A sculpture of 5000 cable ties that have been knitted together by Kingston artist Pete Smith has won the $5000 Phoenix Prize for Spiritual Art 2007.

Titled Emergence 1: The Transfiguration reflects the artists own spiritual journey of “continuously changing form and increasing complexity”, and the transformation of simple materials into a larger, more complex whole.

The 2007 Phoenix Prize drew 173 entries of which 38 have been short listed as finalists and appear in this exhibition.   

The Phoenix Prize for Spiritual Art is non-denominational and non-sectarian prize judged on artistic merit and is designed to promote an ongoing discussion of spirituality in the broader community.
 
The Prize is a result of the dissolution of the Christian Media Association ACT in 2003 and its residual funds being donated to ANU in order to establish a prize or award for art that deals with the spiritual aspects of humankind.

According to the judges, The Transfiguration was selected for its transformation of modest materials, for its formal qualities, for its ambiguous use of symbols, and for its multilayered and shifting character. They said that the work “at once can present its spikes (which perhaps evoke a crown of thorns) as both sharp and soft, or its flickering response to light as both simple and mysterious”.

This is the second time the bi-annual Phoenix Prize has been awarded. It was won by Blaide Lallemand for the installation Light of Heart in 2005.

More information: Amanda Morgan, ANU Media Office, 02 6125 5575 / 0416 249 245