The winner of the 2016 Threadneedle Prize has been announced as Lewis Hazelwood-Horner. He will receive a cash prize of £20,000 plus a solo exhibition for a wider body of his work at Mall Galleries later this year.
Hazelwood-Horner’s winning piece, Salt in Tea, was painted following a two-year residency at the bespoke umbrella shop James Smith & Sons in London’s West End. The title refers to when craftsmen jokingly put salt or too much sugar in one another’s tea.
The prize, which was set up in 2008, supports figurative and representational art. This year’s edition received 3,828 entries submitted by 1,973 artists from 29 European countries.
The winner was chosen by a panel that included: Emma Crichton-Miller (journalist), David Dawson (artist, writer and photographer), Dr Arturo Galansino (director general at Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence), Tim Knox (director, Fitzwilliam Museum) and Lewis McNaught (director, Mall Galleries).
Explaining their choice of winner, Knox said: “This very accomplished painting showcases grandeur, confidence, wit and gritty realism which truly impressed the judges who felt it had an enticing documentary quality.”
McNaught, chair of the selection panel, added: “The winning painting stood out for the scale of its ambition, while there are other works in the exhibition that push the boundaries of figurative and representational art into new territory. Support for this prize from artists in the UK and across Europe just gets bigger as submissions get more ambitious.”
Salt in Tea, along with 93 other selected works, is included in The Columbia Threadneedle Prize exhibition, 3-20 February 2016, Mall Galleries, London. www.columbiathreadneedleprize.com
