Shortlist announced for the 10th Anniversary Sobey Art Award 2012
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Sobey Art Foundation today announced the five artists who have been shortlisted for the 2012 Sobey Art Award, the pre-eminent award for contemporary Canadian Art. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Award.
The 2012 Short List
West Coast and the Yukon: Gareth Moore
Prairies and the North: Jason de Haan
Ontario: Derek Sullivan
Quebec: Raphaëlle de Groot
Atlantic: Eleanor King
“The 2012 Curatorial Panel acknowledges the strength of all 25 nominees chosen for this year’s Sobey Art Award. The five selected artists claim distinct practices that share a common trait: they speak to both the local and the global and share interests in notions of obsolescence and materiality. Each nominee has demonstrated an engagement in timely discourses that extend beyond our Canadian discussion.”
The Sobey Art Award is 70,000 CAD with 50,000 CAD going to the winner and 5,000 CAD awarded to each of the other finalists. The Sobey Art Award, established in 2002 is awarded to a Canadian artist, age 40 or under, who has exhibited in a public or commercial gallery within 18 months of being nominated. It is intended to further the national conversation about contemporary art and is widely recognized as one of the most prestigious awards for contemporary art in Canada.
Work by the shortlisted artists will be shown in an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA) in Toronto, opening on October 24, 2012. The 10th Anniversary Sobey Art Award winner will be announced at a Gala event at the MOCCA on November 16, 2012.
The 2012 Sobey Art Award Curatorial Panel consists of:
David Diviney, Curator of Exhibitions, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
Louise Déry, Directrice Galerie de l’UQAM, Université du Québec à Montréal
David Liss, Artistic Director and Curator, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art
Ryan Doherty, Curator, Southern Alberta Art Gallery
Bruce Grenville, Senior Curator, Vancouver Art Gallery
About the nominees
Gareth Moore (b. 1975; Matsqui, British Columbia) is known for his playful and conceptually rigorous works produced from his investigations of the world around him. His relational projects consistently work to dislodge distinctions between art and life by positioning art in relation to human activity. He has been commissioned to make a major installation for (d)OCUMENTA 13 in 2012 and his project Children’s Films shown at the Biefelder Kunstverein (2011) will travel to the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver in 2012. Recent solo exhibitions include Luttgenmeijer, Berlin (2009); Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver (2009); Witte de With, Rotterdam (2008); CCA Wattis Institute of Contemporary Art, San Francisco (2008). His work has been included in numerous group exhibitions such as the Montreal Biennial (2010); It is What It Is, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2010); Nothing to Declare, The Power Plant, Toronto (2009); Sentimental Journey, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2009); Nomads, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2009); Wizard of Oz, CCA Wattis Institute of Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2008); Door Slamming Festival, Projektraum Alexander Schroeder, Berlin (2007).
Jason de Haan is a multidisciplinary artist whose work concerns itself with connections between the poetic, metaphysical, conceptual, and absurd, often manifesting itself as a combination of sculpture, installation, performance, drawing, and bookworks. As an ongoing practice it strives to recognize the potential in various systems, materials, and sets of conditions. He has exhibited nationally and internationally and recently participated in solo exhibitions at Clint Roenisch Gallery, ODD Gallery and with Miruna Dragan at The Khyber ICA. Upcoming exhibitions include The Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto and the Museo de la Ciudad, Queretaro. Jason recently participated in the thematic residency The Soiree Retreat: A bit of a Chekhovian Situation at The Banff Centre and just prior to that spent a year with Miruna Dragan living and working in Beirut.
