The annual ARTEXPRESS exhibition is one of the Art Gallery of NSW’s most popular exhibitions. The exhibition brings together an outstanding and varied selection of artworks produced by teenage artists.

Drawn from works submitted for the NSW Higher School Certificate Visual Art examination, ARTEXPRESS provides insights into students’ creativity and the issues and ideas that are of importance to them. The exhibition presents the independent voice of young people to a large and diverse audience and exemplifies not just their exceptional talent but also the expertise of the visual arts teachers that guide them through their studies.

This year the gallery has paid particular attention to the inspiration and associations that students have drawn from its collection. Every year thousands of students engage with the Gallery’s collection and major exhibitions. Artists such as Del Kathryn Barton, Caravaggio, Streeton, Bill Henson, Anselm Kiefer, Tracey Moffat and Patricia Piccinini have made an obvious impact and continue to resonate through the artworks on display in ARTEXPRESS

ARTEXPRESS 2009 at the gallery presents 62 outstanding art works selected from over 9000 students who sat the HSC Visual Arts in 2008. These works include painting, drawing, photography, textiles, ceramics, graphic design, film and video, digital animation and sculpture.

Tristan Sharp, senior co-ordinator, education programs, Art Gallery of New South Wales says: “This year’s selection marks the 26th exhibition at the gallery and we welcome the next generation of creative talent into the visual arts world that has been nurtured in NSW High Schools.”

For full details on ARTEXPRESS at the Gallery and the other Sydney metropolitan venues, together with the regional tour, visit www.insideartexpress.com.au [2009 site live by 14 February 2009]. Information about all the exhibiting artists together with a virtual exhibition tour and a curator’s talk podcast can be found here.

ARTEXPRESS is a joint initiative of the NSW Department of Education and Training and the the Office of the Board of Studies NSW in association with the Art Gallery of New South Wales.