Jessica Mensch The Catch 2012 Oil on canvas 42 x 60 inches
This morning, 15 emerging artists were announced as finalists in the 2013 RBC Canadian Painting Competition.
A total of $115,000 in prize money is to be awarded this year. Paintings by each finalist can be viewed by clicking on the Photos icon above.
The Western Canada finalists are Jessica Bell of Vancouver, Colleen Heslin of Vancouver, Brian Kokoska of Vancouver, Rachelle Sawatsky of Delta and Sean Weisgerber of Saskatoon.
The Central Canada finalists are Jennifer Carvalho of Guelph, Colin Muir Dorward of Ottawa, Scott Everingham of Toronto, Laura Findlay of Guelph and Neil Harrison of Toronto.
The Eastern Canada finalists are Brendan Flanagan of Montreal, Adam Gunn of Halifax, Nathaniel Hurtubise of Montreal, Jessica Mensch of Brooklyn (formerly of Montreal), and Aaron Weldon of Halifax.
The winner—to be announced at the National Gallery of Canada on October 2—will receive a cash prize of $25,000, while two honourable mentions will each receive $15,000. The remaining 12 finalists will each be awarded $5,000.
This is the 15th anniversary of the award, which is presented in collaboration with the Canadian Art Foundation, publisher of Canadian Art.
“For 15 years now, RBC has been supporting and celebrating promising new visual artists as they develop their practice. We have seen tremendous growth in the calibre of emerging talent this year,” said Ann Webb, executive director of the Canadian Art Foundation. “We’re extremely proud to be able to help find and develop the next generation of Canadian painters.”
Paintings by the 15 finalists will be on exhibit at the National Gallery of Canada from October 1 to 13, and at Art Toronto from October 24 to 28.
The winning paintings for 2013 will also become part of RBC’s Canadian art collection comprised of more than 4,000 historical and contemporary works.
