Young Masters is thrilled to announce the shortlist of 15 artists for the internationally-recognised Young Masters Art Prize, and 12 ceramicists who have been shortlisted for the prestigious Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize. The shortlists, selected by a panel of judges from the art-world and academia, include work in a range of media, and from diverse cultures, experiences and perspectives.
The 15 artists shortlisted for the Young Masters Art Prize are in contention to win the £1,500 Young Masters Art Prize sponsored by Evelyn Partners. The shortlist includes French/Mexican-American artist Alicia Paz, whose installation of small format portraits form a metaphorical self-portrait or personal ‘family tree’, representing women thinkers, writers, artists, and cherished friends and family members; Egyptian hyperrealist artist Nourine Hammad who creates works that blend the boundaries between reality and art using meticulous drawing techniques; Joshua Donkor a Ghanaian-British painter, whose work uses portraiture as a tool to subvert monolithic portrayals of Black identity; and British artist Megan Baker, whose paintings suggest an ever-changing state of being, where fragmented and gestural figures are continually interrupted by the immediacy of the paint.
Twelve artists have also been shortlisted for the Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize, a strand of the Young Masters Art Prize that was launched in 2014 to give a distinct platform to highlight ceramic craft. The shortlist includes Australian artist Ebony Russell, whose hand-piped porcelain urns in blue stain, reminiscent of Wedgwood jasperware, are decorated with a profusion of white decorative bows and ribbons; and USA-based ceramicist Kristen Stain, whose work is an exploration through both her cultural roots [West African, Caribbean] and personal experiences as a Black American woman.
Young Masters is a not-for-profit international initiative which was launched in 2009 by gallerist Cynthia Valianti Corbett, founder of Cynthia Corbett Gallery. To learn more about the founding and mission of Young Masters you may read a wonderful interview by the Association of Women in the Arts with Cynthia Corbett.
