Jon Rafman's 214 9th Ave., New York, NY, United States (2010) from his breakthrough 9 Eyes of Google Street View project.
Canadian artist Jon Rafman is one of 20 artists internationally to have been shortlisted for the next Future Generation Art Prize.
The main prize winner, to be announced December 6 in Kyiv, Ukraine, will receive a prize valued at $100,000 US—$60,000 in cash and $40,000 toward the production of a new work.
The Future Generation Art Prize is a global prize for artists up to 35 years of age. This year’s shortlist was selected from more than 5,500 applications received from 148 countries.
Rafman’s practice broke through to international attention in 2009 with his 9 Eyes of Google Street View project—a series of alternately strange, whimsical, romantic and disturbing images that the artist has found while perusing Google Street View.
More recently, in Brand New Paint Job (2013), Rafman has gained attention for superimposing imagery from famed works of art onto architectural interiors of various kinds.
Born in 1981 in Montreal, Rafman holds a BA in philosophy and literature from McGill University and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Rafman’s work is currently on view as part of a Future Generation Art Prize exhibition at the Pinchuk Art Centre in Kyiv, Ukraine, and will be there until January 4, 2015.
Other artists shortlisted for the award this year include Neïl Beloufa of France and Algeria; Cally Spooner of the UK; and Allyson Vieira of the USA.
The jury for the prize this year includes curator Francesco Bonami, artist Jan Fabre, artist Doris Salcedo, Pinchuk Art Centre director Eckhard Schneider, curator Bisi Silva, Documenta 14 artistic director Adam Szymczyk and Ullens Center director Philip Tinari.
