Thirty-eight artists have been selected from over 600 hundred applications for the 5thOriel Davies Open exhibition (Oriel Davies Gallery, Newtown, 28 April – 27 June). The exhibition will showcase the breadth and diversity of artistic practice from across the world, with selected artists coming from as far afield as Israel and Switzerland.
“Works presented use diverse materials and visual techniques to push boundaries – such as challenging political or social systems, capturing the sublime, revealing the uncanny or even disrupting the very architecture of the gallery. Shan Hur has excavated part of the actual gallery wall to reveal an antique ruin, while Joe Doldon has crafted a book into a weightless, swirling sculpture. These subtle interventions contrast to the grandeur and sublime beauty of Paul Murphy’s imposing photograph Sentinel 1 and the drama and suspense of Melanie Machot’s film, Leap after the Great Ecstasy. Collectively the works can be understood as a series of opposites – natural versus artificial, animal versus human, or transitory versus permanent and together offer a remarkable example of the many and various ways contemporary art can challenge and intrigue.”
Selectors were: Ben Borthwick, Chief Executive and Artistic Director, Artes Mundi; Ann JonesCurator, Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre; Amanda Farr, Director, Oriel Davies Gallery; and Ruth Gooding, Curator, Oriel Davies Gallery.
Prize winners will be announced at the public opening of the show on 28 April. 1st Prize is £1,500 and the 1st Student Prize is £750. Both prize winners will also be offered a solo exhibition at Oriel Davies Gallery in 2013. The £250 People’s Choice Prize will be announced in early August.
The complete list of exhibiting artists is:
Barbara and Zafer Baran, Ruth Boothroyd, Bettina Buck, Helen Cammock, Julie Cassels, James Clarkson, Julian Claxton, Michael Cousin, Emma Critchley, Joe Doldon, Rosaline Dolton, Sean Edwards, David Gepp, Heloise Godfrey, Andy Harper, Shan Hur, Real Institute, Geoff Diego Litherland, Jessica Lloyd-Jones, Tom Lovelace, William Mackrell, Melanie Manchot, Scott Mason, Paul Murphy Nina Ogden, Sarah Pager, Mike Perry, Abigail Reynolds, Peter Richards, Damien Roach, Angela Smith, Anna Solum, Fern Thomas, Tommy Ting, Matthew Verdon, Mary Vettise, Richard T Walker, Ben Woodeson.
