IHC Telecom Art Awards 2010 judges

The 2010 judges include the head of WORLD fashion house, designer Denise L’Estrange-Corbet; renowned artists Otis Frizzell and Sue Upritchard; and creative director of Saatchi Design Worldwide Blake Enting.

They will select 30 artworks from the initial entries for a national exhibition at the St James Theatre, Wellington, in September 2010.

Denise L’Estrange-Corbet

Denise is co-founder and designer of one of New Zealand's top fashion brands, WORLD, which celebrated its 21st birthday this year. Denise is also a published author, a weekly contributor to the New Zealand Herald Canvas magazine, she has a radio slot commenting on fashion and beauty trends, and is a regular public speaker and an avid reader of English history.

She says she is delighted to have been asked to judge the Telecom IHC Awards again this year. “I had enormous fun travelling around the country, and meeting the entrants who both inspired and humbled me with their enthusiasm, kindness and talent.” 

Otis Frizzell

Otis Frizzell, ex-graffiti artist, now lives and works in Auckland as a painter – still with aerosols – and printmaker and illustrator.

He has been a TV and radio personality, hip hop performer, tattooist, graphic designer and a celebrity minder/driver for visiting rock stars. Otis and Mark "Slave" Williams had radio slots on Base FM – a collective of DJs broadcasting from Auckland – and then they transferred to TV with The Mo' Show.

Otis still paints with aerosols, but his art has come in off the streets and on to walls, and on to the record sleeves of Che Fu, Concord Dawn and Fat Freddy’s Drop. He is in the process of designing the album cover for Fat Freddy’s third album. Otis works solo, and also as Weston Frizzell, a collaboration with fellow artist Mike Weston, on art productions that draw on appropriated imagery, style and content.

Blake Enting

With both a father and grandfather in the advertising business it was perhaps inevitable Blake would end up there also. Although, he jokes, as the creative director of Saatchi Design Worldwide, with his focus on ‘design’, he’s still technically one step away from the advertising game.

He has spent the past 14 years working for some of New Zealand’s leading design companies and he has been behind many successful local brands, including; Icebreaker, Fisher & Paykel, Healthcare and Telecom.

At Saatchi Design Worldwide he drives the creation and management of strategic, idea-led brands. This has included work for clients including Sony Ericsson, Guinness and Proctor & Gamble. He sees his role as communicating the meaning of company to allow customers an informed choice.

Enting trained as a graphic designer and went on to complete further study in design management. He is also a passionate photographer. His most recent exhibition was EastEast, in 2007. New work is in the pipeline.

Sue Upritchard

Sue Upritchard studied painting at the University of Canterbury and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999. She lives and works in Christchurch. Much of her work is based on collections, for example; cicadas, crushed earth, recycled wood, fabric, but mostly her huge collection of cut-outs from photographs.

The cut-outs are mounted away from the wall on long dressmaking pins, creating shadows. These installations sparkle with jewel-like colour and light, drawing the viewer to explore the hundreds of tiny images of familiar objects. A huge collection of coloured knitting needles sits in pots around her house – and will one day be part of another work.

Sue has exhibited regularly since 2003, with shows at COCA, Forrester Gallery, Dunedin Art Gallery and in Art Goes Country at the Christchurch Art Gallery in 2006.