London-based artist Kimathi Donkor has been announced as the winner of the De’Longhi Art Projects Artist Award at this year’s London Art Fair. He will receive a cash prize of £2,500 to help further his career.
Donkor is known for working predominantly in paint, although he also uses drawing, video, assemblage, collage, digital design, performance and installation to reimagine mythic and legendary encounters across Africa and its global diasporas.
He has previously shown at the Diaspora Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale, and as part of ‘Untitled: Art on the Conditions of Our Time’ at New Art Exchange, Nottingham, plus the 29th São Paulo Biennial, Brazil. He is also acting course leader of MA Drawing at Wimbledon College of Arts.
Donkor’s work is being exhibited at the London Art Fair as part of Art Projects, a curated section of the fair which provides a platform for emerging galleries. He is represented by Ed Cross Fine Art.
- From the a-n News archive:
A Q&A with… Kimathi Donkor, Diaspora Pavilion artist at Venice Biennale 2017
Commenting on the award and his latest body of work, Donkor said: “I am thrilled and honoured to be the recipient of this prize. This body of work was about me reconnecting with drawing as a primary mode of expression.
“Whereas in my painting practice, I tend to use photography and digital processes to formulate my images, in this case I relied on my imagination and memory to create drawings using a much more intimate and immediate approach.”
Donkor was selected by a judging panel featuring representatives from the areas of collecting, journalism, curating and education. They were: Jo Baring, director of the Ingram Collection of Modern British and Contemporary Art; Alistair Hicks, writer and curator; Cherie Federico, director of Aesthetica; and Francesca Gavin, writer and curator.
Now in its 15th edition, the Art Projects section of London Art Fair features 33 galleries from 11 countries. This year it includes six collaborations, known as Dialogues, where pairs of galleries were invited to display their artists in conversation with each other. It is curated by Kiki Mazzucchelli, an independent curator and writer based in São Paulo and London.
London Art Fair is at the Business Design Centre, London, 16-20 January. For more information visit: www.londonartfair.co.uk
Images:
1. Kimathi Donkor, winner of the De’Longhi Art Projects Artist Award at the London Art Fair. Courtesy: London Art Fair
2. Kimathi Donkor, Notebook p34. Courtesy: Ed Cross Fine Art
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