Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Congratulations to Saatchi Gallery's New Sensations 2012 & Absolut Blank Commission!

Saatchi Gallery & Channel 4 Announce the Winners of
New Sensations 2012 and the Absolut Blank commission
Plus Resounding Sales Success
London, 18 October 2012

The Saatchi Gallery & Channel 4 are delighted to announce the winner of the 2012 New Sensations Prize, Nicolas Feldmeyer.

The judges have also awarded a Special Commendation to Steven Allan.

The winner of the ABSOLUT Blank commission, a new element of this year’s Prize, is Antonio Marguet.
Nicolas Feldmeyer’s work opens a contemplative perspective onto the world. Inspired by archaic monuments, the Sublime and Taoism and working in a wide range of media, his work articulates "a quiet quest for what lies beyond or before words".

He was born in 1980 in Switzerland, and after completing an MSc in architecture in Zurich, studied Fine Arts at the San Francisco Art Institute on a Fulbright Grant. He graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art, London, this year with an MFA with distinction.

 Nicolas Feldmeyer, Untitled (Woven Portico), 2012
darksilenceinsuburbia:

Nicolas Feldmeyer. Untitled (Woven Portico), 2012.
http://feldmeyer.ch/

attn: jes
darksilenceinsuburbia:

Nicolas Feldmeyer. Untitled (Woven Portico), 2012.
http://feldmeyer.ch/

attn: jes
Steven Allan completed his MA this year at the Royal College of Art in London. He was born in Scotland and has spent the last 8 years living and painting in London.
(Steven Allan, Peely Wally, 2012)


(Antonio Marguet, Untitled, 2012)



Much of Steven Allan’s work contains biographical references or layers of meaning gathered from everyday imagery. His recent paintings have explored the humanisation of objects such as bananas, tea bags and paint tubes.

Antonio Marguet, originally from southern Spain, creates “object-sculptures” which he photographs, and it is only the image that lasts in his exploration of our fetishisation of objects.

For this year’s ABSOLUT Blank commission he made a work inspired by the distinctive shape of the ABSOLUT bottle.

The works of these three winners were shown at the New Sensations exhibition, along with works by 17 other shortlisted artists.

The exhibition, which was on during Frieze week at Victoria House in Bloomsbury, was a huge success with over 70% of works sold.

New Sensations was launched in 2007 to find and support the most imaginative and talented artists graduating in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

This year’s ABSOLUT Studio Fund, with works donated by Mat Collishaw, Chantal Joffe, Hew Locke and Yinka Shonibare, raised prize money to help fund studios for the winners.

The judges for this year’s New Sensations Prize were the artists John Stezaker and Richard Wilson; Shonagh Manson, Director of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation and Jerwood Visual Arts; Jake Miller, founder of The Approach, London; Nancy Durrant, arts commissioning editor of The Times; Tabitha Jackson, Commissioning Editor, Arts, Channel 4; and Rebecca Wilson, Director of the Saatchi Gallery.

New Sensations 2012 Shortlisted Artists:

Steven Allan
Alex Ball
Bartosz Beda
Olivia Poppy Coles
Nicholas Dedics
Amanda Doran
Nicolas Feldmeyer
Eimear Friers
Rachel Hunt
Hyojun Hyun
Jin Han Lee
Antonio Marguet
Aileen McEwen
Claire Moore
Natasha Peel
Eoghan Ryan
Amba Sayal-Bennett
Rafal Topolewski
Aleksandra Wojcik
Tereza Zelenkova