The road goes ever on

If the Walters Prize has done one thing over the years it has been great at upsetting expectations. No one picked Yvonne Todd for the first win and Dan Arps (2010) and Luke Willis Thompson (2014) were both surprises, albeit excellent ones. So what are the chances of Lisa Reihana landing the quinella? If she does that would make her the second artist after et al. to achieve the Venice/ Walters combo. Then there is the opportunity (from our reading of the rules) for someone to be the first to win it twice. As always the selection of the judge will be critical. For instance Simon Denny never had a chance at the last Walters with Charles Esche. One OTN reader reckons that a quick look at the judge's previous two exhibitions predict of who will get the Prize for the year. Maybe.

Some possibilities:
Fiona Connor did a knock out show at Monash that should be a contender again, and definitely Seung Yul Oh’s chance for a nomination on the back of his exhibition at Te Uru.

Hard to go past Michael Parekowhai’s survey exhibition The Promised Land at the Queensland Art Gallery but let's not forget Mike Stevenson’s survey at the MCA in Sydney in 2011 didn’t even manage a nomination, so don't hold your breath.

Fiona Pardington's A beautiful hesitation at the City Gallery has to be up there.

Simon Denny for Dotcom at the Adam, his survey at PS1, Venice and the recent Serpentine show although who would be surprised if he said ‘No thanks’.

There's probably enough recent work by Len Lye to at least put him in the frame.
 
Ruth Buchanan for her exhibition at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin.

And what would Billy Apple have to do …..

Image: an OTN artist impression (based on information supplied by readers) of the Walters secret-shopper selection panel. You can find a copy of the Walters Prize rules here on OTNSTUFF. http://bit.ly/1Ucpapv