Exceptional - Graduate Award 2019

About

Jackie Berridge, Daisy Billowes, Kim Booker, Lena Brazin, Julie Caves, Fergus Cooper, Theo Ellison, Tom Faber, Nathaniel Faulkner, Emilie Fitzgerald, Aaron Ford, Max Gimson, Camilla Hanney, Willa Hilditch, Charlotte Johnston, Seungwon Jung, Sandra Lane, Robyn Litchfield,  Karen Loader, James Low, Aphra O’Connor, Philippa Paterson, Juliette Pearce, Dorian Radu, Joe Richardson, Beth Rodway, Fernando Romero, Rose Schmits, Ben Walker.

The artists are Graduates from City and Guilds of London Art School, Chelsea College of Art, CSM, Goldsmiths, Kingston University, Royal Drawing School, Royal College of Art, Slade School of Art and Turps Art School. 

The Exceptional 2019 exhibition is a survey of contemporary artists concerns, investigations and tropes across a wide range of media and materiality. Eclectic, experimental and bold this year’s artworks range from tea parties to tigers and Transformers! Themes include psychological states and terrains, collapse and suspension, crisis and transformation. Landscapes and labyrinths, technology and the bodily, place, identity and human life - from the ordinary to metaphysical and mythological are all examined.  

The selection committee and judges are: Curators: Jordan Kaplan (CAS), Kristian Day, (Independent gallerist and curator of Broadway Gallery in Letchworth Garden City) and Rosalind Davis (artist and Curator of the Collyer Bristow Gallery) and Steven Heffer, (artist and Head of the Collyer Bristow Gallery committee).  

I’m delighted to have been asked to participate in this year’s selection. Collyer Bristow has a proud history of championing the arts and artists and it is an honour to work with them to continue this great work. Jordan Kaplan, Contemporary Art Society  

I was pleased to be invited to be a judge in this years Exceptional Award, particularly as it is focussed on the work of recent graduates. Any opportunity for early career artists to receive exposure and funding that could help to further their practice can only be a positive thing, its commendable of Collyer Bristow to support the arts in this way. Kristian Day is an independent gallerist and curator of the Broadway Gallery in Letchworth Garden City. 

This opportunity is aimed at supporting artists in the precarious initial years after graduation. The competition is free to enter as a reflection of the firm’s continued commitment to supporting artists.  Rosalind Davis, the Collyer Bristow Gallery’s Curator and graduate of the RCA, comments: “It can be difficult for new graduates to find a platform for their work, but the Award creates an environment where support is made available to emerging artists in the precarious initial years after graduation. It brings their work to new audiences, raising their profiles and helping them to create new professional networks.”