Preface
Celebrating outstanding public art. Giving students and graduates valuable opportunities. Offering artists support to produce new work. The Picton Art Prize is a new public art platform that gives an early career artist the opportunity to create an original work for installation at the Angel Gate Development in Islington, supporting them through their first public art commission. The prize offers the winner ÂŁ3,000 cash and ÂŁ10,000 towards the production and installation of a new sculpture to be unveiled in Spring 2016. The Picton Art Prize is an exciting new collaboration between Picton and UAL, a collaboration that highlights both the importance of support for emerging artists and the impact their work can have when it finds its home in the heart of a community. With the winning artist going on to create a new piece that will be displayed in the communal space at Angel Gate, the commissioned sculpture will bring new life to this area and enhance the experience for those who work there. We invited students and recent graduates of University of the Arts London to submit proposals for this new sculptural commission, and the sheer quality and diversity of submissions is evident from the shortlisted artists.
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Contents
“It’s vital that we support our students and graduates in the early stages of their careers, offering them opportunities to develop their practice and extend themselves, as well as high profile platforms on which to showcase their work to new audiences. The Picton Art prize offers just this.”
Preface 1 Contents 3 Winner – Alex J Wood 5 Shortlist 15 Leigh Cameron Henry Day Jack Evans Jason File Libby Heaney Camille Leherpeur Conall McAteer
Nigel Carrington Vice-Chancellor, University of the Arts London “This booklet celebrates the creativity, talent and breadth of practice at UAL, and Picton is delighted to announce Alex J Wood as the winner of the Picton Art Prize 2015. In developing the prize, we specifically wanted to recognise new and emerging talent. We are thrilled to support the talent developed at UAL, which is reflected in the high quality of the shortlist.”
Judges and Organisers
Tim Hamlin Senior Asset Manager, Picton
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ALEX J WOOD WINNER
Celestial, 2016
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Alex J Wood
MA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts, 2013 Postgraduate Diploma Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts, 2012 BA (Hons) Fine Art, University of Greenwich, 2011
British eccentricity is a significant area of Alex’s practice, as are notions of obsessiveness, aspects that are evident in his highly intricate models. Alex combines lo-fi materials including paper or wax, with high art materials such as bronze, juxtaposing the two materials to create amusing sculptures that portray narratives relating to human endeavour.
The Elizabeth Greenshields Award recipient, 2015 Shortlisted for The Henry Moore Plinth Prize, 2015 Commissioned by Penguin Books to create a sculpture for Foyles, 2015 Shortlisted for The Mark Tanner Sculpture Award, 2015
In 2014, Alex was the first Foundry Fellow at Camberwell College of Arts, where he created a series of bronzes inspired by space travel. These included ‘Fly Me to the Moon’, a bronze space rocket based on Georges Méliès’ 1902 film ‘A Trip to the Moon’ and ‘Hidden Depths’, a verdigris green patinated bronze with an ambiguous form. The latter is now in the Patrick and Kelly Lynch collection.
alexjwood.co.uk
In 2015, Alex was shortlisted for both The Mark Tanner Sculpture Award and The Henry Moore Plinth Prize, and in 2014 he was selected for art residency in Beijing. In April 2013, Alex was resident artist at Tokyo Wonder Site in Japan and exhibited in both Tokyo and London. Alex was recently commissioned by Penguin Books to create a sculpture for the flagship Foyles store in London and while studying for his MA Fine Art at Chelsea, he was the 2013 recipient of The Patrick and Kelly Lynch Scholarship. His work is held in various private collections in the USA and Europe as well as the UAL collection and in both 2013 and 2014 he was shortlisted for The Clifford Chance Sculpture Award.
Proposal for the Picton Art Prize, Celestial, 2015
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Celestial (2016)
Celestial, a two and a half metre bronze positioned towards the end of the plinth will appear as if it is star bound in the midst of taking off. Celestial defies gravity with no front support, carefully resting on the smoke plumes at the back. Celestial draws upon ideas of Alex’s past work where he explores the space race, rockets and movement within sculpture. The proposed sculpture could be representative of a gateway to a celestial world, with its angel type form. Alex has cast Celestial using the “lost-wax� method where the wax is discarded in the mould and the molten bronze poured into its place. A verdigris patina has then been applied to Celestial.
