Longlist announced for the 2015 Sobey Art Award
The Sobey Art Foundation and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia are pleased to announce the longlist for the 2015 Sobey Art Award, Canada’s pre-eminent contemporary art award.
Each year the Sobey Art Award is awarded to a visual artist age 40 and under who has exhibited in a public or commercial art gallery within 18 months of being nominated. The 2015 Curatorial Panel has announced that the 25 artists vying for the combined 100,000 CAD in prize money for the 2015 Sobey Art Award are:
West Coast/Yukon
Fiona Ackerman / Sonny Assu / Raymond Boisjoly / Tiziana La Melia / Jeremy Shaw
Prairies and the North
Cedric Bomford / Jason de Haan / Sarah Anne Johnson / Scott Rogers / Kara Uzelman
Ontario
Abbas Akhavan / Brendan Fernandes / Maggie Groat / Annie MacDonell / Derek Sullivan
Quebec
Sophie Bélair Clément / Yannick Desranleau & Chloe Lum (Seripop) / Jacqueline Hoang Nguyen / Allison Katz / Jon Rafman
Atlantic
Jordan Bennett / Ursula Johnson / Eleanor King / Lisa Lipton / Zeke Moores
Detailed biographical information on the 25 longlisted artists and members of the curatorial panel is available at www.sobeyartaward.ca.
Sarah Fillmore, Chief Curator, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and Curator, Sobey Art Award says:
“Contemporary art curators and professionals from across Canada have offered the 2015 Sobey Art Award curatorial panel excellent options for the longlist. This list is the result of considerable deliberation by some of Canada’s most outstanding curators. I thank the nominators and artists whose participation in this process gives Canadians the most enticing annual peek at the future of contemporary Canadian art around the world.”
The members of the 2015 curatorial panel are:
West Coast: Michelle Jacques, Chief Curator, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Prairies: Meeka Walsh, independent curator and Editor, Border Crossings magazine
Ontario: Crystal Mowry, Curator, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery
Québec: Marc Lanctôt, Curator, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal
Atlantic: David Diviney, Curator of Exhibitions, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
This year the Sobey Art Award is delighted to welcome Josée Drouin Brisebois, Curator of Contemporary Art, at the National Gallery of Canada, as a guest curator, representing the pan-national perspective of our Country’s National Gallery.
The 2015 shortlist of the Sobey Art Award will be announced June 3. Work by the shortlisted artists will be exhibited at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, beginning September 26, with the winner being announced at a Gala event in October.
Media contacts:
Bernard Doucet, Director, Corporate Affairs, Sobeys
115 King St., Stellarton, Nova Scotia
T +902 752 8371 x 2301 / bernard.doucet [at] sobeys.com
Leslie Tinkham, Director, Development, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
T +902 424 0073 / M +902 266 9285 / leslie.tinkham [at] novascotia.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 and under who has exhibited in a public or commercial art gallery within 18 months of being nominated. A total of 100,000 CAD in prize money is awarded annually; 50,000 CAD to the winner; 10,000 CAD to the other four finalists; and 500 CAD to each of the remaining longlisted artists. Since its inception, the Sobey Art Award and accompanying exhibition have been organized and administered by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. For information visit: www.sobeyartaward.ca
Sobey Art Foundation
The Sobey Art Foundation was established in 1981 with a mandate to carry on the work of entrepreneur and business leader, the late Frank H. Sobey, of collecting and preserving representative examples of 19th- and 20th-century Canadian art. One of the finest private collections of its kind, the Sobey Art Foundation has assembled exemplary examples from Canadian Masters like Cornelius Krieghoff, Tom Thomson and J.E.H. MacDonald.
About the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia is the largest art museum in Atlantic Canada, with a mission to engage people with art. The Gallery houses the Province’s art collection and offers a range of exceptional exhibitions, education and public programming. For information visit: www.artgalleryofnovascotia.ca
