Jerwood Contemporary Painters

About

Twenty artists with great futures in one exhibition

Following the resounding success of last year's curated show, the Jerwood Charitable Foundation is pleased to announce the artists selected for the second Jerwood Contemporary Painters exhibition. This vibrant collection of twenty emerging artists exhibiting one work each is concerned with the debate of what painting is, and what it may become. The exhibition offers an exciting opportunity to emerging artists who are at a particular stage in their development, those falling between student and recognised artist status. The twenty artists selected for the 2008 exhibition are:

Johan Andersson, Varda Caivano, Gordon Cheung, Ross Chisholm, Simon Collins, Tom Crawford, Matthew Draper, Elinor Evans, Andrew Griffiths, Nadia Hebson, Gunther Herbst, Sally Kindberg, Sophie Lascelles, Andrea Medjesi-Jones, Yuko Nasu, Alicia Paz, Michael Samuels, Chris Smith, Caroline Walker, James Wright

Each artist exhibits one work and receives £1,500, not as a 'prize' but as a participation fee. This fee is unusual for any group show as it rewards all the artists in the exhibition. This fee is an important part of nurturing serious support for artists at this crucial point in their careers.

The selection panel of Stephen Farthing (chair), Anita Taylor, and Jason Brooks, invited a long list of artists to submit works. From this, they selected twenty artists to take part in an exhibition at the Jerwood Space, London in April 2008. This is a departure from the format established in the first exhibition of selecting thirty artists. The judges selected a smaller exhibition as the twenty works formed a tighter, more cohesive show. Stephen Farthing: 'We didn't count, we simply chose the very best works, while paying attention to both their individual merits and ability to sit and make sense as a group. As it happens we ended up with twenty which was fewer than expected, but that's where our method took us and that's where we were happy to rest.'

'What is so good about being offered the privilege of selecting emergent artists for exhibitions and prizes is the opportunity it provides the judges to "catch up" with what is new. Clearly it is important for both the audience and the judges to take a structured look from time to time at the changes that are taking place in that wonderfully traditional activity called Painting. This exhibition we hope does just that.'

Roanne Dods, Director of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation: 'The selectors were rigorous in the collation of work that they saw and in the final judgments that they made. The result is a group of very strong work and range of artists that contribute to an enriched debate about practice and interests among a special group of emerging artists. It will be very exciting to see the exhibition come together.'

Jerwood Contemporary Painters was launched at Frieze Art Fair 2006 as part of the Jerwood Visual Art Series, which encompasses painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, moving image and applied arts. Each award or exhibition within the series is concerned with defining a given discipline within the larger context of the visual arts.

Jerwood Contemporary Painters 2008 - Exhibition Events

A series of events has been organised to promote interesting, thought provoking and relevant conversation and debate around painting. Starting at 6pm each evening, these events will take place on the following dates in the galleries and glasshouse at the Jerwood Space, 171 Union Street, London SE1 0LN. Admission to the events is free, but booking is recommended.

Monday 14 April: Meet the Artists
Anita Taylor introduces and chairs this exhibition walk through with artists Johan Andersson, Simon Collins, Tom Crawford, Andrew Griffiths, Günter Herbst, Sally Kindberg, Andrea Medjesi-Jones, Alicia Paz, and Caroline Walker.

Monday 21 April : Craigie Aitchison RA in Conversation with Tony Godfrey
Established artist Craigie Aitchison discusses his long career, and also the state of painting today, with Tony Godfrey, Academic Director of Sotheby's Institute, London and author of Conceptual Art (Phaidon, 1998) and Painting Today, soon to be published by Phaidon Press.

Monday 28 April: Selectors' Question Time
Stephen Farthing, Anita Taylor and Jason Brooks, selectors for the 2008 exhibition, answer questions put to them by audience members and gallery visitors* about the artists and works they have selected and also the current state of painting. This event will be recorded live for broadcast on Resonance FM on Wednesday 30 April, at 8pm. Tune in at 104.4 fm or www.resonancefm.com

*Audience members and visitors to the exhibition are invited to submit questions in advance of the evening, by either filling in a form in the gallery or by emailing: jcp@parkerharris.co.uk.

Monday 12 May: Panel Discussion: Richard Dyer, Katie Pratt & Marc Vaux
Painters Katie Pratt and Marc Vaux in discussion with art critic Richard Dyer, focusing in particular on the stages of their careers in which they were emerging painters. Open to questions at the end of the discussion.

Radio Broadcasts on Resonance FM
Artists from Jerwood Contemporary Painters 2008 will be hosting a series of Contemporary Culture Review broadcasts on Resonance FM, between 8 - 9pm, on the following Wednesday evenings: 16 & 23 April & 7 May 2008. The Selectors' Question Time event, detailed above, will also be recorded live and broadcast on Resonance FM on Wednesday 30 April. Tune for all these shows at: 104.4 fm or www.resonancefm.com

Jerwood Contemporary Painters runs from 9 April ' 18 May at the Jerwood Space, 171 Union Street, London SE1 0LN (Nearest tube: Southwark). Monday - Friday, 10am - 5pm, Saturday & Sunday, 10am - 3pm, Admission Free. Further information: www.jerwoodvisualarts.org jcp@parkerharris.co.uk Tel: 020 7654 0171

Professor Stephen Farthing
Stephen Farthing has exhibited extensively in international one man shows since his first solo exhibition held at the Royal College of Art Gallery, London in 1977. From 1990 ' 2000 he was the Ruskin Master of Drawing at the University of Oxford. He was elected Royal Academician in 1998.

Professor Anita Taylor
Anita Taylor is Dean and Acting Head of College at Wimbledon College of Art, University of the Arts London. She has been on the selection panel for six open exhibitions, including chairing the Hunting Art Prize in 2002. She has helped found several exhibitions.

Jason Brooks
Jason Brooks' photorealist paintings have been given solo and group exhibitions in the UK and abroad. Brooks was a prize winner in the John Moores 20 (1997) and went on to join the judging panel of the John Moores 24 (2006). He won the Natwest Art Prize in 1999.