Stephanie Comilang, Lumapit Sa Akin, Paraiso (Come To Me, Paradise) (still), 2016. Video, 26 min. Courtesy the artist.
This morning, five finalists were announced for the 2019 Sobey Art Award. The award is presented annually to a Canadian artist aged 40 or under.
This year’s first-prize winner, to be announced November 15 at the Art Gallery of Alberta, will receive $100,000. At that time, each of the other shortlisted artists will receive $25,000. One shortlisted artist will also receive a residency at Fogo Island Arts.
The five shortlisted artists are:
D’Arcy Wilson (for the Atlantic)
Nicolas Grenier (for Quebec)
Stephanie Comilang (for Ontario)
Kablusiak (for Prairies and the North)
Anne Low (for West Coast and the Yukon)
The shortlisted artists were selected from a longlist of 25 released on April 16.
Josée Drouin-Brisebois, the National Gallery of Canada’s senior curator of contemporary art, noted in a release that she found nominator submissions this year to be “exceptional and surprising.” She also stated that shortlist emphasizes “excitement about younger practices in all regions of the country.”
The 2019 jury is chaired by Drouin-Brisebois and composed of Dalhousie Art Gallery director/curator Peter Dykhuis; National Bank Collection curator Jo-Ann Kane; independent curator, artist and writer Swapnaa Tamhane; Art Gallery of Alberta curator Lindsey Sharman; Contemporary Art Gallery executive director Nigel Prince; and Kunsthal Charlottenborg curator Henriette Bretton-Meyer.
Works by the five shortlisted artists will be exhibited at the Art Gallery of Alberta from October 5, 2019, to January 5, 2020.
Past winners of the Sobey Art Award include Brian Jungen, Annie Pootoogook, David Altmejd, Jeremy Shaw and Kapwani Kiwanga.
