The Sobey Art Foundation and the National Gallery of Canada announced the five finalists for the 2018 Sobey Art Award. The work of all five will be featured in a group exhibition opening October 3, 2018 at the National Gallery of Canada. One of the artists will take home the CAD 100,000 first prize, to be awarded November 14 in Ottawa.
As one of the world’s most prestigious contemporary art prizes, the Sobey Art Award is presented annually to a visual artist age 40 and under who has exhibited in a public or commercial art gallery within 18 months of being nominated. By choosing one nominee from each of the five regions of Canada, the Sobey Art Award provides visibility and financial support to young Canadian contemporary artists, while also offering an opportunity to exchange ideas and to learn about different artistic and curatorial practices from across the country.
The five shortlisted artists contending for the grand prize are:
–From the Atlantic region: Jordan Bennett
–From Québec: Jon Rafman
–From Ontario: Kapwani Kiwanga
–From the Prairies and the North: Joi T. Arcand
–From the West Coast and the Yukon: Jeneen Frei Njootli
The shortlisted artists were selected from a longlist of 25 nominees by an international jury. The 2018 jury, chaired by Josée Drouin-Brisebois, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Canada, is composed of Heather Igloliorte, Independent Curator and Concordia University Research Chair in Indigenous Art History and Community Engagement, for the Atlantic Provinces; Jean-François Bélisle, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Musée d’art de Joliette, for the Quebec region; November Paynter, Director of Programs, Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada, for the Ontario region; Kristy Trinier, Independent Curator, for the Prairies and the North region; Melanie O’Brian, Director, Simon Fraser University Galleries, for the West Coast and Yukon; and international juror, Séamus Kealy, Director, Salzburger Kunstverein.
Drouin-Brisebois will organize the exhibition featuring the work of the five shortlisted artists to be presented at the Gallery between October 3, 2018 and February 10, 2019.
In addition to the CAD 100,000 Sobey Art Award grand prize, CAD 25,000 is awarded to the other four finalists and CAD 2,000 to each of the remaining 20 artists on the longlist.
Additional information about the 2018 nominees and jurors is available at gallery.ca/sobey and by following @PrixSobeyAward.
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 by 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 centre 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
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
Catriona Collins, Pickles PR, catriona@picklespr.com
