Northern Art Prize 2009
Exhibition | Artists | Selectors | Nominations
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Exhibition
Pavel Bϋchler, Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson,
Rachel Gooyear and Matt Stokes
27 November 2009 - 21 February 2010
at Leeds Art Gallery, The Headrow, Leeds LS1 3AA
Open Mon-Tues Thurs-Sat 10am-5pm, Wed 12-5pm, Sun 1-5pm
For Christmas and New Closures, please phone 0113 2478256 or go to www.leeds.gov.uk/artgallery
FREE entry
The exhibition is accompanied by a full colour catalogue which is still available to buy from Leeds Art Gallery on 0113 2478256 or city.art.gallery@leeds.gov.uk
Artist talks
A series of early evening events through December and January with this year's shortlisted artists. Tickets are £5 (£3 concs) on the door. Reservations can be made at Leeds Art Gallery on 0113 2478256.
Tuesday 1 December, 6pm
Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson and Tanja Pirsig-Marshall (Curator of Exhibitions, Leeds Art Gallery)
Tuesday 8 December, 6pm
Pavel Buchler and Maria Balshaw (Director, Whitworth Art Gallery)
Tuesday 12 January, 6pm
Matt Stokes and Julia Bell (Freelance Independent Curator and Visual Arts Consultant) and Alan Smith (Allenheads Contemporary Art)
Tuesday 19 January, 6pm
Rachel Goodyear and Nigel Walsh (Curator of Contemporary Art, Leeds Art Gallery)
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Artists
Pavel Bϋchler | Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson
Rachel Goodyear | Matt Stokes
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Pavel Bϋchler
Nominated by Maria Balshaw, Director, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
Pavel Büchler was born in Czechoslovakia in 1952. He studied in Prague at the School of Graphic Arts (1970-2) and the Institute of Applied Arts (1973-6), before moving to the UK in 1981.
For Büchler, art is an act of subversion: a rebellious attitude of mind. Instead of making objects, he intervenes in the real world, manipulating found materials - objects, images, audio recordings, photographs and texts - to reveal the strangeness in everyday life. He often juxtaposes objects to create witty visual puns and metaphors and narrative riddles, in which text, embedded in the work or in the title, plays an important role.
Büchler has exhibited widely in Britain and abroad. Most recently, he has had solo shows at Street Level, Glasgow (2009), objectif / Museum Van Hdendaagse Kunst, Antwerp (2007), Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2007) and the Kunsthalle, Bern, Switzerland (2006).
Further information about the artist and the works is included in the exhibition catalogue available from the Gallery Shop in the Artspace or from 0113 2478256.
‘Eclipse’ 2009 by Pavel Büchler
Nine Leitz Prado projectors, stands, found balls
Dimensions variable
Courtesy Max Wigram Gallery, London
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Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson
Nominated by Maria Balshaw, Director, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
Nick Crowe (born in Barnsley in 1968) and Ian Rawlinson (born in Macclesfield in 1965) began their partnership in 1994, when they shared a studio space in Manchester. Their work explores cultural values by addressing questions around faith, politics, national identity and the environment.
The pair’s collaborations often centre on the theme of duality and the ways in which the meanings of objects can change when they are duplicated. Fascinated by pairs, the objects, images and words were placed in relationship to each other, sometimes in opposition, sometimes in dialogue.
Over the last fifteen years, their collaborative work has been shown in Britain and abroad. Solo shows include The Carriers’ Prayer at Newlyn Art Gallery, Penzance (2008); At 25 Metres, Fact, Liverpool (2007); Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson at Manchester Art Gallery and Aspex Gallery Portsmouth (2003).
Further information about the artist and the works is included in the exhibition catalogue available from the Gallery Shop in the Artspace or from 0113 2478256.
‘The Four Horsemen – War’ 2009
by Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson
Four channel installation, hi definition video
2.09 mins, 2.12 mins, 2.15 mins, 2.40 mins loops
All images courtesy of the Artists and Ceri Hand Gallery
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Rachel Goodyear
Nominated by Ann Bukantas, Curator of Fine Art, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Rachel Goodyear was born in Oldham, Lancashire in 1978 and graduated from Leeds Metropolitan University. Since then she has lived and worked in Manchester.
