Zhu Tian wins the Catlin Art Prize 2015
Dirty by Zhu Tian
Zhu Tian has been announced as the winner of the 2015 Catlin Art Prize.
The prize, now in its ninth year, provides a platform for the most promising art graduates in the UK. Participating artists are selected from The Catlin Guide 2015, a nationwide survey of recent art school graduates, now widely recognised as the essential reference for collectors of works by emerging artists. As title sponsor of the Catlin Art Prize, XL Catlin – one of the world’s leading insurers of fine art – continues to help realise the ambitions of new artists.
Tian, 32, who graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2014 with an M.A. in Sculpture, was awarded the £5,000 prize for a new body of work, a series of installations. Tian’s sequence of installations, divided into two separate rooms and an adjacent corridor partitioned by a steel roller, extend the themes of power, interpersonal relationships and unease embedded in much of her previous work.
The independent panel of judges – Aaron Cezar of Delfina Foundation, Charlotte Schepke of London art space Large Glass, and George Vasey, curator of the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art – commended the rest of the finalists for their commitment and the high quality of the work submitted in the competition. On their selection of Zhu Tian as the overall winner, the judges commented: “We all agreed that Tian’s presentation demonstrated particular poise and focus. She has made an impressive and coherent body of work, and she organized and lit the space so as to create a compelling and unsettling journey for the viewer.”
Zhu Tian said: “I’m thrilled to be the winner of the Catlin Art Prize 2015. It has been an exciting and challenging opportunity to develop my work with incredible support. I’d like to thank curator Justin Hammond and the whole Art Catlin team as well as my fellow finalists. Winning the prize will give me a chance to secure my studio and continue working on my next exhibition.”
Visitors to the Catlin Art Prize exhibition also cast more than 2,000 votes to select their favourite artist. Paul Schneider, 28, a Royal Academy of Arts postgraduate, was named the winner of the Visitor Vote and collects a £2,000 prize.
The Catlin Art Prize exhibition remains open to the public until 6 pm on Saturday May 30th at the Londonewcastle Project Space, London. More information is available at www.artcatlin.com.