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List of finalists for the Luxembourg Art Prize
List of finalists for the 2020 Luxembourg Art Prize
Monika Bulaj
54, Italy and Poland. Photography.
2nd entry
Self-taught
“My work concerns minorities in danger, nomads, and pilgrims. I look for places that serve as bridges located at cultural and spiritual borders, at the crossroads of forgetting minorities, relating the weakest beliefs and traditions, their fragile resistance, as well as their openness to dialogue.”
Ann Carrington
58, United Kingdon. Sculpture.
Master’s from Royal College of Art, London
“My sculptures tell stories with everyday objects; using a variety of found objects is a fundamental element of my work. My metallic flower bouquets form a modern-day memento mori.”
Sara Genn
48, Canada (British Columbia) & USA (California). Painting
BFA, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
“According to the principles of the Japanese aesthetic wabi-sabi, objects and experiences increase in beauty when they evoke a feeling of spiritual desire. These paintings also strive to offer a space for visual pleasure with objects that occupy the space in a way that blurs the signifiers of genre, art, and monuments.”
Dieudonné Gottfried Zola
23, Congo (Kinshasa). Painting
Student
“My work focuses on highlighting visible minorities, otherness, and the body and its relationship with space. The representation of the body in this duality that encompasses it; between vulnerability and vehemence.”
麻由美 井上 (Mayumi Inoue)
32, Japan. Mixed media techniques
Graduate in fashion design, Faculty of Arts, Joshibi University of art and design
“As part of my approach, the hair lost by cancer patients during their treatment is collected, then woven into works of art to give it a second life. The memories of each are woven into the hair which becomes proof of existence, symbols of life.”
Daniela Romanesi
44, Brazil. Photography.
2nd entry
Self-taught
“I express myself though nature macro photography. This technique represents one of my personality traits: curiosity. After taking this photo, I felt delivered from anxieties that were provoked by my husband’s heart attack, which he has now recovered from.”
Lionel Sabatté
44, France. Mixed media techniques
Graduate of the National School of Fine Arts in Paris
“The realm of the living as well as the transformation of material due to the passage of time are at the heart of my work. I cultivate material that carries within it the trace of a living thing: dust, ash, coal, dead skin, tree stumps…These elements are combined with unexpected material and works are thus created.”
Julian Semiao
23, France. Painting.
2nd entry
Master’s in fine arts from the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne
“Having been influenced by the strength of raw art and by the vitality of neo-expressionism and free figuration, I draw my sources of inspiration into spontaneous and engaged pop art. I’m showing my vision of a contemporary society that is constantly in motion.”
Tim Smith
41, Canada (Manitoba). Photography
Graduate in Photojournalism – Western Academy of Photography – Victoria, BC, Canada
“I built relationships of trust with the Hutterite communities of western Canada over the course of the last ten years. Their culture continues to be preserved thanks to their deliberate separation from the dominant society and their system of financial self-reliance. They represent perhaps the most successful attempt at community life in modern history. The selected work is the portrait of Justin after his second day of slaughtering thousands of laying hens. The work is hard, and most of the able members of the colony must participate.”
Marc David Spengler
24, Germany. Painting
Studies in communication design from the National Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart
“I focus on illustrations and abstract compositions. My creative approach includes creating abstract worlds via the spontaneous painting process. Each of my images is created without drawing pencil on paper, because the first sketch is generally the best and must therefore become the final image. This approach has made me both a creator and an observer.”
Anibal Vallejo
22, Colombia. Painting
Graduate of Visual Arts, Antioquia University, Medellin, Colombia and graduate in Costume Creation, Colombian College of Design, Medellin, Colombia.
“I am interested first and foremost in the fundamentals of painting: color, shape, composition, movement, and area. In the selected work, the hand-embroidered drawing exorcizes my creative process that lasts for hours, for days, almost like a mantra that completes the pictorial language by giving the painting a third dimension.”