Goodyear started off as a painter but concentrates now solely on drawing. Adopting an observational approach, her characters have no context or history. Often blackly funny they depict a darker psychological undercurrent. She explores the relationships between individual drawings by exhibiting them in changing displays and contexts, advertising the sculptural side of drawing.
Goodyear has regularly exhibited in the UK and abroad. Solo exhibitions include The Converging Ends Were Misaligned, Pippy Houldsworth, London (2009) and Solo Project, NEXT, Chicago (2008). She has also exhibited collectively in Post Notes at the ICA, London (2005); Made Up, Tate Liverpool (Biennal 2008-9) and The Unheimlich, Leeds Met (2008).
Further information about the artist and the works is included in the exhibition catalogue available from the Gallery Shop in the Artspace or from 0113 2478256.
‘Darkness Coming (detail)’ 2008
by Rachel Goodyear
Pencil and watercolour on paper
42 x 60cm
Courtesy Robert Devereux collection
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Matt Stokes
Nominated by Helen Ratcliffe and Alan Smith, Directors, Allenheads Contemporary Art, Northumberland and Julia Bell, Freelance Independent Curator and Visual Arts Consultant, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Matt Stokes was born in Penzance, Cornwell, in 1973. He graduated in 1997 from Newcastle University and has continued to live in the North East ever since. Winner of the Beck’s Futures 2006, he works across a variety of mediums.
His practice often involves working with informal groups of people, linked to music subcultures. His works explore the collectively and near religious dedications towards specific music genres and their associated scenes. The artist himself is acting as catalyst in the development of partnerships that are integral to his production of artworks.
Stokes has exhibited widely across the UK and beyond with solo presentations at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead and Attitudes-Espace D’Arts Contemporains, Geneva.
Further information about the artist and the works is included in the exhibition catalogue available from the Gallery Shop in the Artspace or from 0113 2478256.
‘these are the days’ 2008-9
by Matt Stokes
Two channel Super 16mm film and audio transferred to hard-drives, 6.26 mins
Courtesy of the Artist, Workplace Gallery, Gateshead and Ziehersmith, New York
Photographer: Sarah Greene Reed
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Selectors
The selectors for 2009 are Patricia Bickers (Editor, Art Monthly), Richard Deacon (Artist), Paul Hobson (Director, Contemporary Art Society), Peter Murray (Director, Yorkshire Sculpture Park) and Tanja Pirsig-Marshall (Curator of Exhibitions, Leeds Art Gallery).
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Nominations
The longlisted artists for 2009 are:
Farhad Ahrarnia, Andy Black, Pavel Bϋchler, Halima Cassell, J. Chuhan, Jo Coupe, Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson, Graham Dolphin, Jennifer Douglas, Jorn Ebner, Rachel Goodyear, Sally Greaves-Lord, Lubaina Himid, Simon Le Ruez, Bob Levene, Ant Macari, Haroon Mirza, Jane Poulton and Lin Holland, Emma Rushton and Derek Tyman, Bryndis Snæbjörnsdóttir and Mark Wilson, Linder Sterling, Matt Stokes and Richard William Wheater.
The nominators for 2009 are:
North East
Julia Bell, Freelance Independent Curator and Visual Arts Consultant; James Lowther, Curator, DLI Museum and Durham Art Gallery;Helen Ratcliffe and Alan Smith, Directors, Allenheads Contemporary Art, Northumberland; Paul Stone and Christopher Yeats, Directors, Vane.
North West
John Angus, Director, Storey Gallery, Lancaster;Maria Balshaw, Director, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; Ann Bukantas, Curator of Fine Art, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; Fareda Khan, Deputy Director, Shisha, Manchester.
Yorkshire
Stuart Cameron, Director, Crescent Arts; Lara Goodband, Independent Curator; Nicola Stephenson, Director, The Culture Company; Liz Whitehouse, Director, The Art House, Wakefield
