8 Jun 2012 to 19 Jul 2012
Monday – Friday, 9:30am – 5:00pm
At the Japan House Gallery
Exhibition:
Daiwa Foundation Art Prize
The three artists short listed for the Daiwa Foundation Art Prize, introducing British artists to Japan, will exhibit their work at Daiwa Foundation Japan House Gallery in London from 8 June until 19 July 2012. The winner of the £5,000 prize and the opportunity for a solo exhibition at SCAI THE BATHHOUSE in Tokyo (16 November – 20 December), will be announced on 7 June. Download the exhibition catalogue here.
Image (left to right):
Tom Hammick, Germinate, 2012, oil on linen, 183 x 249cm, courtesy the artist and Eagle Gallery, London
Haroon Mirza, Installation shots of Digital Switchover at St.Gallen, 2012, mixed media, dimensions variable, courtesy the artist Photo: Gunnar Meier
Jennifer E. Price, Soixante-neuf, 2012, print, 472 x 238cm, courtesy the artist
The Shortlisted Artists
Tom Hammick studied MA Printmaking at Camberwell College of Art (1990). He has exhibited internationally in group and solo exhibitions including recent solo shows at Flowers Gallery, London, The Eagle Gallery, London, and Gallery Page and Strange, Canada (all 2011). He is a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, Painting and Print at the University of Brighton. He lives in East Sussex. Although Hammick’s work references the real world, it is largely concerned with a sense of metaphorical journeying. His paintings and prints are often developed from observed drawings, but during the process of making the work these sources undergo significant transformations. (Artist’s website)
Haroon Mirza studied MA Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art & Design (2007). He was awarded the Northern Art Prize in 2010, and in 2011 has had a solo exhibition at the Lisson Gallery, London and participated in group exhibitions including Illuminations at the 54th Venice Biennale, Sum Parts at ACME Project Space, London and The British Art Show 7 at The Hayward Gallery, London. In his work, Mirza attempts to isolate the perceptual distinctions between noise, sound and music and explore the possibility of the visual and acoustic as one singular aesthetic form. These ideas are examined through lo-fi yet complex assemblages and installations that employ furniture, household electronics, video and existing artworks to formulate temporally based audio compositions. (Artist’s website)
Jennifer E. Price studied Printmaking at the University for the Creative Arts (2009) and has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions, most recently at the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, as part of International Print Biennale’s 2011 Print Awards. She lives and works in Kent. In her artwork Price harnesses basic and traditional printmaking methods, and then stands them on their head, resulting in cross boundaries of printmaking, drawing, sculpture, site-based installation, and public intervention. The work addresses complex layers of material culture and the role of the visual artist in a complicated age of media. (Artist’s website)
Jason James (Director General of the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation):
The Foundation is delighted to be hosting this exhibition, marking the second award of the Daiwa Foundation Art Prize. Launched in 2008, the Daiwa Foundation Art Prize aims to open doors for British artists in Japan, offering the winner a solo show in a top Japanese gallery, and complementing the access we provide for Japanese artists in our own gallery in London. The inaugural Prize was won by Marcus Coates, who held an extremely well-received solo exhibition at Tomio Koyama Gallery in Tokyo in November 2009, and whose career has continued to flourish on the international stage thereafter.
The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation makes funding available across all fields to support closer links between the United Kingdom and Japan. We have a considerable track record of supporting the arts and enabling individuals and organisations from both countries to interact and cooperate on joint projects.
The Daiwa Foundation Art Prize evolved from discussions with the arts community as to how we might adopt a more proactive and innovative approach in engag-ing with contemporary art circles. Partnership with leading figures in the art world is an essential element of the Prize and we are particularly grateful to Masami Shiraishi of the Tokyo gallery scai the bathhouse for agreeing to host the solo exhibition by the winning artist this year. Shiraishi Contemporary Art Inc. (SCAI) was founded in 1989 and its gallery, SCAI THE BATHHOUSE, is a conversion of a former public bath-house in Tokyo. Mr Shiraishi has established himself over the last two decades as one of the leading figures in Japan’s contemporary art scene.
We have been gratified by the tremendous response to the Prize. This time round, there were over 700 applicants, and our expert judging panel, chaired by Jonathan Watkins, has selected artists of high calibre from all corners of the visual arts. The works by the three short-listed artists featured in this exhibition are conceptually rich and ripe for engagement with Japan. Warm thanks are due to the panel members – Jonathan Watkins (Director of Ikon Gallery, Birmingham), Martin Gayford (art critic and author), Mami Kataoka (Chief Curator at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo), Tokyo, Grayson Perry (artist and 2003 Turner Prize winner), and Masami Shiraishi (President, SCAI THE BATHHOUSE, Tokyo) – for so generously contributing their time, energy and insights through what was inevitably an arduous and intensive selection process.
The Trustees of the Foundation join me in offering congratulations to Tom Hammick, Haroon Mirza and Jennifer E. Price. We hope that, in awarding the Daiwa Foundation Art Prize, we will not only open new doors for British artists in Japan but create valuable partnerships and opportunities for the future.
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