08 ART IN LIVERPOOL Stowell Street Liverpool L7 7DL T 0151 707 3510 E info@artinliverpool.com www.artinliverpool.com
The Liverpool Art Prize is a new annual exhibition and award for fine artists based in the Liverpool area. This inaugural year’s event takes place during the city’s year as European Capital of Culture 2008, and is housed in NOVAS’s prestigious new CUC North West – a Grade II listed converted warehouse in the heart of Liverpool’s independent arts quarter. The prize is organised by artinliverpool, who issued a public call for nominations last year. The short-listed artists are all midcareer professionals who have made significant achievements in the past few years, and.who are currently establishing themselves on an international level.
£2000 £500 OVERALL WINNER
PEOPLE’S CHOICE WINNER
The main prize, a cash sum of £2,000, will be awarded to the over-all winner by a panel of five judges. The People’s Choice prize of £500 will be awarded from votes cast by the public and will provide an opportunity for visitors to the exhibition to express their preference.
The announcement of the prizes will be made during an awards ceremony held on Sunday March 9th. The prize announcement will coincide with international ‘Thank You Art’ day. The exhibition and prizes will acknowledge the outstanding achievements of the artists and their contribution to contemporary art within Liverpool, as well as further afield. It aims to promote national awareness and discussion of contemporary art in the city and to support individual artists in developing their practices. The exhibition will run from February 29 to April 10. THE JUDGING PANEL
robbie davison Director of A-Design Collective terry duffy Artist based in Liverpool and London angela heslop Producer/Presenter of Radio Merseyside Arts Programmes moira kenny Liverpool Artist callum moncrieff Liverpool artist and art lecturer at Hope University
The six short-listed artists are:
emma rodgers gareth kemp imogen stidworthy jayne lawless mary fitzpatrick the singh twins
SCULPTURE IN CERAMICS, CLAY AND BRONZE OIL, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS AND BOARD
VIDEO AND AUDIO/VISUAL INSTALLATION SCULPTURE AND INSTALLATION
PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEO AND PAINTING
WATERCOLOUR, POSTERCOLOUR ON WOOD
welcome We are really thrilled to have established this very first Liverpool Art Prize. It took a bit longer than we envisaged but now it’s here in the splendid Novas CUC gallery and it’s looking fantastic. The short-listed artists represent a huge body of talented, creative people on Merseyside so we are looking forward to many more top exhibitions in the coming years. We hope you enjoy the show which offers a broad range of media and styles which stimulate the imagination and senses. We would like to thank all the sponsors for their wholehearted support, the Curator, Tomas Harold (Mercy) and of course, the Novas Scarman Group for offering the space and facilities. Thanks too, to all the artists involved, the exhibitors, the nominated and the nominees. Thank You Art. Ian & Minako Jackson www.artinliverpool.com
emma rodgers EMMA RODGERS
Emma Rodgers’ forms seem to capture fleeting moments in time. They exude spontaneity and a concern with both volume and space. In understanding her medium, she teases power, movement and emotion from earth, fire and water, leading us eventually to explore decay. It is as in dreaming that we awake and remember only facets of a story, so Rodgers expresses a deeper understanding of her subject than its detail. Rodgers has exhibited worldwide, including; V&A, Royal Academy of Art, Cork Street Gallery London, SOFA New York, Lineart Ghent and Sofa Chicago. The Artworld Channel have produced a documentary about her work, and National Museums and Galleries have purchased several pieces for permanent exhibition. john36emma@yahoo.co.uk
gareth kemp GARETH KEMP
Kemp has for a number of years been working on a series of paintings called Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow. These monochrome canvases are inspired by a set of old family photographs of the remote area of Wales where he grew up. Kemp spends many hours carefully planning the assemblage of elements in each piece, a process of mentally cutting and pasting within and between photographs. The sense of nostalgia that informs this effort to reanimate old images results in repetitions and occlusions, while the cinematic compositions create a sense of high unease. Kemp is also creative director of Cube noir, a nomadic organisation that curates exhibitions in under-used urban locations. www.garethkemp.com | mail@garethkemp.com
imogen stidworthy IMOGEN STIDWORTHY
Stidworthy’s focus is on aspects of communication. She looks at how language occupies public and private spaces, and uses it as a sculptural material to explore relationships between body, voice and subject. She is interested in how meaning is produced between people; often focusing on situations where something has disturbed the connection between a thought and a word. For the Liverpool Art Prize exhibition, she is exhibiting Get Here, and 7AM – both surround sound installations. Stidworthy has taken part in numerous international exhibitions including Documenta 12 (2007), Thessaloniki Biennale (2007), and Shanghai Biennale (2006). In 2004, she was short-listed for Beck’s Futures in London. Stidworthy is also an Advising Researcher at the Jan van Eyck Academy, Maastricht. imogenstidworthy@hotmail.com
