9th September, 2011

Driving over the Harbour Bridge, as you enter the city, an amazing piece of Artwork once stood tall. "Almost Once" (1991), Domain, Sydney, a sculpture located behind the Art Gallery of New South Wales on the edge of the Domain, overlooking the Cahill Expressway as it connects to the Eastern Distributor.

Almost Once

The sculpture was created by Brett Whiteley in 1968 and was presented as a gift to the art gallery in 1991. Made from black butt timber and fiberglass it depicts a redhead match alongside a burnt match. It stands at 8 metres including the plinth and 6.6 metres without it (sydney-city.blogspot.com).

Although it no longer stands in the city, I always remember it and I always reminisce of it when I drive over the bridge.

Brett Whiteley, (7 April 1939 – 15 June 1992) was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald Prize. He had many shows in his career, and lived and painted extensively in Italy, England, Fiji and the USA.
In the late 1970s Brett Whiteley, one of the most famous Australian painters of the twentieth century, won the Archibald, the Wynne and Sulman twice. These are considered the most prestigious art prizes in Australia and are held annually at the Art Gallery of NSW.
His wins were:

• 1976
  • Archibald Prize: Self Portrait in the Studio
  • Sulman Prize: Interior with Time Past
• 1977
  • Wynne Prize: The Jacaranda Tree (On Sydney Harbour)
• 1978
  • Archibald Prize: Art, Life and the other thing
  • Sulman Prize: Yellow Nude
  • Wynne Prize: Summer at Carcoar

1978 was the only time that all three prizes have ever gone to the same person.

Whiteley's remarkable achievements throughout his life will continue his legacy via his mother, Beryl, who set up the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship. Winners will receive $25,000 prize money to spend while taking residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris.

It's a great feeling to know that a very talented artists legacy carries on.