The 2018-19 Mark Tanner Sculpture Award goes to London-based artist Anna Reading, who will receive £8,000 towards the making of new work and a solo show at Standpoint Gallery in 2019.
Reading, who completed her MFA in Sculpture from the Slade School of Fine Art in 2017, was the winner of the Creekside Open Award 2015 and is one of the 57 artists selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018. She was selected for the Mark Tanner award for her sculpture, animation and installation works that reference human-made objects and conjure up a sense of the ‘ancient and futuristic, decay and regeneration’.
The judging panel for the award was comprised of Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s Clare Lilley and artists Cathie Pilkington RA, Rebecca Scott, and 2017-18 award recipient Frances Richardson. They interviewed a shortlist of eight artists from 270 applicants who had applied from locations across mainland UK, before choosing Reading as the 16th recipient of the prize.
The other shortlisted artists were: Liam Fallon, Rich White, Tabatha Andrews, Elly Thomas, Jessie Flood-Paddock, Lynn Fulton and Chris Dobrowolski.
The prize announcement was made by Standpoint director Michael Taylor at the opening to Richardson’s exhibition ‘Not even nothing can be free of ghosts’, which continues until 23 June 2018.
Richardson’s work explores the idea of ‘giving shape to ideas of nothingness’, in particular the sensation of smelling water that she experienced while spending time in the empty Standpoint Gallery. The resulting exhibition uses wood, veneer, video and copper to conjure up this sense of an illusive impression for a wider audience.
The Mark Tanner Sculpture Award was first set up in 2001 in honour of British sculptor Mark Tanner who died in 1998 following a long illness. The artist had long been associated with Standpoint and was one of the first to show in its artist-run gallery. The award seeks ‘to keep alive the passion and enthusiasm he had for the making of art’.
Images:
1. Anna Reading, Economy Class, 2017. Courtesy: Standpoint
2. Anna Reading, Cavity, 2018. Courtesy: Standpoint
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