award entrants, saying the constant themes among the works were beauty, insight and ambition.

Roet, who has worked as an artist and researcher for several years in the US and Europe, said the generosity of Dame Elisabeth was crucial, because the Australian art industry did not attract the same level of philanthropy as in other countries.

"It really makes a big difference to the art industry in Australia, because weneed money to make these things," she said.

Roet, who said White Ape had cost her $30,000 to make over three months, plans to invest her $100,000 prize in future sculptures.