ART NEWS
Victor Sydorenko, Invasion Oil, oil on canvas 2011-2014. Image courtesy of Saatchi Gallery
ART NEWS: UK/raine art prize, a new initiative by Saatchi Gallery and Firtash Foundation targets young UK and Ukraine artists
BY KAZAD
Pavlo Kerestey, Kids Fighting Friend, acrylic, oil on canvas 2007. Image courtesy of Saatchi Gallery
LONDON- UK/raine, a major new art prize launched by the Saatchi Gallery and Firtash Foundation is now open for entries. Entries will be accepted until October 20th in the following categories: installation, new media (including video and photography), painting (including works on paper), sculpture and street art. Artists will be able to enter their work via the Saatchi Gallery website.
UK/raine is the first ever open competition for emerging artists from the UK and Ukraine who are aged 18-35 years old. With prizes worth £75,000, the main objective of the competition according to Saatchi Gallery and Firtash Foundation is “to find and support the most imaginative, creative and talented young artists living and working in the UK or Ukraine or who are born in either country.”
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Each of the category winners will receive GB£10,000 with the overall winner of the prize receiving a further GB£20,000. In addition to the cash prizes, 30 shortlisted artists (six from each category) will also get the opportunity to showcase their work in a month-long exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery. Covering the entire floor of the Saatchi Gallery, the exhibition will run from November 24, 2014 through January 3, 2006.
A panel of renowned international judges has already been put in place to select a winner from each of the five categories, as well as an overall winner. The judges include Johnson Chang – Founder of the Asia Art Archive, Nigel Hurst -Saatchi Gallery CEO, Prof. Dr. Apinan Poshyananda, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Thailand and Oleksandr Soloviov – Ukrainian author and curator.
The public will also have the opportunity to participate in the art prize when they vote on their winner. The winner of the public vote will receive GB£5,000 of production costs towards their work, project or exhibition in order to support their future artistic endeavors. All winners will be announced at the exhibition’s launch and VIP private view in London on November 23, 2015.
The UK/raine art prize is a continuation of the collaboration between the Firtash Foundation and Saatchi Gallery that started as part of the Days of Ukraine in the UK. Coming after the huge success of Premonition: Ukrainian Art Now, which ran at the Saatchi Gallery from October 9 through November 3, 2014, the UK/raine art prize is also expected to be a big success.
Premonition: Ukrainian Art Now was the largest survey to date of contemporary Ukrainian art in the UK and showcased over 80 works by 38 artists. With more than 137,438 visitors (5,494 per day), the show was the only UK exhibition in the world’s top 20 most attended shows in 2014. It was also rated the seventh most popular contemporary art exhibition worldwide.
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