Eva Masterman is the winner of the 2016 Anthology Art Competition, sponsored by CHARLIE SMITH LONDON. The prize giving took place last night (4 August). This is always one of the high points of the Summer art season.
Masterman, a Royal College of Art Ceramics and Glass graduate, has an interest in material and process that forms the basis of her artistic practice. Her dual approach of direct research into the boundaries and preconceptions of the visual arts provides a critical discourse that surrounds her sculptural territory that sits firmly in the middle of the ‘expanded field’ of inter-disciplinary, material-specific making and fine art sculpture. Masterman feels that her practice lies between art and applied art, constantly struggling with the question of what is ‘art’, ‘artful’, ‘craft’ or simply ‘waste’. She describes her work as: ‘Evoking the ruin, the architectural, the body, there is an attempt to contain and control the transition of material and mental states, creating tension through displacement of the familiar. The ubiquitous nature of clay, accompanied by recognisable forms and supporting structures, is used to enhance to the visual interchange and sense of potential flux and instability. The resulting installations become a testament to the colluding nature of process and environment. Using clay as a set of rules and parameters in which to explore, the work endeavours to marry the conceptual with the physical, revealing the bodily realities of working in the studio and what it means, or how we make art.’
This year’s finalists Alexis Avlamis, Cecilia Bonilla, Francesco Cuttitta, Susannah Douglas, Jaana Fowler, Jonny Green, Eva Masterman, Steven Morgana, Lucienne O’Mara ,Corinna Spencer are on exhibit in the gallery until 20 August.
Each year thousands of applications are sifted through to define the long-list which is then whittled down to ten finalists. The work always represents excellence and is used as a barometer to measure new emerging contemporary art. The shortlist goes on to exhibit in the gallery, in August 2016. The winner receives a £2,000 cash prize and will be profiled here on Artlyst.
Selected and curated by internationally respected art world professionals, Anthology is a multi-disciplinary exhibition that reaches out democratically to artists worldwide. The 2016 jury is Philly Adams (Senior Director, Saatchi Gallery), Zavier Ellis (Director, CHARLIE SMITH LONDON), Stephanie Grose (Collector), Andrew Salgado (Artist), Heike Strelow (Director, Galerie Heike Strelow).
Presented at CHARLIE SMITH LONDON gallery in Shoreditch, London, the exhibition will continue to be a key barometer of emerging and established talent, and will continue to provide unforeseen opportunities to artists. Previous winners and finalists have enjoyed significant success as a direct result of their inclusion in Anthology, including being curated into group exhibitions; being placed in prominent private collections; and being represented by CHARLIE SMITH LONDON.
Previous winners are Tom Ormond, Eric Manigaud, Robert Crosse, Florian Heinke, Ben Woodeson and Beatrice Haines.
Exhibition: Friday 05 August – Saturday 20 August 2016