Byron Bay Hinterland based artist Ian Greig has been announced as a finalist in The King School Art Prize 2026 for his painting Within the light of things.
This painting is a response to the beauty, drama and sublimity of the landscape of the Northern Rivers region of NSW, Bundjalung Country.
A unique characteristic of this region is the belief that it is charged with a seemingly palpable spiritual energy that extends from Wollumbin and permeates the caldera, coastline, hinterland and mountains. Immersed in the spectacular presence of great nature and observing how the play of light on the physical world animates the things within it, I am reminded of the medieval aesthetic concept of Pankalia – the beauty of all things – where the natural world was recognised to be resplendent with a truth, beauty and goodness that was regarded as divine in origin.
For me, the act of painting is a kind of poetic gesture, a means of siphoning the aesthetic and spiritual currency of the world around us and in “Within the light of things” I apply the visual language of abstraction to explore the world beyond appearances – the hidden realms where the physical intersects the metaphysical. The aim is to prompt a meditation on the sublime interconnectedness of everything in both an aesthetic and cosmological sense – a meditation on truth, goodness and beauty within the light of things – wherein the fluctuating indiscernible energies operating within and around us can become apparent and the universal creative forces that underpin all reality might become manifest. — Ian Greig, Artist Statement
The King’s School Art Prize is a prestigious and anticipated art prize within Sydney. Established in 1994, the gala event attracts entries from leading contemporary artists from across Australia.
The winner will be announced on Saturday 13 June.
