The Jerwood Visual Arts and Drawing Projects UK have announce that Svetlana Fialova has been awarded the First Prize of £8,000 in the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013. Her winning work, along with those of the 76 short-listed artists will be shown at Jerwood Space, London until 27 October 2012.
The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013 is the UK’s largest and longest running annual open exhibition for drawing which aims to explore and celebrate the diversity, excellence and range of current drawing practice. Over 3,000 entries were submitted this year for consideration by the independent panel of selectors; Kate Brindley, Director of Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art mima; Michael Craig- Martin RA, artist; and Charlotte Mullins, art critic, writer, broadcaster, and Editor of Art Quarterly, who bring the perspectives of practitioner, curator and writer each with particular expertise in the field of drawing. This exhibition reflects their priorities and focus in terms of drawing, in response to the work submitted for deliberation.
First Prize winner, Svetlana Fialova is based between London and Prague and is currently studying for a PhD at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava. The Prize is awarded for her ink on paper drawing, Apocalypse (My Boyfriend Doesn’t Care). She comments: ‘In my practice, I usually get inspired by themes which draw on popular culture, the internet, TV, magazines or urban legends combined with invented characters. This work is based on a more intimate and personal moment. It captures my boyfriend in an apathetic pose, pulling chewing gum out of his mouth. Background scenes including fragments from Albrecht Dürer’s Apocalypse series, an unhealthy amount of Crocs shoes and the apotheosis of the cats all make a fitting setting for his current mood.’
The Second Prize of £5,000 was awarded to Marie von Heyl for her video work, Interior (Utopia). Born in Stuttgart, Germany and now living between London and Berlin, Marie studied BA Fine Art at Weißensee School of Art, Berlin and Postgraduate Diploma at the Royal Academy Schools in London. She has recently been awarded the Deutsche Bank Award for Fine Art 2013. Her prize-winning video shows the artist examining her London flat using her own body. Referencing the interior as a trope of art history as well as the modernist utopian ideal of the Modulor, von Heyl discovers symmetries and interconnectivities between the human body and its artificial environment.
Two Student Awards of £2,000 each went to Kristian Fletcher and Tamsin Nagel. Kristian Fletcher recently graduated with MA Drawing from the Prince’s Drawing School, London, having previously worked as a scaffolder in London. His pen, pencil and charcoal drawing, The Wrench, investigates aspects of social remnants in our built environment paying particular attention to structures and place in a condition of flux. Using the medium of drawing he attempt to explore how permanent and temporary structures come to be invested, and reinvested.
Tamsin Nagel, who was born in Berlin, Germany, has recently completed an MA in Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art, London, previously studying BA Illustration at Camberwell College of Art, University of the Arts London (2008-11). Her pencil on paper drawing, Enclave (ii), is adapted from a collection of short stories by the writers Donald Barthelme, John Collier, Daniil Kharms and Robert Walser. It explores small-town notions of life, death, religion and the absurd.
The selectors have also awarded Special Commendations to Neville Gabie for his video and chalk work entitled Experiments in black and white VII; and to Gary Lawrence for Saint Stansted (and Other Stuff), a mixed media drawing using biro, gel, and felt pens and oil pastel on paper.
The exhibition this year reflects a variety of different approaches to drawing from practitioners working across the creative disciplines; from pencil, charcoal and graphite on paper, to drawings on textile, sheet music and wood, in addition to etching, stitching, video work, installation, digitally generated drawing and animation.
Selected from original art works, with decisions based on the work as presented, the Jerwood Drawing Prize has established a reputation for its commitment to championing excellence and promoting contemporary drawing practice within the UK. The open exhibition is a platform for drawing practitioners to showcase their work alongside other leading contemporary artists in this field, and provides those selected with the opportunity to contribute to the dialogue and understanding about drawing for current and future generations.
The exhibition will be on display at Jerwood Space, London from 11 September – 27 October 2013, followed by a tour to venues across the UK, including the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University (Nov 2013–Feb 2014); The Gallery, Plymouth College of Art, and Plymouth Arts Centre (Feb–Mar 2014); and the Sidney Cooper Gallery, Canterbury Christ Church University (Mar–Apr 2014). The London exhibition is included in the London Design Festival programme, taking place from 14–22 September 2013.