Tomorrow, Saturday 10 September, marks the start of the 2-day Essex Architecture Weekend presented by Radical Essex.
The festival, themed ‘The Modernist County,’ will pivot around three exciting sites: the Bata Estate in East Tilbury, Frinton-on-Sea and Silver End village. The goal is to illustrate how these experimental community models pioneered Modernist architecture.
Huge congratulations to Joshua Raz, Newcastle University grad and official winner of this year’s prestigious HIX Award.
Launched in 2013, the HIX Award was conceived by famed restaurateur Mark Hix and the director of CNB Gallery, Rebecca Lidert. It is specifically designed for emerging artists in the hopes that it can be their first step towards a career after university.
British painter, Danny Rolph, comes to London with East Central thanks to CNB Gallery this September. The exhibition is made up of four large-scale paintings, all of which have been inspired by the areas of London in which Danny grew up, namely EC1, EC2, EC3 and EC4. As a child he would stand in the kitchen of his parents’ high rise flat just off the City Road staring at the city below, and in these works, which unite painting with collage, he has recreated those memories in abstract forms.
Of the works, he says: ‘I grew up in the sky, one hundred foot above City Road. The view from our kitchen window contained sunset and sunrises of the type that Tiepolo imagines populated by architectural silhouettes of St Paul’s, the Old Bailey and the Post Office Tower.’
To kick off the British summer, which let’s be honest has JUST started, don’t miss the always fabulous Vauxhall Art Car Boot Fair, this time in Hastings for the first time ever. Taking place on 16 July, the event, as always, will feature a number of big name artists including John Cooper Clarke, Gavin Turk, Marcus Harvey, Sir Peter Blake and Sir Quentin Blake. All of these artists will be at the event selling their prized editions at a friendly price.
Other artists participating include: Keith Coventry, Martin Creed, HelenA Pritchard, Rachel Howard, Tracey Emin, and – for the first time – Mr Bingo.
After following the progression of this year’s SOLO Award since the competition was first announced, we are so thrilled to share that a winner has been selected!
Hopefully, you had a chance to view the incredible shortlisted artists’ works on our ArtAttack App, which we were honoured to exclusively showcase on the ‘Curated Art’ page. Well, one of these talented creatives is now the big winner! We are thrilled to introduce Victoria Lucas!
Victoria is a Sheffield-based artist represented by Mark Devereaux Projects. She received her BA (hons) in Fine Art (Sculpture) from Norwich School of Art and Design in 2004, followed by her MFA Fine Arts from the University of Leeds in 2007. Currently, she is a Fine Art Lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston.
Victoria’s artworks are often initiated by a physical encounter with a place, site or landscape. By concentrating on these contexts and their current or former inhabitants, she develops conceptual narratives that subvert and categorise events and myths using a site’s materiality as a catalyst.
We had the chance to speak with Victoria about her SOLO Award victory and greater artistic practice.
ArtAttack continuously follows current Creative Art Competitions within the Global Art Industry. Our most recent attraction is to The Annual National Creativity Competition in Africa for schools and young people under the age of 25, which is the renowned ‘MASK Prize‘, endorsed by Kenya Ministry Of Education.
The 2016 Mask Prize is an initiative of the Mobile Art School in Kenya that seeks to promote creativity and innovation among the young generation. This is another chance for young artists from Kenya, Africa and its diaspora to show the world what they’ve got. Currently in its 4th year, the MASK Art Prize has been able to award and mentor a myriad of Kenyan and African artists through its competitions and expose them to the global art world. Next year, The MASK Prize will collaborate with Turner Contemporary, which will be very exciting!
This year’s theme is “Young People-The Creative Nation”.
Artworks are submitted online in a variety of media and reflect innovative ideas. All entries were in one of the following forms:
Part of why ArtAttack is introducing you to The MASK Prize is due to the 2016 Award Ceremony that takes place this week on the 23rd of June at the Michael Joseph Art Centre in Nairobi and some selected works will be exhibited in the UK at the Saatchi Gallery, University for the Creative Arts and Turner Contemporary.
For further information and interest in the juding panal, click these links: http://mobileartschoolinkenya.org/mask-prize/index.html http://mobileartschoolinkenya.org/mask-prize/how-to-enter/judges.html
ArtAttack are thrilled to show you the incredibly creative works of the 2016 Winners and Commended Artists.
