Jobs and opps

31 July 2008

The shortlist for the John Moores 25 Contemporary Painting Prize was announced in July. Forty shortlisted entries demonstrate that far from being ‘old-fashioned’, an artist’s decision to paint is exciting and challenging. Paintings have absorbed the legacy of conceptual art and incorporated it into the work; they are not in opposition to it. Works selected from a record 3,222 submissions represent the best of the UK’s current and future painting talent. The UK’s largest contemporary painting competition, it carries a first prize of £25,000 and four runner up prizes of £2,500.

Graham Crowley, artist and juror said: “There’s no art for airports or corporate foyers in this show. There is a great range in subject matter and context, and an urgency to the exhibition that I hadn’t anticipated.” Other judges were artists Jake & Dinos Chapman, art critic Sacha Craddock, and artist Paul Morrison, who with Graham Crowley is a former John Moores Prize winner.

On the shortlist are Georgina Amos, Richard Baines, Stephanie Kingston, Eleanor Moreton and Alex Gene Morrison, along with Tim Bailey, Christopher Barrett, David Bowe, Julian Brain, Tom Bull, Louisa Chambers, Clare Chapman, Jake Clark, Sam Dargan, Geraint Evans, Damien Flood, Grant Foster, Jaime Gili, Gabriel Hartley, Georgia Hayes, Gerard Hemsworth, Roland Hicks, Ian Homerston, Neal Jones, Richard Kirwan, Olise Kjærgaard, Matthew Usmar Lauder, Geoff Diego Litherland, Marta Marcé, Peter McDonald, Michelle McKeown, Kit Poulson, Sista Pratesi, Ged Quinn, Neil Rumming, Robert Rush, Michael Stubbs, Matthew Wood, Stuart Pearson Wright and Vicky Wright.

The winer of the 25th John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize will be unveiled on September 20. In celebration of Liverpool’s year as Capital of Culture, this year’s popular visitors' choice prize will be increased to £2008. The exhibition at Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool runs 20 September 2008 - 4 January 2009.

The prize has been a key component of the Liverpool Biennial since 1999, and is a major strand in the city’s 2008 European Capital of Culture celebrations. It is supported by A Foundation and official hotel partner, Radisson SAS Hotel, Liverpool. Visitors’ Choice Prize is supported by Rathbone Investment Management and Radisson SAS Hotel, Liverpool. a-n is this year’s media sponsor, with nearly eighty per cent all entries for the competition arising from adverts in a-n Magazine and website.

www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/johnmoores

Organiser/employer: National Museums Liverpool »

Alex Gene Morrison, ‘Black Bile’.
Shortlisted for the John Moores 25 Prize

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