The finalists for the 14th edition of Canada’s prestigious contemporary art prize, the 2017 Sobey Art Award, were announced today by the Sobey Art Foundation and the National Gallery of Canada. By choosing a nominee from five different regions, the award provides visibility and support to young Canadian contemporary artists from coast to coast to coast. The five shortlisted artists, four of whom are women, contending for the 50,000 CAD prize are:
From the Atlantic region: Ursula Johnson (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia)
From Québec: Jacynthe Carrier (Québec City, Québec)
From Ontario: Bridget Moser (Toronto, Ontario)
From the Prairies and the North: Divya Mehra (Winnipeg, Manitoba; Delhi, India; New York, New York)
From the West Coast and the Yukon: Raymond Boisjoly (Vancouver, British Columbia)
Josée Drouin-Brisebois, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Canada chaired the 2017 selection committee of six jurors, including Sarah Fillmore, Chief Curator at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (Atlantic); Claude Bélanger, General and Artistic Director, Manif d’art de Québec (Québec); Sarah Robayo Sheridan, Curator of the Art Museum at the University of Toronto (Ontario); Jenifer Papararo, Executive Director at the Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art (Prairies and the North); Reid Shier, Director and Curator of the Presentation House Gallery (West Coast and the Yukon) and Adam Budak, Chief Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at the National Gallery in Prague, Czech Republic.
In 2017, the work of the five shortlisted artists’ will be exhibited at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto from October 24 to December 9. A total of 110,000 CAD will be distributed in 2017: 50,000 CAD to the winner, 10,000 CAD to the four other shortlisted artists, and 1,000 CAD for each longlisted artist—double the amount awarded in previous years.
The Sobey Art Award is presented to a Canadian artist aged 40 and under who has exhibited in a public or commercial art gallery within 18 months of being nominated. The winner of the 2017 Sobey Art Award will be announced at a gala event at the Hart House Great Hall at the University of Toronto on October 25, 2017.
About the Sobey Art Foundation
The Sobey Art Foundation was established in 1981 with a mandate to carry on the work of entrepreneur and business leader, the late Frank H. Sobey by collecting and preserving representative examples of 19th and 20th century Canadian art. The Foundation has since broadened its scope to support contemporary Canadian art through the Sobey Art Award. In one of the finest private collections of its kind, the Sobey Art Foundation has assembled outstanding examples from Canadian masters such as Cornelius Krieghoff, Tom Thomson and J. E. H. MacDonald. The collection is housed in an intimate setting at Crombie House, the former home of Frank Sobey and his wife Irene, in Pictou County, Nova Scotia.
About the National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada is home to the most important collections of historical and contemporary Canadian art. The Gallery also maintains Canada’s premier collection of European Art from the 14th to the 21st centuries, as well as important works of American, Asian and Indigenous Art and renowned international collections of prints, drawings and photographs. In 2015, the National Gallery of Canada established the Canadian Photography Institute, a global multidisciplinary research center dedicated to the history, evolution and future of photography. Created in 1880, the National Gallery of Canada has played a key role in Canadian culture for well over a century. Among its principal missions is to increase access to excellent works of art for all Canadians. For more information, visit gallery.ca and follow us on Twitter @NatGalleryCan
Media contact—North America:
Josée-Britanie Mallet, Senior Media and Public Relations Officer, National Gallery of Canada, bmallet [at] gallery.ca
Bernard Doucet, Sobey Art Foundation, bernard.doucet [at] sobeys.com
International media contact:
Catriona Collins, Pickles PR, catriona [at] picklespr.com
