The Griffin Art Prize 2013 Exhibition

The Griffin Art Prize (GAP) has cemented its place as one of the best in the country for emerging artists with another top quality exhibition and I felt it deserved a a quick detour visit to see the work on show. This years prize, awarded last week, features an excellent shortlist with some very promising artists.

Showcasing developing artists as well as those just graduating it provides a window of opportunity perhaps for those graduates whose work was not singled out for wider attention at degree shows and who have developed well since. This is very important as each years new graduates easily attract wide attention and have plenty of opportunity to impress, whilst a few years on there is less chance to be recognised as an ’emerging’ artist.

Luke George & Elizabeth Rose

Luke George & Elizabeth Rose were this years winners and it was easy to see why. Their abstract works in gesso and oil are rich in subtle colour and texture. At each viewing angle or distance something new appears, elements come to the fore, textures appear and fade.

 

It will be exciting to see what new work they can create given the excellent studio space and facilities that the GAP supplies for the year ahead. These images are different views of the one work

Other artists caught the eye too. Mary Wintour‘s overpainted collages are bright and inventive with some intriguing imagery where the boundaries between photograph and painting seem to disappear.

Emily Moore takes inspiration from mountain landscapes for her appealing geometric collages, but she also works with paint,  collage and camera.

The expressive paintings of Rae Hicks feature surreal landscapes and imaginary structures. Questions of what, where, why and how inspire repeated viewing.

Nicola Wong asks questions about the nature of everyday life – whether unweaving a painted canvas or constructing a ‘canvas of bookends within a frame.

Susannah Douglass’ immaculate drawings are developed from collaged photocopies of anonymous internet images.  The imaginary almost becomes real.

There is also work from Helen Frank, Scott Robertson, Eleanor Bledlow and Yuhwa Son.

Take the opportunity to see some potential future stars and perhaps even buy a work at a very reasonable price.

GAP 2013 exhibition runs until the end of November at the Griffin Gallery.

GAP 2013 tours to High House Gallery from 16 January to 16 February 2014 before continuing to the White Moose Gallery in Barnstable.

The GAP is open to ‘any UK based artist whose primary activity is painting or drawing and has graduated with a BA, MA or PhD from a recognized institution’ in the previous 5 years.

 

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• Griffin Art Prize 2013 Touring Venues Announced (akickupthearts.wordpress.com)

Griffin Art Prize 2013 Touring Venues Announced

The excellent Griffin Art Prize, sponsored by Colarts, has announced that for the first time it will be touring the south of England. The prize exhibition, which opens on 6 November with an evening Private View and the announcement of this years winner, runs through November at the West London Griffin Gallery.

Rae Hicks

First stop for the touring exhibition is High House Gallery in the heart of the Oxfordshire Cotswolds – a wonderful oasis of top quality art in a region where contemporary galleries are more likely to feature watercolours of cows than ones suspended in formalehyde! Provisional dates for the exhibition are 16 January to 16 February 2014. Register your email on their home page to receive updates on the event and an invitation to the opening Private View.

Susannah Douglas

Next up is the fine White Moose Gallery in Barnstable, Devon. Recently opened in a renovated historic hall the gallery combines exhibitions by local artists with a selection of high quality contemporary artists. The exhibition will run from mid February for about four weeks.

 

 

High House Gallery, Main Street, Clanfield, Oxon OX18 2SH Tel 01367 810126

White Moose Gallery, Moose Hall, Trinity Street, Barnstaple, Devon EX32 8HX Tel 01271 379872

Griffin Gallery, The Griffin Gallery, The Studio Building, 21 Evesham Street, London W11 4AJ Tel 0208 424 3239

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• Shortlist Announced for The Griffin Art Prize 2013 (akickupthearts.wordpress.com)

Shortlist Announced for The Griffin Art Prize 2013

The shortlist for the excellent, recently-established Griffin Art Prize (GAP) has just been announced and it is truly excellent. I am very impatiently looking forward to the PV to see who the winner may be from the the fine artists selected. Rae Hicks, Susannah Douglas and Mary Wintour have particularly caught my eye – but all would be worthy winners.

For those unfamiliar with this competition it is an open submission competition, supported by artists materials supplier Colarts, for those artists who have graduated in the last 5 years and whose primary medium is painting or drawing.

Susannah Douglas

It also has probably one of the most desirable prizes of all graduate shows:  a years use of a very large studio space with the additional benefit of a virtually unlimited supply of materials from top fine art brands: Winsor & Newton, Liquitex and Conté à Paris. The studio itself is located in West London next to Colarts‘ state of the art Innovation & Development department, where chemists work on the development of fine art products.

There’s more too – the lucky winning artist will have the time and space to produce work for a one person exhibition in the Griffin Gallery to be shown in 2014.

Mary Wintour

In short well-worth winning! This of course means a very high quality batch of applicants from which a  ‘longlist’ of twenty was selected. The following very talented ten artists have now been selected for the shortlist (click on each name to link to a selection of their work): Eleanor Bedlow, Susannah Douglas, Helen Frank, George and Rose, Rae Hicks, Emily Moore, Scott Robertson, Yuhwa Son, Mary Wintour and Nicole Wong.

Emily Moore

The winner will be announced at a private view of the Griffin Art Prize 2013 Shortlist Exhibition on November 6 – please contact the Grifin Gallery if you are interested in obtaining an invitation (no charge). The exhibition will run from the 7 November for about a month.

The Griffin Art Prize 2013, The Griffin Gallery, The Studio Building, 21 Evesham Street, London W11 4AJ

Tel +44 208 424 3239

email info@griffingallery.co.uk

George & Rose

Helen Frank