Jean-Pierre Gauthier Wins Sobey Art Award
Sobey Art Award
Jean-Pierre Gauthier, ‘Star–Cross Country Skiing’, 2004. Variable dimensions. Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. Photo Jean-Pierre Gauthier
information:
Svava Juliusson, Sobey Art Award Coordinator
902.424.5169
Scotiabank to Partner with Sobey Art Foundation and AGNS in presenting National Tour
Jean-Pierre Gauthier of Montreal has been named the 2004 winner of the Sobey Art Award, Canada’s pre-eminent prize for young Canadian artists.
The Sobey Art Award celebrates the work produced by contemporary artists in Canada and provides a significant opportunity for one artist, under the age of 40.
“While this award shines a spotlight on creative minds across this country, I hope it will also stimulate interest, discussion and debate regarding Canadian contemporary art,” said Donald Sobey, of the Sobey Art Foundation. “Since the inaugural award in 2002, enthusiasm about the award has grown and we want to build on that momentum by making Canadian contemporary art more accessible.”
It was Gauthier’s second time on the short-list for the Sobey Art Award. Gauthier creates kinetic installations he describes as “mecanico-hygienic.” In his work, everyday objects are transformed, and inhabit installations that present sound, movement and physical objects in haunting, humorous and challenging combinations. Equally concerned with sound as with material, Gauthier bridges the visual arts and experimental music worlds.
A graduate of the Universite du Quebec a Montreal with a Master of Fine Arts, Gauthier’s work has been presented in solo exhibitions at the Knoxville Museum of Art, Tennessee; Jack Shainman Gallery, New York; and, Musee des beaux-arts, Montreal.
Created by the Sobey Art Foundation in 2002, the Sobey Art Award is presented every two years to an artist 39 years old or younger, who has shown their work in a public or commercial art gallery in Canada in the past 18 months.
The exhibition of works by the short-listed artists has been on display at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) since September 18, 2004 and continues to November 21. The Sobey Foundation and the AGNS are pleased also to announce a partnership with Scotiabank for the national tour of the Sobey Art Award 2004. The exhibition will share the talent of the short-listed artists with audiences from coast to coast.
The exhibition, Scotiabank presents the Sobey Art Award 2004, is scheduled to embark on the tour in the early part of 2005 and will continue through to the spring of 2006.
Five finalists, each one representing a region in Canada, were short-listed for the award. They included:
Althea Thauberger, Vancouver, BC – West Coast/Yukon
Marcel Dzama, Winnipeg, MB – Prairies/North
Germaine Koh, Toronto, ON – Ontario
Jean-Pierre Gauthier, Montreal, PQ – Quebec
Greg Forrest, Halifax, NS – Atlantic Canada
A panel of curatorial advisors, each representing a major gallery from one of five regions in Canada, selected the short-listed artists. Each advisor was charged with creating a short list of five artists from their respective regions. In the spring of 2004, the panelists reduced the national long list of twenty-five artists, to a short list of five.
For more information on the Sobey Art Award, please visit the web site: www.sobeyartaward.ca
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, of collecting and preserving representative examples of 19th and 20th century Canadian art.
One of the finest private collections of its kind, the Sobey Art Foundation has assembled exemplary examples from Canadian Masters like 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. Tours are regularly scheduled throughout the summer months and by appointment year round.
For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Svava Juliusson, Sobey Art Award Coordinator
902.424.5169
Suzanne MacCormack
902.493.3100
To view and download print-quality artwork samples of the short-listed artists visit: www.sobeyartaward.ca
