Lottie Consalvo has been selected as a finalist in the 2026 Mosman Art Prize with her painting "I Heard You Run Into the Darkness "(2026).
Established in 1947, the Mosman Art Prize is Australia’s oldest local government art award and one of the country’s most significant contemporary painting prizes. Recognised as Australia’s premier open painting prize, it has played an important role in supporting and documenting the evolution of Australian painting for almost eight decades. The acquisitive prize, funded by Mosman Council, contributes winning works to the Mosman Art Collection, creating a lasting record of contemporary Australian artistic practice.
The Mosman Art Prize continues to provide a vital platform for artists from across Australia, celebrating ambitious and thought-provoking approaches to painting. The prize reflects the enduring ability of painting to communicate ideas, identity and lived experience, while contributing to broader conversations around contemporary Australian culture.
Lottie’s selected work is a compelling continuation of her ongoing exploration into the relationship between the natural and spiritual worlds. Through her distinctive approach to painting, she investigates moments of connection, transformation and the unseen forces that exist within and around us.
Consalvo’s quietly expressive paintings explore the intangible experiences of the human psyche: imagination, dreams, memory and their place within reality. Working across painting, performance, video and sculpture, her multidisciplinary practice examines the physicality of thought and the profound influence the mind has on our understanding of ourselves, others and the world around us. While her paintings draw on the gestural language of abstract expressionism, Consalvo’s conceptual concerns are closely connected to Surrealism through her exploration of dreams, subconscious experience and past memories. Her work also reflects an affinity with artists who use restraint and simplicity to evoke deeper emotional and spiritual responses, creating spaces for contemplation rather than explanation.
Consalvo’s large-scale paintings often feature expansive areas of space, with a restricted palette and carefully considered forms creating a sense of tension between presence and absence. Through the interplay of light and dark, she creates a place for the unknown and intangible, allowing viewers to encounter the fleeting experiences of longing, loss, desire and transformation.
Through her evocative exploration of the spaces between thought and experience, Lottie Consalvo continues to create works that illuminate the invisible yet deeply felt aspects of human existence. "I Heard You Run Into the Darkness" is a powerful example of her ongoing investigation into memory, imagination and the mysterious connections between the internal and external worlds.
