|
The winner – Universe, by Marco Morales . . . “to really make people see the everyday things
they shouldn’t take for granted”
By Chris Hook
A celebration of the small everyday aspects of God’s creation was the intention of
Marco Morales with his oil on canvas painting Universe, which won first prize at the recent Sydney Catholic Schools’ Religious Art exhibition.
“I just thought I’d do an everyday thing,” said Marco, “to really
make people see the everyday things they shouldn’t take for granted.”
His three panelled work seeks to highlight the everyday beauty of a flower.
But, as Marco noted, it’s the little things we see but
do not necessarily appreciate that make up life.
He sought to emphasise and magnify this to show that God’s creation is equally complex at the microcosmic and macrocosmic levels.
Marco, a former
student at De La Salle Ashfield, has now completed his HSC and is hoping to commence study in the field of multimedia next year.
He told The Catholic Weekly he hasn’t been painting much, but has been playing
a lot of guitar. He hopes to start a Christian rock band in the next few months.
Another entrant in the exhibition was De la Salle Cronulla student, Adriana Benarroche, whose family originally came from
Venezuela.
Adriana’s high commendation awarded work The Indebted picks up the Jubilee theme of developing country debt.
She said she had been inspired by reports last year of natural disasters in
Venezuela.
But she also sought to bring joy to the self-described Van Gogh style work, using bright colours, and including a Good Shepherd style figure leading the refugees to hope.
Adriana said she
enjoyed art, regularly drawing at home, and hoped to pursue an art-related career when she left school.
Adam Cubito, a student of Patrician Brothers’ College Fairfield, won second prize with his three-part
series, Triptych, which explores ideas of creation, death, resurrection and redemption.
Tim McMullen, head of secondary curriculum at the Sydney Catholic Education Office, said the aim of the exhibition –
this is its second year – was to allow young people to express their religious and spiritual ideas through art, a medium allowing far more flexibility than conventional religious language.
He added that the
range of artworks produced for this year was as good as those for the inaugural exhibition, but the better ones were probably of a higher standard.
One of the competition’s judges, Sr Rosemary Crumlin, said
many of the works showed a searching by the students into the issues of spirituality and religion in contemporary society.
She said the most impressive works were those where the artists were courageous in
honestly expressing what they wanted to say.
|
