Imants Tillers selected as a finalist in the 2026 Mandorla Art Award, Hadley's Art prize. Retrospective at Museum Im Schafstall, Neuenstadt am Kocher, Germany continues....

Imants Tillers’ studio is excited to announce Imants Tillers’ selection as a finalist in the Mandorla Art Award with his painting In Truth, 2026. Mandorla is a contemporary fine art award, held in Perth, Western Australia every two years, which fosters a relationship between contemporary fine artists and the writings of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures.

‘Mandorla is an Italian word meaning almond. It refers to an almond-shaped halo or aura that we find around the images of Jesus or Mary in Christian art and particularly in icons. It represents the light emanating from a divine being, or one very close to a divine being.’

Imants Tillers, In Truth, 2026, acrylic, gouache, oilstick on 16 canvas boards, nos. 117 107 - 117 122

Selected by this year’s judges Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, Anna Davis and Dr Glenn Morrison, artists were asked to respond to the theme of ‘What is Truth'? I was afraid, because I was naked: and I hid myself.’ (Genesis 3:10) 

The finalists’ artworks will be exhibited at Holmes à Court Gallery in Gooyaman West, Perth. The exhibition will be open to the public from 9 – 30 May and a selection of works will tour from June - September.  

Tillers has also been announced as a finalist in Hadley’s Art Prize, Hobart, Tasmania for his painting Pikilyi, 2026. The 16 panel painting which ‘celebrates the late Warlpiri Elder Michael Nelson Jagamara' was selected by judges Abdul Abdullah, Judith Ryan AM and Sarah Wallace.

The $100,000 acquisitive prize will be presented by Hadley’s Orient Hotel ‘for the best portrayal of the Australian landscape’ on the 31st of July. An exhibition of finalists will run from the 1st - 23rd of August.

     Imants Tillers, Pikilyi, 2026, synthetic polymer paint, gouache on 16 canvas boards nos. 117 139 - 117 154, 101.6 x 142.2 cm

Tillers’ major retrospective Fierce Paradise: Conversations with Aboriginal Art, continues at the Museum Im Schafstall, Neuenstadt am Kocher, Germany until the 31st of May. The exhibition highlights Tillers’ ongoing exploration of identity, displacement and locality, as well as his longstanding interest in Australian Aboriginal Art and its possible connections to his own experience as a member of the Latvian Diaspora. ’Fierce Paradise’ includes nine collaborative artworks with Michael Nelson Jagamara AM and a selection of paintings by Indigenous artists from the personal collection of the Tillers family including works from Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Jagamara, Sue Elliott and Peter Pijaju Skipper and Sam Tjapanangka.

               Michael Nelson Jagamara and Imants Tillers, Radiance, 2024, synthetic polymer paint, gouache on 42 canvasboards, nos. 114891–114932, 152.4 x 249 cm, Courtesy of the Jagamara estate and Imants Tiller