Sobey Art Award

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The Sobey Art Award is Canada's largest prize for young Canadian artists. [1] It is named after Canadian businessperson and art collector Frank H. Sobey, who established The Sobey Art Foundation. It is an annual prize given to an artist 40 and under who has exhibited in a public or commercial art gallery within 18 months of being nominated. A jury consisting of an international juror and representatives of galleries from the West Coast and the Yukon, the Prairies and the North, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces creates a longlist of 25 artists, five from each region. The jury meets to select the winner and four other finalists, one from each region. [2]

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The Sobey award has attracted controversy in the past. Annie Pootoogook became the first Inuit artist to win the prize in 2006, despite the Sobey foundation failing to recognize her native Nunavut and the Northwest Territories as regions of significant cultural production. [3] The award has 2017 was the first year to see the shortlist dominated by women and also the first year that more than one Indigenous artist was shortlisted. [4]

Up to 2013, a total of $70,000 in prize money was awarded each time the prize was presented; $50,000 to the winner and $5,000 to the other four finalists. In 2014 the total was increased to $100,000 with $50,000 to the winner and $12,500 to the other four finalists. In 2017, the money awarded to longlisted artists was increased from $500 to $1,000. [4] In 2018, the prize money increased once again, to a total of $240,000; $100,000 to the winner, $25,000 for each of the other four finalists, and $2,000 for each short-listed artist. [5]

The award was presented biennially until 2006 at which point it became an annual award. From its inception until 2015, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia organized and administered the Sobey Art Award and its accompanying exhibition. The National Gallery of Canada assumed responsibility for the award in 2016. [6] In 2020, Sobey Art Foundation and the National Gallery of Canada decided to distribute the cash award among the 25 finalists rather than just one winner. This was a response to the financial hardships suffered by artists because of the COVID-19 pandemic. [7]

Winners

YearWinnerRegion
2002 Brian Jungen West Coast and Yukon
2004 Jean-Pierre Gauthier Quebec
2006 Annie Pootoogook Prairies and the North
2007 Michel de Broin Quebec
2008 Tim Lee West Coast and Yukon
2009 David Altmejd Quebec
2010 Daniel Barrow Prairies and the North
2011 Daniel Young & Christian Giroux Ontario
2012 Raphaëlle de Groot Quebec
2013 Duane Linklater Ontario
2014 Nadia Myre Quebec
2015 Abbas Akhavan Ontario
2016 Jeremy Shaw [8] West Coast and Yukon
2017 Ursula Johnson Atlantic
2018 Kapwani Kiwanga Ontario
2019 Stephanie Comilang [9] Ontario
2020 Michele Di Menna, Tsēmā Igharas, Carmen Papalia, Joseph Tisiga, Zadie Xa (West Coast and Yukon), Asinnajaq, Jason de Haan, Luther Konadu, Amy Malbeuf, Freya Björg Olafson (Prairies and the North), Bambitchell, Sara Cwynar, Georgia Dickie, Jagdeep Raina, Catherine Telford Keogh (Ontario), Adam Basanta, Moridja Kitenge Banza, Manuel Mathieu, Caroline Monnet, Sabrina Ratté (Quebec), Jordan Bennett, Melanie Colosimo, Graeme Patterson, Lou Sheppard, D’Arcy Wilson (Atlantic) [10]
2021 Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory [11] Prairies and the North
2022 Divya Mehra [12] Prairies and the North
2023 Kablusiak [13] Prairies and the North
2024 Nico Williams [14] Quebec

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References

  1. ↑ "Is It Time to Rethink the Sobey Art Award's Age Limit?". Canadian Art. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  2. ↑ "About the Award". Sobey Art Award. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  3. ↑ Campbell, Nancy G. (2020). Annie Pootoogook: Life & Work. Toronto: Art Canada Institute. ISBN   9781487102371.
  4. 1 2 "Women Dominate Sobey Art Award Shortlist for First Time Ever". Canadian Art. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  5. ↑ "Sobey Art Award gets cash boost to $100K". CBC News. January 29, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  6. ↑ Canadian Art. "Vancouver Artist Wins $50K Sobey Art Award". Canadian Art. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  7. ↑ "Inuk artist Asinnajaq wins a 2020 Sobey Art Award". Nunatsiaq News. 16 April 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  8. ↑ "Traditional Practices and Alternate Realities: The 2016 Sobey Art Award Exhibition".
  9. ↑ Taylor, Kate (15 November 2019). "Filmmaker Stephanie Comilang wins Sobey Award with experimental work about Filipino diaspora". The Globe and Mail.
  10. ↑ "Sobey Art Award Gives Longlisted Artists $25,000 Each and Cancels Single-Winner Approach for 2020". Canadian Art. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
  11. ↑ "Inuit Performance Artist Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory Wins $80,000 Sobey Art Award". ARTnews. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
  12. ↑ Collins, Leah. "Winnipeg artist Divya Mehra is the winner of the 2022 Sobey Art Award". CBC. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  13. ↑ "Inuit Artist Kablusiak Wins Canada's Top Art Prize". 20 November 2023.
  14. ↑ "National Gallery of Canada, Nico Williams wins Sobey Art Award $100,000 grand prize". November 9, 2024.
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