clayton utz award winner 2024
Way of Being Triptych by Marisa Veerman
Judges Commentary
By Dr Andrea Bubenik
Associate Professor in Art History and 2024 Guest Judge
Marisa Veerman's triptych is the most abstract work in the competition, and also the most diverse in terms of media. She uses photography and textile, fine embroidery and beading. What I admire most about this work is that it is open ended and rife with possibilities. Here, I find myself considering a variety of ideas for how to describe: old photographs that are just out of focus, ghostly apparitions who are somehow familiar yet strange, an ephemeral and liminal space that is otherworldly.
There is an assured dynamism through the lovely fresh floral pastel palette, at the same time we squint and wonder again and again, who is here with us? How long will they stay? A haunting is not always about doom and gloom - the cheerful pastel palette ensures this - and memories of other lives need not always be heavy and laden with regret.
For me, this triptych allows the viewer to go on a journey of their own. Rather than being locked into a preconceived meaning, we experience a kind of flight of thought and ideas. This is original, thoughtful, playful art making. You can go back again and again for a fresh experience. For all these reasons and more, I have chosen Marisa Veerman as the winner of the Clayton-Utz art prize in 2024."
Scott Sharry , Dr Andrea Bubenick, Marisa Veerman, Brett Lethbridge
CV
Marisa Veerman {b.1977)
solo exhibitions
2026 Knowing, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2026 Il filo dello sguardo, Camilla Prini Gallery, Milan, Italy
2025 Side by Side AK Bellinger Gallery, Inverell, NSW
2024 Way of Being Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2023 By the Way, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2022 The Land of Sonder, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2021 Eunoia, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2020 Humankind, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2019 In All She Is, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2018 Quietude, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2017 Blush, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
group exhibitions
2026 Spirer oGallery, Veijle, Denmark
2026 New Light, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2025 Roma Arte in Nuvola, Camilla Prini Gallery, Rome
2025 Murmure, Galerie Grecourt, Biarritz, France
2025 Solherv, oGallery, Denmark
2025 The Figure, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane
2025 Floral Narratives, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane
2022 Interconnected, NERAM Museum, Armidale, NSW
2021 Home Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2020 Grammar Art Show, Toowoomba, QLD
2019 CODA Gallery, Palm Desert, California
2018 Christmas Show AK Bellinger Gallery, Inverell, NSW
2018 Downlands Art Exhibition, Toowoomba, QLD
AWARDS AND PRIZES
2025 Finalist, Rotary Art Award, Brisbane, QLD
2025 Finalist, Omnia art Prize, Melbourne, VIC
2025 Finalist, Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize
2025 Finalist Callinan Chambers Art Prize, Brisbane, QLD
2024 Winner Clayton Utz Art Award, Brisbane, QLD
2024 Winner, Inverell Art Award Acquisition Award
2024 Finalist, Rotary Art Award, Brisbane, QLD
2023 Finalist, Rotary Art Award, Brisbane, QLD
2025 Finalist, Clayton Utz Art Award, Brisbane, QLD
2023 Finalist, Lethbridge Small Scale Art Award, Brisbane QLD
2022 Finalist, Lethbridge Small Scale Art Award, Brisbane QLD
2022 Finalist, Ravenswood Women’s Art Prize, Sydney, NSW
2021 Finalist, Lethbridge Small Scale Art Award, Brisbane QLD
2021 Finalist, Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize
2020 Finalist, Brisbane Portrait Prize, QLD
2020 Finalist, Clayton Utz Art Award, Brisbane, QLD
2020 Finalist, Lethbridge Small Scale Art Award, Brisbane QLD
2020 Finalist, Brisbane Portrait Prize, QLD
2019 Winner, Best Mixed Media, Highly Commended, Rotary Art Award, Brisbane, QLD
2019 Finalist, Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize
2019 Finalist, Lethbridge Small Scale Art Award, Brisbane QLD
2018 Finalist, Lethbridge Small Scale Art Award, Brisbane QLD
2018 Finalist, Frankie Good Stuff Awards, Art and Illustration Category
2018 Finalist, SDA International Exhibition in Print, Family Matters, Paseo Del Sol, Santa Fe
2017 Finalist, Lethbridge Small Scale Art Award, Brisbane QLD
2016 Finalist, Clayton Utz Art Award, Brisbane, QLD
2016 Highly Commended & People’s Choice Winner, Lethbridge Small Scale Art Award, Brisbane QLD
2015 Finalist, Kennedy Art Prize, Adelaide, SA
COMMERCIAL installations
The Wilde, Milano Club, Via dei Giardini, 16, 20121 Milano MI, Italy
Treehouse by ARIA, Rooftop, Private Dining Pavilion, 111 Jane St, West End QLD 4101
GALLERY REPRESENTATION
Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Visit Gallery
Arte in Salotto, Milan, Italy
