Last night saw the annual Hix awards for emerging art presented by Tracey Emin at the Cock ‘n’ Bull Gallery in Shoreditch. The winner of this year’s competition was Felix Treadwell, an artist to watch out for. This Camberwell Graduate also attended Kyoto Seika Universtity in Japan and his work reflects this influence. Think Julian Opie crossed with Hello Kitty and you have something close to Felix’s vision.
The ‘Peoples award’ went to Karl Singporewala who creates intricately crafted sculpture based on islamic architecture and design.Karl is an architect born in 1983 from Crawley West Sussex. He attended De Montfort University, Leicester School of Architecture from 2001-04 and the University of Brighton 2005-07, where he studied under Christopher Pierce and Chris Matthews, in the architectural studio Mis-Architecture; and also under Jenny Lowe. In 2013, he attended The Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London (UCL).
This year’s judges headed by Mark Hix included Tracey Emin, Ivan Massow, Gemma de Cruz (Saatchi Art & Music), Charlie Phillips, Katie Heller, Edward Lucie- Smith, Stephen Webster, Steve Edge, Brian Boylan, Rob and Nick Carter, Chris Kneale, Mark Inglefield and Miranda Donovan with the winner being presented a bronze sculpture designed by Damien Hirst.
The HIX Award is an open, free to enter competition that offers full and part time students and graduates (of two years) the opportunity to show their work in Cock ‘n’ Bull Gallery, managed by Rebecca Lidert. After scouting the finest degree shows in the country this year, we invited a selection of talented emerging artists to enter the competition.
The exhibition presents the 21 finalists who are all in the running to win the HIX Award 2014; Amber Turner, Beast & Burden, Carlota Simó, Elizabeth Rose, Felix Treadwell, Gabriel Birch, Geraldine Buckland, Goran Chanter, Haz Moore, Imogen Parry, Jingjing Shen, Joshua Daniels, Karl Singporewala, Kristian Kragelund, Morgan Wills, Poppy Whatmore, Rebecca Molloy, Roderick Macleod, Sam Stobart, Theodoulos Polyviou and Vici Watkins.
The winner of the HIX Award 2014 will receive £500 worth of vouchers to be used in any of the HIX restaurants as well as a stay in The HIX Townhouse in Lyme Regis as well as a one person show in the gallery.
Following on from last year’s success, a number of exhibitors have gained commissions and exhibited internationally, thus confirming the value such an award can add to an artist’s career. Last year’s winner Nicholas Permain has continued to create fantastic work in his final year at university.
Photo: P C Robinson © Artlyst 2014
Cock ‘n’ Bull Gallery is located in the basement of Mark Hix’s Tramshed on Rivington Street, Shoreditch. The Hix Award exhibition is on through September
See Vine Video Here and On Our Homepage.