Kings School Art Prize Winner
May 25, 2021
Orange Venus – Winner of the 27th King’s Art Prize.
Steve recently won the Prestigous Kings School Art Award. This prize-winning work in the form of oil on canvas relates to Steve Lopes connection with the Central Western town of Orange in NSW. The figures, set at Lake Canobolas, depicts the artist’s affinity for the area, evoking a spiritual sense of interaction between the figures and environment. The artist’s experience of witnessing the Transit of Venus in Orange years ago inspired his celestial motifs, capturing a magical and serene narrative.
Over the last 27 years, The King’s School Art Prize has proudly included such artists and prize winners as: Aida Tomescu, John Olsen, Nicholas Harding, Gloria Petyarre, Ross Laurie, Euan Macleod and Peter Godwin to name a few.
Artist Profile – Front Cover
September 28, 2020
Steve was recently the main feature artist for the latest Artist Profile magazine, one of Australia’s most respected art journals.Currently available from www.artistprofile.com.au/category/back-issues/.
Artists as Collectors – SH ERVIN Gallery
November 22, 2019
Steve was invited to exhibit a selected number of his personal art collection which went on view at Sydney’s SH Ervin gallery at the end of 2019. It comprised many works from the artists associations, colleagues and friends.
Artists as Collector,
exhibited 23rd November until 15th December 2019
S H Ervin Gallery- Observatory Hill, 2 Watson Rd, Millers Point NSW 2000
2019 Geelong Acquisitive Print Awards & Peebles Print Prize 2019
July 25, 2019
Russell’s Top Gallipoli, Unique State Etching 42 x 60cm
2019 Geelong Acquisitive Print Awards & Peebles Print Prize 2019
Steve was recently selected as a finalist in a number of prestigious print awards in Victoria. The Geelong Acquisitive Print Awards and The Peebles Print Prize 2019 showcase the diverse contemporary Australian printmaking practice.
The selection panel for the 2019 Geelong acquisitive print awards includes Danny Lacy (Senior Curator, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery), Trent Walter (Director, Negative Press), and Lisa Sullivan (Senior Curator, Geelong Gallery).
September 21 until November 24
Geelong Acquisitive Print Award, Geelong Gallery 55 Little Malop Street , Geelong 3220 Australia
September 21 until November 24
Peebles Print Prize 2019, Queenscliff Gallery & Workshop (QG&W) 81 Hesse Street Queenscliff VIC 3225
Talking With Painters Podcast
June 12, 2018
Steve was recently interviewed for the award winning art podcast Talking With Painters. Listen to the interview which gives insights into Steve’s working methods at:
www.talkingwithpainters.com/2018/06/03/ep-47-steve-lopes/
Gallipoli Art Prize 2018 Winner
April 19, 2018
Steve Lopes wins the 2018 GALLIPOLI ART PRIZE with his work ‘Exposed Wood, Mont St Quentin
Sydney based artist Steve Lopes has won the 2018 Gallipoli Art Prize ($20 000 acquisitive funded by the Gallipoli Memorial Club) with his painting ‘Exposed Wood, Mont St Quentin ’ depicting the overgrown WW1 battlefield of Mont St Quentin on the Western Front where Australian forces fought. Lopes’ winning work along with thirty-two finalist works will be on public display at Club Bondi Junction RSL in Sydney from 19 April – 27 April, 2018.
In his accompanying artist statement Steve Lopes said “The painting was done after a trip last year to the battlefields of the Western Front with 10 other artists. I was particularly moved by the area of St Quentin where the Australian forces fought. On visiting I found some old trench areas and abandoned parts of the battlefield.” “At the end of 1918 Mont St Quentin was the German army’s last stronghold – overlooking the Somme River and the town of Peronne. Mont St Quentin stood out in the surrounding country, making it a perfect observation point and a vital strategic area to control. A key to the German defence of the Somme line, Lieutenant General Sir John Monash was keen to capture it and possess a valuable position.”
“It was captured by an Australian operation and is sometimes regarded as the finest achievement of the AIF. The fight included battalions from every Australian state. British Commander General Lord Rawlinson remarked that this feat by the Australian troops under Monash’s command was the greatest of the war.”
In 2017 Lopes travelled to the former battlefields of the Western Front in France and Belgium with 10 other well-known Australian artists including 3 previous winners of the Gallipoli Art Prize – Amanda Penrose Hart (2017), Idris Murphy (2014) and Euan Macleod (2009). He was invited to exhibit works in the subsequent touring exhibition ‘Salient – Contemporary artists at the Western Front’ (www.salientwesternfront.com)
that is currently on tour and will be exhibited in Sydney at the Anzac War Memorial Hyde Park in October.
Listen to Steve interviewed on ABC Radio National Drive with Patricia Karvelas .
click link
http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2018/04/rnd_20180418_1843.mp3
Salient – Contemporary Artists at the Western Front
February 8, 2018
Flat Markers, Oil on Canvas 40 x 50cm
Salient – Contemporary Artists at the Western Front
Steve recently travelled to the Western Front to paint with a group of leading Australian artists and has produced a series of works that will be travelling around Australia over the next two years at the following venues:
New England Regional Art Gallery, Armidale (NERAM), 23 March – 3 June 2018
Bathurst Regional Art Gallery (BRAG), 10 August – 7 October 2018
ANZAC Memorial, Sydney, 22 October – 17th February 2019
Bank Art Museum Moree, 5 MArch – 29 April 2019
Muswellbrook regional Arts Centre, 11May – 30 June 2019
Tweed Regional Gallery, 21 November 2019 – 16 February 2020
Recent Awards : Georges River Art Prize
November 7, 2017
Scarborough Park, oil on canvas 30 x 40 cms.
Steve has recently been selected in a number of exhibitions including the Parliament Plein Air Art Prize, NSW, KAAF Prize and his landscape work of Scarborough Park, a local haunt for the artist, was awarded the winner of the Local Artist section of the Georges River Art Prize.
Doug Moran Portrait Prize 2016
October 17, 2016
Dreaming of Filicudi , 100cm x 100cm oil on canvas
A Portrait of Steve’s partner Lesley, was recently chosen as one of the Thirty finalists for the 2016 Doug Moran Portrait Prize. The prize encourages both excellence and creativity in contemporary Australian portraiture by asking artists to interpret the look and personality of a chosen sitter, either unknown or well known.
Currently with an annual first prize of $150,000, the Prize is an important part of Australia’s Arts calendar. The Prize is acquisitive and the winning portrait immediately becomes the property of the Moran Arts Foundation. This years Judges were Doug Hall AM and artist Anne Wallace. This is Steve’s seventh portrait selection in the award.
Currently on show at the Doug Moran Prize exhibition tourining Nationally, 2017
http://www.moranprizes.com.au/doug-moran-national-portrait-prize
Recent Acquisitions
June 6, 2016
Broken Hill, South Side 170 x 130cm, oil on canvas 2014 – Broken Hill Regional Gallery Collection
Lopes’s work has recently been acquired by The Broken Hill Regional Gallery NSW (pictured) as well as the ANU Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra adding one of Steve’s works into their collection.