Celestial, 2016
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Alex J Wood studio interior, Celestial, work in progress
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SHORTLISTED ARTISTS
Leigh Cameron
MA by project (furniture), Central Saint Martins, 2012
Leigh Cameron’s work explores concrete and the possibility of radically changing our perception of this age-old material. Leigh works in innovative ways to develop and explore the tacit socio-historical information hidden in concrete’s 2000-year history. Developing a new context and aesthetic dialogue, he investigates the diversity, structural strengths and limitations of concrete, its weight, adaptability and – ultimately - its relationship to other materials.
Crafts Council Hothouse programme, 2013-2014 leighcameron.com
Aiming to open up new dialogues around this most ubiquitous of substances, Leigh’s innovative approach pushes the boundaries of the material and delivers a tactile concrete on a more intimate scale, allowing the design of forms that contain architectural references, functional volumes and shapes, while offering a more fluid language for objects. He repositions concrete as a contender for the modern world and as a lifestyle choice, making it more assessable and acceptable in a contemporary context.
Proposal for the Picton Art Prize, Where Angles Sleep, 2015
Weight of Space, 2014
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Henry Day
BA (Hons) Print and Time Based Media, Camberwell College of Arts, 2015
Situated in the language of mathematics and geometry, Henry Day’s work is concerned with that which we struggle to understand. Using naturally occurring patterns and symmetry, he is interested in gaining a self-directed and abstract understanding of natural philosophy.
Shortlisted for the Queen Mary’s School of Physics and Astronomy Competition, 2015 Shortlisted for the Blackhorse Road Project, 2015 Winner of the Nelson Health Centre Art Prize, 2015 Selected for Capsticks exhibition, 2015
Ultimately, Henry endeavours to capture the mystical and evasive nature of the inexplicable. Experimenting with materials as diverse as dice and vegetables, this concept is materially limitless, just as natural patterning exists universally throughout material on an infinite scale.
henryday.net
With a predominantly sculptural practice, Henry enjoys challenging ideas of scale and geometric form. Big or small, he aims to make work that simultaneously captures the complex and unfathomable, by creating something both visually appealing and approachable. In short, his practice is simply complicated. Henry has recently been shortlisted for The Blackhorse Road Public Art Commission and The Queen Mary University of London, School of Physics and Astronomy Art Competition.
Proposal for the Picton Art Prize, Intersection, 2015
Tesseract, 2015
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Jack Evans
BA (Hons) Fine Art, Central Saint Martins, 2015
Jack Evans works across sculpture, photography and film to create a coherent dialogue which until now has positioned itself within a very British realm, and often questions the idea of class within culture. His work embodies a sense of humour that he has developed while trying to form the most appropriate mode of discourse for the audience, but that is now enveloping a more formalist approach to found objects and materials.
Shortlisted for the UAL Lagos Des Arts Despina residency, 2015 jack-evans.com
Jack sees his work now existing as a contemplative structure, almost monumental in a way, and, while raising many questions about the aesthetics of class and taste, it also has penetrative suggestions of capitalism and consumption. His immediate practice surrounds personal environmental concerns, and places itself within a future that is heavily involved with the ideas of the Anthropocene. Jack was part of, and featured in, the #INTRODUCTIONS video collaboration with LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner, and his video work ‘Make Mine a ‘99’ was shown at Palais de Tokyo, Paris as part of the WHITEBOX SouvenirsFrom Earth Video Art Festival.
