Relative values: Young artists focus on family as ArtExpress returns

On the sand dunes of Cronulla, Maxina Spence – dressed in a full bodysuit – gathered her parents, brother and partner, dressed them in similar costumes, and told them to throw bright-coloured paint all over her.

Then, as the star of her own four-minute short film, she attempted to escape the clutches of the adversaries surrounding her in a work aiming to explore how individuals are compelled to conform to societal standards and the difficulties of being different.

“It means the representation of my life and my soul and how I express myself,” said Spence, who completed her HSC at Castle Hill High School last year and will now study at the National Art School.

“I want it to be interpretative to other people, where they can see it as a reflection of how they might feel in a workplace or in their own family or at school.”

Spence is among the 50 HSC graduates whose major work will be featured at the 42nd iteration of ArtExpress, opening at the Art Gallery of NSW on Thursday.

Program curator Louise Halpin – who handpicked the major works from almost 9000 submissions – selected a range to “capture the story” of the 2024 student experience, noting family and cultural reflections were among the most explored ideas in this year’s exhibit.

Among the other featured artists is former Burwood Girls High student Finn Bernstone Harris, who investigated style and identity through photographs of her sister, her father, and her mother’s best friend – and creatures made up of the clothes they wear.

“After a while, I realised that a lot of the work they want to see isn’t something profound; it’s something very personal,” Bernstone Harris said. “People’s clothing is a protection but also a stage, so what I’m trying to show to the world as well as how I’m trying to protect myself.”

Oscar Hartley, a graduate of the Dulwich High School of Visual Arts and Design, scrutinised the digital disconnect through a landscape painting of Carruthers Peak in the Snowy Mountains, which descends from a conventional, literal depiction to show glitches and coding.

“Normally, my landscapes are just landscapes without much meaning,” Hartley said. “The idea of using the digital medium as a comment on the landscape and the natural world created the work.”

Oscar Hartley with his work now showing at the Art Gallery of NSW.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

Hartley attended last year’s ArtExpress to seek inspiration for his own major work, saying it was exciting for his painting to be in the same space as former HSC students, including renowned artists Louise Zhang, Julie Fragar and Tom Polo.

Anthony Douaihy, who will study architecture after graduating from St Patrick’s College in Strathfield, turned to his love of car racing to inform his major work, which used futuristic patterns to celebrate the distinctive qualities of an automobile.

“I just kept thinking about cars once that thought came on, so I presented my idea to my teacher, and he liked it,” Douaihy said. “I like motorsports, and it just brings me joy whenever I watch it.”

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