The winning painting by Alexis Lavoie
Jon Reed and Mark Stebbins have won honourable mentions for their works Stato di Impotenza and Data Centers. Both the winner and runners-up were announced September 29 in Toronto.
“The RBC Canadian Painting Competition has established itself as a showcase of the future of Canadian painting and the talent of emerging artists,” says Ann Webb, executive director, Canadian Art Foundation. The first prize of $25,000 and two honorable mention awards of $15,000 each are intended to help up-and-coming artists build their careers.
The RBC Canadian Painting Competition was judged by nine distinguished members of the visual arts community this year: Halifax artist Mathew Reichertz; Simon Blais, owner of Montreal’s Galerie Simon Blais; Paulette Gagnon, director of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal; Ottawa collector Joe Friday; Toronto artist Joanne Tod; Michael Gibson, director of London’s Michael Gibson Gallery; Vancouver artist Renée Van Halm; Jennifer Papararo, curator at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver; and Mary Reid, curator of contemporary art and photography at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
The goal of the competition is to support and nurture Canadian visual artists in their early career by providing a forum to display their artistic talent to the country and hopefully open doors to future opportunity.
Paintings by all 15 competition finalists are on exhibit at the Power Plant in Toronto to October 3 before embarking on a national tour that will include stops at the Dalhousie Art Gallery in Halifax from October 10 to 17; at the Art Gallery of Northumberland in Cobourg from October 26 to November 6; and at the Art Gallery of Calgary from November 15 to 21.
All finalists will be featured in Canadian Art and on canadianart.ca in the coming weeks.