2016 Mask Prize Winners –
1. Churchill Ongere, 23 years old, Untitled
2. Gitahi Kariouki, 21 years old, Embrace
3. Louis Nderi, 25 years old, Family Tree
4. Sidney Wanjiku, 23 years old, Women Power
5. Edwin Lyra, 19 years old, Chorwa
6. John Njeru, 21 years old, Abstract Love
7. Onesmus Omakar, 21 years old, Untitled
8. Edwin Wainanina, 19 years old, From The East Heavens
9. June Wambua, 22 years old, Black Leaf
10. Peteros Wasinde, 19 years old, Heart And Brain
11) Kennedy Kimani , 24 years old, Market and Beyond
12) Claire Njeri Kuria, 15 years old, Karen
2016 Mask Prize Commended –
1. Alan Madegwa, 19 years old, Thoughts
2. Lee Wanjiru, 19 years old, Untitled
3. Steve Wanjau, 22 years old, Untitled
4. Caitano Mbati, 21 years old, El Doret
5. Sam Mulwa, 19 years old, Mother Earth
6. Isaac Muraya, 23 years old, Nairobian Girl
7. Samson Lerosion, 20 years old, Leafy Samburu
8) Bilha Simwenyi, 23 years old, Kakamega
9) Selina Onyando, 19 years old, Chai
10) Victor Mutua, 21 years old, Strength of an Eagle
11) Alvin Njuguna, 17 years old, Beginning of April
12) Ron Lukes, 21 years old, Devine
13) Joseph Makau, 20 years old, Swampy
14) Kibet Kirui, 22 years old, Ride and Die
15) Viva Mugambi, 20 years old, Old love
‘…At the National College of Arts (NCA), we imagine a world. Not one world, but many. One for each of us, one from each of us, with these we write the autobiographies of our times, in objects, in lines, in mortar, and in perishable clay. In tracing ourselves, we leave traces. These are the traces that make our cities. Turn us inside out like pillowcases with that remembered smell, like shed skins. These are the traces that populate our nights, and from these traces we dare to dream again…’ – Excerpts from NCA teacher-students conversations
The National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan is a global centre for creativity, talent and artistic tradition. Originally founded as The Mayo School of Art in 1875, and rebranded the NCA in 1958, debate and discourse are encouraged amongst the students and faculty here, and this leads to a culture of understanding, individuality and tolerance. The art that comes out of this incredible place is some of the best in the world, the training exceptional and the diversity of the students in background, identity, ideology and language a major strength.
Teachers at the NCA nurture and push their students so that each one rightfully values his and her creative ideas and pushes their artistic practice to reach its height.
All this happens in a country who’s value is often overlooked by the international community; a country who’s goodness is glossed over for its’ bureaucratic corruption and troubled political history. It is easy to forget, if your only connection to Pakistan is watching the news, that this country, one of the cradles of civilisation, actually has an astonishing cultural and artistic history practically unmatched in the world. The NCA connects all their students with this rich history, as we hope the following interviews will connect our readers with it as well.
We are honoured to have had the chance to speak with three outstanding female NCA alumna, Class of 2016, Amani Iqbal, Sameen Agha and Komal Tufail, about their time at this esteemed institution, their artistic practice and their future goals within the art world. Suffice to say, these are powerhouse women and we can’t wait to see what incredible strides they take!
The first day of the battle of the Somme (1 July 1916) was the costliest in British military history. To commemorate the centenary of this tragic battle, writer and photographer, Jolyon Fenwick has created a series of photographic panoramas taken at the exact position (and time of year and day) from which 14 battalions attacked in the first wave at 7.30am BST (ZERO HOUR) that fateful morning.
Annotated by hand in the manner of the battle eld panoramas of the time with the points of tactical significance as they existed immediately before the battle, they powerfully juxtapose the hellish reality of the nation’s bloodiest battle with the pastoral peace of these ‘forever English’ fields today.’
ArtAttack had the pleasure to speak with Jolyon about his upcoming exhibition.
ArtAttack is thrilled to be collaborating with Rosie Osborne, founder of one of our favourite blogs, Free Spirits. This creative hub is home to countless fascinating and inspiring interviews with some of the art world’s most interesting minds and we are so happy to be able to share a few of them with you!
For our first of Rosie’s interviews, meet Nicolas Hugo, young Parisian gallerist and champion of emerging artists…
Nicolas Hugo founded his own art gallery in Paris in 2012, at the age of 23. More than three years on and 20 exhibitions later, he represents young, emerging artists from all over the world and is a rising star on the art scene. During his sell-out first exhibition, ‘I Ran with Iran’, which showcased works by young Iranian artists, his energy and initiative sparked a frenzy of press interest. Since then, he continues to innovate. His shows now demand a larger space and there are plans for a third international pop-up gallery, in London this year. In our interview, we discuss his childhood inspirations, his mission to break the mould, and the power of the sharing economy in the art world.
Nicolas Hugo in his home. Photo by Rosie Osborne.
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