Installation view of the 2025 Bayside Painting Prize finalist exhibition
Installation view of the 2025 Bayside Painting Prize finalist exhibition
Installation view of the 2025 Bayside Painting Prize finalist exhibition
Installation view of the 2025 Bayside Painting Prize finalist exhibition
Installation view of the 2025 Bayside Painting Prize finalist exhibition
Installation view of the 2025 Bayside Painting Prize finalist exhibition
Installation view of the 2025 Bayside Painting Prize finalist exhibition
Installation view of the 2025 Bayside Painting Prize finalist exhibition
Major Prize
(non-acquisitive)
Beckett Local Prize
(acquisitive)
People's Choice Prize
2025 BAYSIDE PAINTING PRIZE
Finalist Exhibition: Friday 9 May – Sunday 22 June 2025
We are pleased to announce that Steven Rendall and Ella Dunn have been selected as joint winners of this year’s Major Prize. Michelle Ussher has been awarded the acquisitive Beckett Local Prize. Congratulations to Steven, Ella and Michelle and all our finalists for 2025.
View the finalists works here.
The 2025 Bayside Painting Prize finalists:
Gregory Alexander, Matthew Asling, Miriam Baadjo, Xiao Yu Bai, Kylie Banyard, Riley Beaumont, Seth Birchall, Yvonne Boag, Eleanor Louise Butt, Mark Maurangi Carrol, Jon Cattapan, Ellie Chalmers-Robinson, Isabelle Chouinard, Matthew Clarke, Geoff Coleman, Greg Creek, Dean Cross, Hop Dac, Alex Dillon, Ella Dunn, Jennifer Goodman, Matlok Griffiths, Euan Heng, Nadia Hernández, Jordy Hewitt, Tammy Honey, Anthea Kemp, Dane Lovett, Sean McDowell, Rob McHaffie, Helen McInnis, Alasdair McLuckie, Nick Modrzewski, Philip James Mylecharane, Jessica Nothdurft, Jahnne Pasco-White, Kenny Pittock, Julia Powles, Steven Rendall, Dave Snook, Ebony Truscott, Kristina Tsoulis-Reay, Michelle Ussher, Amber Wallis, Darren Wardle, Lois Waters, Greg Wood
Judges
The judges for the 2025 prize are:
Dr Vincent Alessi, Director + CEO, Linden New Art
Melissa Keys, Senior Curator, Heide Museum of Modern Art
Joanna Bosse, Curator, Bayside Gallery
First established in 2015 as the Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize, the prize was relaunched in 2024 as the Bayside Painting Prize with an increase in prize money for the Major Prize to $25,000, making it one of the most generous non-acquisitive painting prizes in the country.
The $10,000 acquisitive Beckett Local Prize, named in honour of remarkable local modernist artist Clarice Beckett, is open to artists who demonstrate a connection to the municipality of Bayside or the work entered is of local subject matter. There is also a $1,000 People’s Choice Prize, announced at the conclusion of the exhibition.
The Bayside Painting Prize is the only annual painting prize held in Melbourne. The finalist exhibition brings together a broad range of artists from across Australia, both established and lesser known, whose varied approaches to the painted medium conveys the breadth and diversity of painting in Australia today.
A celebration of contemporary Australian painting, the prize is an important opportunity for Bayside City Council to add exceptional works of art with a local connection to its collection and to promote art and artists as a valuable part of the Australian community.