Northern Art Prize shortlist announced

The Northern Art Prize has unveiled its 2009 shortlist and three of the five finalists are MMU artists!

Manchester School of Art’s Professor Pavel Büchler and Ian Rawlinson, Route Leader for MA Fine Art, have all been nominated alongside ex-research fellow Nick Crowe.

The award, presented to the best artists that live in the North of England, has been dubbed “the Northern Turner Prize”. Nominations come from arts professionals, ranging from gallery and museum curators to directors of artist-led spaces, and are considered a sign of professional achievement within the art world.

Nomination by peers

Pavel, Ian and Nick were selected from twenty three other northern artists by a judging panel that included Turner Prize-winning artist Richard Deacon CBE, Art Monthly editor Patricia Bickers and Director of the Contemporary Art Society, Paul Hobson.

Talent outside the Capital

The Northern Art Prize judges commented: “Shortlisting from the list of 23 artists, whose work has been put forward by those leading the way in the North, was very tough. We’d like to thank all of the artists, and those who nominated them, for proving beyond doubt that there is a need to showcase talent outside the Capital”.

Ian and Nick both made the Prize longlist last year and this year have been nominated as a pair for their collaborative work and are hoping it’ll be second time lucky. Their work, which has been described as ‘playful’, ranges from photography, sculpture, film, sound and text works and is often inspired by Manchester. The duo created a firework display in FACT’s main gallery for their major solo exhibition in Liverpool in 2007.

Czech-born Pavel works in a variety of media, often placing sound art within a wider installation and using redundant audiovisual technology.

The Northern Art Prize offers £16,500 to the winner, with each runner up receiving £1,500. The winning artist will be announced on the 21st January 2010.

An exhibition of work by the shortlisted artists will take place at Leeds Art Gallery from 27th November 2009 to 21st February 2010.