Employing formal and textual elements that frequently contradict and alter relationships with one another, Derek Sullivan draws upon overlapping histories of modernist design, abstraction and conceptual art to unsettle notions of meaning and authorship. Sullivan uses drawing and sculpture, in addition to producing various ephemeral conceptual projects, to explore his interest in reinterpreting familiar forms in order to open up new areas of inquiry. Recent solo exhibitions have been held at The Power Plant, Toronto, where he was awarded The Power Plant’s 2011 commission; Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto (2011); KIOSK, Ghent (2011); University of Waterloo Art Gallery (2010); Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge (2008); White Columns, New York (2008) and Tatjana Pieters/OneTwenty Gallery, Ghent (2008). He has been included in group exhibitions at Oakville Galleries (2001); Casino Luxembourg Forum d’art contemporain (2008); Artists Space, New York (2007); the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2007) and The Power Plant (2005 and 2006). Sullivan has been long-listed for The Sobey Art Award in 2009 and 2011. In 2011 his work was featured in the Biennale de Montréal.
Raphaëlle de Groot was born in 1974 in Montreal where she lives and works. She holds an MFA from the Université du Québec à Montréal (2006). Raphaëlle has presented her work actively in Canada and Europe since 1997. Over the years she has acquired valuable collaboration experiences with, among others, Dare-dare (Montréal), the Centre d’histoire de Montréal, the Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto (Biella, Italy), the Leeds City Art Gallery (UK), the Galerie de l’UQAM (Montreal), the Quartier, Centre d’art contemporain de Quimper (France), the Southern Alberta Art Gallery (Lethbridge), and recently with La Chambre Blanche (Quebec) and Optica (Montreal). She took part in the first edition of the Québec Triennial unveiled at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal in 2008, in the exhibition Femmes artistes. L’éclatement des frontiers 1965-2000, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (2010) and in the two parts of Archi-féministes! at Optica (2011-2012). Her next plans will take place at the Festival cultural de Mayo Hospice Cabañas, Guadalajara, Mexico and in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, for the Biennale national de sculpture contemporaine. Presently she works in collaboration with the Musée de la civilization (Quebec) and the Musée Colby-Curtis (Stanstead) for the project presented next fall with a solo show at Galerie Graff, Montreal. Winner of the Pierre-Ayot prize 2006 and a 2008 Sobey Art Award finalist, Raphaëlle de Groot was awarded the Prix Graff (14th edition) in 2011.
Eleanor King presents installations and performances nationally and internationally, most notably at Nuit Blanche (Toronto), Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Eastern Edge Gallery (Newfoundland & Labrador) and Galleri F15 (Norway). She received a BFA from NSCAD University in 2001, and has participated in residencies at The Banff Centre (Alberta), Atlantic Centre for the Arts (Florida), New Adventures in Sound Art (Toronto), and the Centre for Art Tapes (Nova Scotia). Inspired by everyday life, Eleanor’s work employs interdisciplinary strategies to create site-specific installations and events using provisional materials and improvisational methods. Her musical history includes bands The Just Barelys, The Got to Get Got, and the newly formed all-female project Wet Denim. She teaches media arts at NSCAD University and is Director of the Anna Leonowens Gallery in Halifax.
For images please go to www.sobeyartaward.ca
For further details please contact:
Bernard Doucet, Director of Institutional Advancement, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
C 902 223 7246 / T 902 424 0073 / doucetbj@gov.ns.ca
Donna Wellard, Marketing and Communications, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
C 902 483 2019 / T 902 424 2903 / wellardc@gov.ns.ca
About the Sobey Art Award
The Sobey Art Award, Canada’s pre-eminent award for contemporary Canadian art, was created in 2002 by the Sobey Art Foundation. It is an annual prize given to an artist, age 40 or under, who has exhibited in a public or commercial art gallery within 18 months of being nominated. A total of 70,000 CAD in prize money is awarded annually; 50,000 CAD to the winner and 5,000 CAD to the other four finalists. Since its inception, the Sobey Art Award and its accompanying exhibition have been organized and administered by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. For information visit: www.sobeyartaward.ca.
About the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia is the largest art museum in Atlantic Canada. With locations in downtown Halifax and downtown Yarmouth, the Gallery houses the Province’s art collection and offers a range of exhibitions and programming. For information visit: www.artgalleryofnovascotia.ca.
