Competitions
Datsun Tran
Instagram: @datsuntran
Artwork Title: A Sisyphean task
Artwork Medium: Alcohol ink and watercolour on blue sandalwood paper
Year Created: 2025
Artwork Description:
A behemoth roams the beaches of Adelaide, carrying mountains of sand from the north to the southern beaches as punishment. It has been cursed to roam this path for the last 50 years.
In our ignorance, we built homes and roads in the early 1900s along this seashore, not knowing that the sand moves northward through a combination of wind and wave activity. If this modern-day Sisyphus dares stop, the coast will be swallowed up by the ocean through natural erosion of the land.
Artist Bio:
Datsun Tran is an Australian artist, making work that primarily features the natural world, though it is about us, the human story. His work has explored themes of conflict and utopia. The subject matter is often filtered through the lens of what we have in common, rather than what separates us.
Tran makes work with a wide range of mediums, his influences include traditional Chinese calligraphy, classic Chinese texts, cinema and photography. His early interest in George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ also influenced his subject matter.
Tran has exhibited extensively in Australia, as well as North America, Asia and Europe. He has had over 25 solo and group shows, exhibited in over 30 art fairs, and has been a finalist in over 60 art prizes. He has also had his first picture book ‘Then and Now’ published recently and it received a Notable Award from the Children’s Book Council of Australia.
