"Just Do It" I hear America Singing - Selected for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2016

 

I am pleased to announce that I have been longlisted out of over 3,000 entries from artists working in 67 countries worldwide for the ninth Aesthetica Art Prize. The longlist comprises 90 artists working in a range of media, whose selected pieces are published in the AestheticaArt Prize Annual: Future Now 2016.

The piece selected is a pit fired ceramic American Civil War revolver hovering over a nike shoe box.

Inspired by the Walt Whitman poem "I hear America Singing" the artwork references Americas frontier past and optimism of the time, in contrast to the way the West was won and its current political situation and self appointed role policing the world. Just Do It "I hear America singing" uses an ancient pit-firing techniques used by the Native Americans and the industrial process of mould making to create a ceramic revolver, combined with a reclaimed object that symbolises the capitalist/consumerist aspirations of America.

Hosted by Aesthetica Magazine, an international art and culture publication with a global readership of 311,000, the prize is a major annual event for British and international artists.
 

The award presents a platform for creatives to engage with a wider audience through the publication, and it also hosts an exhibition for 10 shortlisted artists at York St Mary’s, York, UK, from 14 April to 29 May. Images of the longlisted works will also be shown on monitors in the gallery.

The book Future Now enables readers to explore the 100 captivating projects from the shortlist and longlist through images and artists’ statements. A series of critical essays also feature, offering contextualisation in mapping current trends in today’s visual culture. We hear from John Keane, Artist and Aesthetica Main Prize Winner in 2015; Sarah Coulson, Curator at Yorkshire Sculpture Park; Vanessa Corby, Senior Lecturer, Fine Art, at York St John University, and Chris Littlewood, Photography Director at Flowers Gallery.

Cherie Federico, Director of the Aesthetica Art Prize says: “We are thrilled with this year’s selection, which offers a window onto cutting-edge practice from around the world. The works explore how we inhabit the earth and engage with some of today’s most pressing topics, from ecological concerns to transitions in urbanisation and developments in technology.”