Proposal for the Picton Art Prize, To the Core, 2015
Disco, 2016
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Jason File
BA (Hons) Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts, 2013 Mead Fellowship, University of the Arts London, 2014 ArtPrize 2014, Juried Grand Prize Finalist (time-based category), selected by Hrag Vartanian Pro Deo Subsidy, Stroom, The Hague, 2015 Celeste Prize selected artist, selected by Andrew Hunt, 2014 Zabludowicz Collection Future Map Prize, selected by Anita Zabludowicz, David Blandy and Skye Sherwin, 2014 jasonfile.com
An artist, university lecturer in fine art, and war crimes prosecutor, Jason File, lives and works between London, UK and The Hague, Netherlands. He holds degrees in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Arts and the Royal Academy of Art, Netherlands (2013), where he currently teaches. He also holds degrees in the humanities, social sciences, and law from Yale (1998), Oxford (2000) and Yale Law School (2004). Jason’s work has been recognized through collections and awards, including the Zabludowicz Collection Future Map Prize (2014), the Mead Fellowship, University of the Arts London (2014), and selection as ArtPrize Juried Grand Prize Finalist (USA, 2014, selected by Hrag Vartanian) and Celeste Prize selected artist (Italy, 2014, selected by Andrew Hunt). Solo and two-person exhibitions and projects include: The Ryder Projects, London (2015); Stroom, The Hague (2015); Ovalhouse, London (2014); and X Marks the Bökship, London (2011). Group exhibitions include: GEMAK, The Hague (2015); Copperfield, London (2015); Grand Rapids Art Museum, USA (2014); International Print Biennale, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle (2014); SPACE Studios, London (2014); Atelierhaus der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Vienna (2014). He co-curated “The Observer Effect” at GEMAK in The Hague in 2015.
Proposal for the Picton Art Prize, Sculpture Garden, 2015
An Ornament and a Safeguard, 2015
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Libby Heaney
MA Fine Art, Central Saint Martins, 2015
When we scratch the surface of reality, it’s not always how it initially appears and this is what fascinates Libby Heaney. Before moving into the arts, Libby spent eight years researching quantum physics and quantum computation, which provided an insight into the weird and wonderful science that underpins the microscopic. However, she was always intrigued by how science links to other bodies of knowledge, and disturbed by the severe lack of criticism and ethics surrounding new technological advancement by the physics community. Studying for her MA in Art and Science at Central St Martins enabled Libby to move beyond a reductionist form of knowledge production and embrace creative approaches to tackling her expanding interests.
LIFE BOAT programme award winner, 2016 Selected for the Recent Graduates Exhibition at the Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, 2015 Shortlisted for the Helen Scott Lidgett Award, 2015 Ideas Tap Innovators Award winner, 2014 Lumen Prize, selected for the top 100, 2014 libbyheaney.co.uk
During her MA, Libby researched the links between quantum physics and quantum information and other areas, such as linguistics, digital art and design practices and media theory. This research fed into her overall practice, which includes passive and active interactive installations and sculptures that allow viewers to explore the relationship between the real and invisible, the ordered and disordered. Libby’s practice is multidisciplinary and uses a variety of media. She works both intuitively in physical materials and in a precise analytical way with digital elements including projection and physical computing.
Proposal for the Picton Art Prize, (In)corpo-real, 2015 Cloud, 2015
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Camille Leherpeur
MA Fine Art, Central Saint Martins, graduating 2016 Bachelor of Printmaking, ENSAV La Cambre, Brussels, 2014
His father a carpenter and his mother a painter, Camille Leherpeur was introduced to the art world early on by both his parents. Camille studied printmaking at La Cambre in Brussels, Belgium, and following a year at Central Saint Martins as an Erasmus student, he successfully applied to study his Masters at the college. He is now entering the final year of study for the MA and works in Paris, London and Brussels.
leherpeur.eu
Camille’s work revolves around various power structures including the political, economic, domestic and religious. The work comes from a critical point of view on art history, museum historiography and popular culture.
Proposal for the Picton Art Prize, Equestrian Windmill, 2015
Advertisement for the Ceremony Sword (9,99), 2015
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Conall McAteer
BA (Hons) Fine Art, Central Saint Martins, 2012 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, Central Saint Martins, 2008
Conall McAteer is a visual artist with a formally diverse practice, currently living and working in London. Using worldwide web content as resource, platform and tool, Conall’s narratives explore the interaction of art, popular culture and modern visual dissemination media. His practice considers technology’s increasing social application, including the potential, limitations and complications of the digital in relation to the politics and conventions of the real.
Shortlisted for the Beers Contemporary Award for Emerging Art, 2014 Shortlisted for the Catlin Art Prize, 2013 Selected for the Catlin Guide, 2013 Shortlisted for the Zabludowicz Collection Future Map 12 Prize, 2013 LIFE BOAT Studio Residency Award, 2012-2013
His recent and future projects range from selfpublishing a luxury magazine to launching an internet dating website and mobile app.
conallmcateer.com
His recent exhibitions include FutureMap 13 and the Catlin Art Prize 2013.
