Fielding,who is the lead vocalist of the electronic music duo Electric Fields,immediately burst into song. “I am humbled and honoured to be a part of this,” Fielding said.
The Wynne is Australia’s oldest art prize and is awarded by the Art Gallery’s trustees for best landscape painting of Australian scenery or figure sculpture. Fielding is part of the APY Lands Art Centre Collective’s Adelaide Centre whose 28 works for an upcoming National Gallery of Australia exhibitionare currently being examined over the issue of provenance.
The NGA has appointed Melbourne barrister Colin Golvan and Sydney lawyer Shane Simpson to determine whether those works were painted under the creative control of the artists. They have yet to report their findings. Another of Fielding’s paintings Unlace,2022,is subject to that review.
The panel was formed following allegations published byThe Australian that studio assistants had a role in the creation of Indigenous artwork at the Adelaide studio in a way that might have interfered with or overruled the artists’ visions.
The artist did not address the claims directly but in his acceptance speech said he had “seen a lot of crazy from this industry which is very interesting”. Fielding paid tribute to centre staff who had encouraged him to pick up a paintbrush as well as the collective’s founder Sky O’Meara.
“We know who we are,we stand strong,” he said. “I am so proud of our work,our studio,our staff and my own teachers. This is for all the people who choose joy and beauty and the song over fight.