The winners of the Oriel Davies Open 2016 have been announced, with three artists sharing £1,500 in prize money.
The overall First Prize was jointly awarded to two artists: Andreas Rüthi and Louise Bristow. They will both receive £500 each and feature in a two-person show at Oriel Davies next year. In addition, the Student Prize was awarded to Clare Price. She will also receive £500 prize money.
The biennial awards, which began in 2004 and have no geographical limit for applications, focus on a different theme each time, with the 2016 edition exploring painting.
Brighton-based artist Louise Bristow makes narrative paintings, the basis of which are 3D assemblages reminiscent of stage sets which are constructed in her studio. Fellow prize winner Andreas Rüthi, who is based in South Wales, makes paintings based on small colour lithographs from the 1940s that he found in a market in France.
London-based student prize winner Clare Price makes work that reference the body and abstract expressionism.
The selection panel for the 2016 prize included the artist Clare Woods, who had a large solo show at Oriel Davies in 2014; Nick Thornton, head of fine art at Amgueddfa Cymru, National Museum Wales, Cardiff; Dr Rebecca Daniels, art historical researcher, Catalogue Raisonné of Francis Bacon, and Alex Boyd Jones, curator at Oriel Davies.
The prize winners were chosen from a shortlist of 32 artists whose work is currently on show at Oriel Davis until 15 June 2016. In addition to the main prize winners, one artist will also win the People’s Choice Prize of £250, voted for by the public.
The full list of artists featured in the Oriel Davies Open 2016 is: Ned Armstrong, Jo Berry, Louise Bristow, Melanie Carvalho, Clare Chapman, Corinne Charton, Tom Climent, Michelle Conway, Daniel Crawshaw, Martyn Cross, Rebecca Croxford, Tim Davies, Ken Elias, Renata Fernandez, Niki Hare, Judith Hay, Adam Hennessey, Nicholas Johnson, Natasha Kidd, Angela Lizon, Eva Nielsen, Sally Payen, Cherry Pickles, Tom Pitt, Clare Price, Andreas Rüthi, Mark Samsworth, DJ Simpson, André Stitt, Lexi Strauss, Hannah Weatherhead and Ellie Young.