Proposal for the Picton Art Prize, Plinths, 2015
Rose, 2013
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JUDGES AND ORGANISERS
Stephen Beddoe Director of External Relations, Central Saint Martins, UAL Stephen studied Fine Art at The Glasgow School of Art. He has exhibited work nationally and internationally and has curated projects in galleries and public spaces in the UK and beyond. From 1995 to 1997, he was Visual Arts and Crafts Officer for London Arts Board and from 1997 to 2001 was Commissions Manager for Public Art Commissions Agency and (subsequently) Modus Operandi Art Consultants, commissioning major public art projects nationally and internationally. Stephen joined UAL in 2001 to develop, launch and manage Artquest, which is now the leading agency in the UK for supporting artists’ professional development.
Susanna Heron Artist Susanna Heron is an artist who works primarily between drawing, sculpture, scale and movement. Since 1995, she has gained international recognition for her collaborations with architects and her large-scale site specific works. ‘Henslow’s Walk’ is a recent major commission for the Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge, opened in 2011. The limestone frieze forms a backdrop to the lecture theatre and is carved into the fabric of the building in shallow relief. In 2003, Susanna was commissioned to create ‘Aquaduct’, a choreographic landscape work incorporating running water for the central space of The Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury, completed in 2006 and renovated in 2015.
Adriana Marques Head of Arts and Culture for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (London Legacy Development Corporation) Adriana has delivered an ambitious programme of permanent and temporary commissions throughout the Olympic Park over the past five years. She has also been the curator at Gunpowder Park where she curated a three-year programme of experimental art commissions in an open park around art, science and nature. She wrote a book for Arts Council England on best practice public art in London called ‘Open Space’ and has delivered several public art commissions for developers across the UK.
Tim Hamlin Senior Asset Manager, Picton Tim is a senior asset manager at Picton. His expertise lies in refurbishing and repositioning commercial property space to meet occupier’s needs, and he has led an ongoing refurbishment programme at Angel Gate. With it’s location in the heart of London’s creative district, Angel Gate provides a fantastic canvas to offer early career artists the chance to work on their first public art commission. Tim was keen to work with UAL to refresh the communal areas of the development and provide an enhanced experience for the occupiers of Angel Gate.
Nick Hornby Artist Nick Hornby has degrees from Slade School of Art, University College London and Chelsea College of Arts. He has exhibited both in the UK and internationally, and received press acclaim from publications including in the New York Times, Frieze and Artforum. Nick’s work emerges from the convergence of a postmodern historical perspective and cutting-edge digital technology. Using computer software, Nick combines silhouettes sourced from art history to create three-dimensional works that, as the viewer moves around them, seem to take the shape of different wellknown sculptures of the past.
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Picton
University of the Arts London (UAL)
Picton Property Income Limited, is a property investment company, with a main market listing on the London Stock Exchange. Established in 2005, Picton invests in UK commercial property and currently holds a portfolio of 60 assets, with over 400 occupiers. Picton’s ‘occupier focused, opportunity led’ approach is at the heart of its investment philosophy.
Operating at the heart of the world’s creative capital, UAL is a vibrant international centre for innovative teaching and research in art, design, fashion, communication and performing arts. The University’s unique creative community consists of six distinctive and distinguished colleges: Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea College of Arts, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Arts. Renowned names in the cultural and creative sectors produced by the University include 12 Turner prize winners and over half of all the prize’s nominees, over half of the fashion designers named British Designer of the Year, over half of the designers showcased in London Fashion Week, 12 out of 30 winners of the Jerwood Photography Award and seven winners of the Prince Philip Designers Prize.
Picton aims to provide businesses with the space and flexibility they need to operate efficiently. Angel Gate is just one of the properties that has been repositioned in the last few years as we look to adapt physical real estate assets to reflect the changing requirements of modern occupiers. picton.co.uk
arts.ac.uk
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With special thanks to Adriana Marques for her much valued support and advice throughout the project, and to Thomas Winstanley and Derek Bayley from London Bronze Casting for their support with the fabrication of Celestial. Photography by Jasper Fry All other images copyright of the artists Design by EverythingInBetween Š All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.
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