Nadia Myre, For those who cannot speak..., 2013. Digital print, 175 x 2380 cm. Installation view at National Gallery of Canada. (Image 1/16)
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Sobey Art Foundation today announced the five artists who have been shortlisted for the 2014 Sobey Art Award.
Graeme Patterson (Atlantic), Nadia Myre (Quebec), Chris Curreri (Ontario), Neil Farber and Michael Dumontier (Prairies and the North) and Evan Lee (West Coast and Yukon) will vie for the $50,000 top prize, to be awarded on November 19 at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, where an exhibition of nomination-garnering works by the five finalists is set to open on November 1. (To see a selection of works by the shortlisted artists, click on the Photos icon above.)
This year’s award also marks a significant increase to the award’s overall prize package: The four runners-up will each receive $10,000 (up from $5,000 in past years) and, in a new award addition, the 20 remaining artists included in the previously announced national longlist will take home $500 each.
“The five selected artists present a spectrum of practices that emerge from personal experience, ultimately addressing specific social and cultural concerns,” states this year’s curatorial panel, made up of Pan Wendt from the Confederation Centre Art Gallery, Marie-Eve Beaupré from the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Srimoyee Mitra from Art Gallery of Windsor, Paul Butler from the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and Jordan Strom from the Surrey Art Gallery. “We are confident that the work of these five compelling and engaged artists will leave a lasting impact on Canadian art.”
Established in 2002, the Sobey Art Award is awarded annually by the Sobey Art Foundation to a Canadian artist age 40 or under on the basis of an exceptional exhibition of works in the past 18 months. Past winners include Duane Linklater (2013), Raphaëlle de Groot (2012), Daniel Young and Christian Giroux (2011), Daniel Barrow (2010), David Altmejd (2009), Tim Lee (2008), Annie Pootoogook (2006), Jean-Pierre Gauthier (2004) and Brian Jungen (2002).
