The Catlin Art Prize is back for a 5th year and we’ve teamed up with its founder Justin Hammond to give you an insight into the 5 finalists : Leah Capaldi, Noemie Goudal, Darren Harvey-Regan, Russell Hill and Juliette Losq – over the next 5 days,
Here is Justin’s to give us an overview of the show and how it has grown over these 5 years:
I put on the first Catlin Art Prize in February 2007 at the Ada Street Gallery, just off Broadway Market. That was one of my favourite shows, a really strong year I think. The idea was never just to chuck together a survey show of recent graduates, but to provide support and a discernible structure for a small group of artists in that crucial first year out of art school. The Catlin Art Prize exhibition was (and still is) the celebration at the end of that process.
As the profile of the prize has grown, I’ve been afforded the opportunity to publish The Catlin Guide – essentially my annual long-list of artists for the final exhibition. I profile 40 artists in the book, selected from art schools across the UK. I’m constantly researching the next edition – that never stops – and I’ll consider recommendations from tutors, curators, collectors and art critics. Apart from a distinct ability, I’m looking for potential and a desire to progress. It’s important to take a long-term view. Rather than list past shows, The Catlin Guide promotes future projects – it’s proved very successful in facilitating new opportunities for the featured artists.
Just as satisfying for me has been the reaction to the book as an elegant and desirable object in its own right. I worked with Yes on the design – they’ve collaborated with Peter Saville and my idea was for The Guide to look a bit like a New Order album from 1986 or ’87 – so it seemed like an ideal match. It comes in a very expensive slipcase and we produce a limited (and very precise) number – this year we printed exactly 2,011. We gave away around half of those at the launch in January.
For the 5th anniversary of the the Catlin Art Prize I’ve selected 5 artists from The Guide and the prize money has increased to £5,000. We’ve switched venues too. After a couple of years at the Village Underground in Shoredtich, we’ve move around half a mile down the road The Tramshed and the exhibition will be staged over 2 floors and 4 rooms. To celebrate our birthday, I’ve invited past winners and key artists from previous prizes to return and show alongside the current shortlist. There’s 17 artists altogether and for this year the sponsors have introduced a fresh initiative – The Catlin Commission, open to all participants. A prize of £3,000, based on a written proposal for a new piece of work for the Catlin collection, will be awarded to the winning artist at next week’s PV.
Justin Hammond
The ongoing support of Catlin to contemporary artists, already considerable throughout the five years of the prize so far, has been further increased this year. To mark the fifth anniversary of the prize, Art Catlin will present the winner of
the Catlin Art Prize (open to the five new shortlisted graduates) with a cheque for £5,000. An increase from last year’s prize of £3,000, this is to not only celebrate the five-year history of the programme, but to mark Catlin’s ongoing support of the contemporary arts. This is a fact even more notable in light of the current economic climate and its implications to the arts.
In addition, a new bursary is introduced this year – The Catlin Commission – which is open to all 17 participants of the exhibition. This will be awarded to one artist, who will create a new piece of work for the Catlin collection, with backing of up to £3,000.
“The Catlin Art Prize provided me with an exciting opportunity to showcase my work after graduating and a strong impetus to keep working in the difficult first six months after I left university. I was impressed by Justin Hammond’s commitment to surveying as many graduate shows as possible, not just the already established central London exhibitions. The exhibition itself gave me access to critics and dealers and provided me with the valuable experience of being included in a well-organized and supported exhibition in a large central London venue.”
Reynir Hutber, winner of the Catlin Art Prize 2010
The winner of the Catlin Art Prize 2011 will be announced on Wednesday 18th May, at the private view for its 5th Anniversary exhibition at The Tramshed, Shoreditch. Following selection from leading art colleges throughout the UK, all five shortlisted artists for this year, along with winners from the prize’s five-year history, will be exhibiting both their new and recent works.
