G'day sport......

This blog is a kind of aside and diary dedicated to my own recording of the making process of works for the Basil Sellers Art Prize for Sport.Basil Sellers AM, (born 1935), grew up in the sports-mad Railway Colonies in India, where he was introduced to badminton, tennis and of course cricket. He migrated with his family to Australia in 1948, and was educated at Kings College, Adelaide. As a Businessman and philanthropist, Basil made his career breathing life into ailing companies. Basil never went to university and instead learned his business skill on the job. Leaving school at 16, he started working at the Bank of South Australia then two years later joined a stock broking firm. 

Basil has been recognised as a keen art collector and patron. Collecting for over 35 years, his collection contains Post War Australian art and many of the European modernists, with a particular interest in the Fauves (1906/7) and the Cubists. Basil has also funded the bi annual art prize of $15,000 in the South East of New South Wales.
In 2007 Basil Sellers launched the Basil Sellers Art Prize which was initiated in 2008, in association with the Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne. The first prize of $100,000 is awarded to an Australian who produces a piece of art which incorporates an image of sport. Basil believes that art in the past has reflected society (Wars, Religion, Ballet,Horses etc.) but in recent years has ignored the vast influence of sport. The award bridges the gulf which exists and connects art and sport and is bi-annual.

My entry is based around surf-culture and takes the form of three urns each featuring a surfing identity and the mythology surrounding them.

And so it begins.