Perth-based artists Paul Caporn, Jennifer Cochrane and Tarryn Gill have been announced as this year’s recipients of the Bendat Family Foundation WA Invited Artist Program, which commenced in 2020 and provides $30,000 a year in funding for West Australian artists. Each recipient will receive $10,000 to help cover their costs of making and transporting their sculptures.
Paul Caporn lives and works in Perth and has exhibited nationally and internationally in over forty group and nine solo exhibitions, making art primarily in the realms of sculpture. He has exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe twice previously and was the recipient of the West Australian Sculptor Scholarship at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 2012.
Caporn will create a figurative work for Sculpture by Sea, Cottesloe 2021 made of timber, aluminium and polyetherlyn, weighing 200kg. ‘Heads it Is’ will be an unmonumental monument exploring the idea that the way we memorialise and celebrate our great moments and people in history requires a rethink in these times.
On receiving the subsidy, Caporn said: “’Heads it is’ would not have been possible without the funding from the Bendat Family Foundation. The idea for this work was conceived several years ago, and the support from the Foundation has not only reduced the burden of financial costs but also encouraged me to continue producing my work. I am pleased to be able to exhibit it at this year’s Sculpture by the Sea.”
Jennifer Cochrane is a member of the Decade Club, having exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe more than 10 times, with the popular outdoor exhibition being a major part of her practice as a WA artist. She previously completed a residency at Atelier Mondial, Switzerland in 2016 and has been represented in public and private collections including Parliament House WA, Harvest Lakes Estate, Perth and Town of Vincent Public Art, Perth. Cochrane has also exhibited seven times at Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi and at Sculpture by the Sea, Aarhus – Denmark in 2013.
Tarryn Gill works in sculpture, photo, film, drawing, set/costume design and performance and 2021 will mark her first time exhibiting at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe. Gill has exhibited works and undertaken residency projects across Australia, Argentina, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Portugal, United Kingdom and the United States. Notably, she exhibited in the 2016 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, in the 17th Biennial of Sydney and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum.
Sculpture by the Sea thanks the Bendat Family Foundation for its support as Perth Exhibition Patrons. The Foundation came on board as the Perth Exhibition Patrons for three years providing the largest annual philanthropic donation to date for the Cottesloe exhibition, after Sculpture by the Sea announced a substantial deficit for the 2019 Cottesloe exhibition.