jayne lawless JAYNE LAWLESS
Lawless produces installations that respond to their location. She does not approach her projects with any predefined ideas; instead she prefers to allow the context to dictate what form the eventual piece will take. Her most recent work, Tunnel, was produced in response to a residency at The New Wolsey Theatre and was designed to provoke a sense of anticipation as the viewer prepared to see a live performance. For the Liverpool Art Prize, she has produced a new piece of work titled Cage – a reaction to the frustration felt in attempting to realise any creative idea. Jayne has exhibited widely in England and Poland. jaynelawless@yahoo.com
mary fitzpatrick MARY FITZPATRICK
Fitzpatrick’s long-term photographic art projects, primarily undertaken in the Middle East, incorporate images of places left abandoned after conflict. They show an accumulation of detritus that hint at stories and atmospheric presences. Previous subjects include the island of Failaka in the Persian Gulf, and post-Gulf War Kuwait. Following a residency at the Palestinian Al Qattan Foundation, she is currently working on a project in Ramallah on the West Bank. Fitzpatrick has built up a substantial body of work that exists in the dualistic sense as both personal art statement and historical archive of the times we live in. She has had several solo exhibitions, as well as touring shows in Moscow, Dhaka and the US. www.maryfitzpatrick.co.uk | maryfitzfoto@yahoo.com
the singh twins THE SINGH TWINS
The Singh Twins’ award winning works are recognized for pioneering the development of the Indian miniature within contemporary art practice and for establishing a unique ‘Past Modern’ genre within British Contemporary art. Internationally acclaimed, they explore serious issues of social, political and cultural debate within a richly symbolic, narrative, decorative and witty style that challenges Eurocentric stereotyping within contemporary art and the perceived divide between east and west, tradition and modernity. They were appointed official artists for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and are currently producing an animation of one of two paintings recently commissioned for Liverpool Capital of Culture Celebrations. www.singhtwins.co.uk | twinstudio@hotmail.com
organisers &
looking ahead
sponsors to2009 Duncan Sheard Glass, one of the North West’s leading independent firms of Chartered Accountants, specialises in providing positive and proactive tax and commercial solutions for Merseyside businesses. DSG are delighted to support the arts on Merseyside.
The Novas Scarman Group has a strong reputation for its community-based services, and for innovative approaches to working with people facing inequality, exclusion and discrimination. Novas Arts provides a creative forum for participants to express their feelings, generate understanding, and experience the transformative power of art. www.novasscarman.org
www.dsg.uk.com
Award-winning property developer, based mainly in the North West, Urban Splash creates homes, restaurants, offices, bars and hotels across the UK. Urban Splash was placed 12th in the recent Sunday Times Best Small Companies to Work for List and the 6th Best Company to Work for in the Northwest published in Insider Magazine.
www.urbansplash.co.uk
A cutting-edge Liverpool design consultancy, engaged in all aspects of creative communication from conventional print through to stylish and effective web media. Alexander MacGregor supports established and fledgling arts groups across the region. www.alexandermacgregor.co.uk
McCOY WYNNE PHOTOGRAPHY
Leading professional photographers, Steve McCoy and Stephanie Wynne are pleased to be able to support Art In Liverpool by providing portrait, artwork and media images of the 2008 Liverpool Art Prize. www.mccoywynne.co.uk
Arthur Diamond Design specialise in designing and manufacturing signage, interior canvas prints, printed products and displays of all types. www.addsigns.co.uk
artinliverpool.com
www.artinliverpool.com is the primary online resource for the Liverpool art scene and is referenced regularly by the national media. It is wholly independent and self-funded, with close links to Liverpool Culture Company, Arts Council NW, and Liverpool Biennial. www.artinliverpool.com
The exhibition is curated by Tomas Harold of Mercy, a Liverpool-based team of young creative types who produce art exhibitions, A/V performances, and live literature events – alongside a quarterly magazine that is distributed across the UK. www.showmercy.co.uk Roma Galleries. Framing for the Singh Twins was kindly provided by Roma Galleries, Birkenhead. 0151 652 1314.
Ian & Minako at artinliverpool.com are already planning the 2009 Art Prize. They plan to ask for nominations during the early part of the 2008 Liverpool Biennial which runs from September 20 to November 30. Many Merseyside artists will be exhibiting at various venues during the Biennial so this will be a good opportunity to see some of their work and encourage artists and nominees to participate. For news about the Liverpool Art Prize visit:
www.liverpoolartprize.com Keep yourself up to date with the Biennial and the Liverpool art scene in general by signing up to:
www.artinliverpool.com or email info@artinliverpool.com