International Art Prize 2024
"Finding inspiration everywhere"
Paul Smith’s Foundation and Winsor & Newton have partnered to launch a new art prize in painting and drawing. Six winning artists were selected from a free-to-enter Open Call, chosen by a notable, local industry representative who has the networks and experience to develop an artist’s professional practice
For this first year the prize took place in London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo and Hong Kong. A winning artist was selected for each city
Each winner received up to £1,000 of materials from Winsor & Newton and £1,000 from Paul Smith’s Foundation to make a new piece of work that responds to the theme of “Finding inspiration everywhere”. These works were then exhibited for sale in a Paul Smith store.
About Paul Smith's Foundation
Paul Smith’s Foundation was set up to bring about opportunities and give helpful advice to creative people. For decades, Sir Paul Smith has championed art and artists. From a 20-yr scholarship with the Royal Academy Schools, to a collection of over 10,000 works of art exhibited in stores worldwide. To date, over 120 artists have exhibited their work around the world with Paul Smith, including existing and especially commissioned pieces. The partnership with Winsor & Newton is the Foundation’s first international art initiative.
About Winsor & Newton
The artists’ ally since 1832, Winsor & Newton has always innovated to help creators develop and flourish. With one of the widest portfolios of art materials in the world, used by names such as Edvard Munch, JMW Turner, and Piet Mondrian, the brand is now a modern ally of creative people and committed to seeing the world through their eyes.
Judges
Ekow Eshun
Curator, writer and broadcaster and Chair of the Fourth Plinth in London.
Aina Bhargava
Arts and Culture Editor of Tatler Asia
Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn
Founder of Salon 94 and Salon 94 Design, art advisor and collector.
Kyoko Hattori
Vice President of Pace, Japan
Fabien Vallerian
International Director of Arts & Culture chez Ruinart
César García-Alvarez
Co-founding executive and artistic director of The Mistake Room.
Winners
Shannon’s paintings embody an Afrocentrist consciousness, creating layerd and figurative compositions tht centralise black womanhood as a source of knowledge and understanding. This work made in oil, acrylic, image transfer and spray paint on canvas was made whilst contemplating the bible verse Jermiah 29:11 ‘ For I know the plans I have for you’ declares the lord ‘plans to prosper you, and not harm you, plans give you hope and a future’.
Takura’s work focuses on the relationship between contemporary digital technology and humans and how it shapes todays society. This acrylic on canvas still life study depicts the tension between the fleeting and the permanent and was inspired by a visit to the National Gallery in London.
Matthieu’s vibrant work in coloured pencil on coloured paper is a piece depicting his mother’s kitchen in her home in Grenoble. His expressive and stylised visual language is expressed in drawing and painting, and captures singular moments of daily life , often through a fragmented perspective and exuberant play of colours.
Tokyo based Brittni returned to painting after a ten-year hiatus and now works from a small space on her living room, including her young daughter in the work as she paints. Her work explores motherhood, identity and personal evolution and often references her immediate surroundings. The colour palette of this work was drawn heavily from the romantic hues of Renaissance paintings, using acrylic paint and coloured pastels on canvas.
Inspired by an afternoon’s walk around Echo Park in East LA, this work was created using the Batik technique of wax resistant dyeing and like much of Adam’s work, draws on Western painting techniques and Southeast Asian craft. Inspired by the brilliant colour of the lake and crisp reflection of the palms, this piece is created using oi paint on linen.
Lap’s representation of a Budapest swimming pool is part of a themed series depicting the intricate relationship between the public and private, and between the self and strangers. Created with fine pencil on paper, each tile is reconstructed individually and brought together in an illusion perspective. A late comer to swimming Lap now visits pools to explore the open yet intimate access to local culture and urban psyche.