List of finalists for the 2019 Luxembourg Art Prize
Fosca Boggi
Age 58, Italy, merchant
Degree in Majolica Arts from Istituto d'Arte per la Ceramica, Faenza (Italy)
Inspiration: Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat
Sara Bomans
Age 37, Belgium, graphic arts teacher
Training: Mixed Media (instructor: Jan Carlier) PHL (now known as PXL) – Hasselt – Belgium
Inspiration: Frida Kahlo, Louise Bourgeois, Sophie Calle, Hans Op de Beeck, Michael Borremans, Rinus van de Velde
Jenna Hobbs
Age 34, Alberta (Canada), stay-at-home mom
Self-taught
Inspiration: Norman Rockwell, Sally Mann, Kirsten Lewis, Joy Prouty
Yannick Ilito Betofe
28 years old, Belgium & Congo (Kinshasa)
Degree in Graphic, Visual and Spatial Arts with a concentration in Drawing, Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles ‒ ESA; Brussels (Belgium)
Inspiration: Caravaggio, Francis Bacon, Jenny Saville, Lucian Freud, Marlene Dumas, Berlinde de Bruyckere, Jérôme Zonder, Leonard Cohen, Sarah kane, Henri Michaux, Andrei Tarkovsky, Tomas Tranströmer, Fabienne Verdier
Clay Johnson
55 years old, USA (Wyoming)
BA in Studio Art, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Inspiration: Agnes Martin, Brice Marden, Diego Velázquez, Edgar Degas, Frank Auerbach, Franz Kline, Kasimir Malevich, Mark Rothko, Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Richard Diebenkorn, Richard Serra, Vincent van Gogh, Willem de Kooning, Édouard Vuillard, Robert Natkin
Martin Lyonnet
31 years old, France
Graduate of the Maryse Eloy Art School (2011 valedictorian), Master in Visual Communication Design
Inspiration: Aaron Siskind, Daniel Buren, Egon Schiele, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Pablo Picasso, Jacques Villeglé, Chaïm Soutine, Oscar Munoz, Carlos Cruz-Diez
Adele Razkövi
41 years old, Austria
Training: Erasmus scholarship for the Alonso Cano de Grenada School of Fine Arts (Spain)
Inspiration: Eadweard Muybridge, Leonardo da Vinci, Art Brut, Eduardo Roca, Frederique Edy
Jon Setter
29 years old, Australia (New South Wales) & USA (Michigan)
Training: Master of Fine Arts, National Art School, 2018
Inspiration: Aaron Siskind, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Ellsworth Kelly, Michael Wolf, Piet Mondrian, Richard Diebenkorn, Stephen Shore, Thomas Struth, Yoshinori Mizutani, Andrea Grutzner, Todd Eberle, Gerry Johansson
Izumi Ueda Yuu
71 years old, Japan & Portugal
Training: Kuwasawa Design Institute, Tokyo (Japan) & Bachelor of Fine Arts, The Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, United States
Inspiration: Christian Boltanski, Claes Oldenburg, Kiki Smith, Louise Bourgeois, Philip Guston
Duncan Wylie
Age 44, United Kingdom & Zimbabwe
Training: Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris (ENSBA)
Inspiration: David Hockney, El Greco, Georg Baselitz, Gerhard Richter, Howard Hodgkin, Willem de Kooning, Gordon Matta Clark, Robert Smithson
Jenny Ymker
50 years old, Netherlands
It was her third submission to the Luxembourg Art Prize!
Training: Constantijn Huygens Academy of Arts, Kampen (now known as ArtEZ Zwolle)
Inspiration: Cindy Sherman, Francesca Woodman, Grayson Perry, Louise Bourgeois
List of finalists for the 2018 Luxembourg Art Prize
Tsuyu Bridwell
51 years old, Japan & France
Self-taught
Sources of Inspiration: Alexander Calder, Andy Goldsworthy, Edward Hopper, Gabriel Orozco, Henri Matisse, Jean-Michel Othoniel, John Baldessari, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
Lúcia Costa
57 years old, Brazil
Self-taught. Specialty: Acrylic paint
Sources of Inspiration: El Lissitzky, Kazimir Malevich, M. C. Escher, Theo van Doesburg, Vik Muniz, Vincent van Gogh
Alexis Couzino
26 years old, Canada (Quebec)
Certificate in Visual Art and Extended Studies at Laval University (Canada, Quebec, Quebec)
Sources of Inspiration: Damien Hirst, David LaChapelle, Jeff Koons
Specialty: Performance, photography, print media.
Anna Herrgott
35 years old, Germany
Studies in Photo/Space/Object/Glass at the Hochschule für Kunst und Design in Halle, Burg Giebichenstein, Germany
Sources of Inspiration: Orlan, Vanessa Beecroft
Shawn Huckins
34 years old, USA (Colorado)
Education: Bachelor of Arts, Keene State College, Keene, NH, USA
Specialty: Painting
Sources of Inspiration: David Hockney, Edward Ruscha, George Caleb Bingham, Gilbert Stuart, John Singleton Copley, Richard Estes, Wayne Thiebaud
Hanna Margetson-Rushmore
22 years old, United Kingdom & USA
Education: Bachelor of Fine Arts, Parsons, New York, USA
Sources of Inspiration: Agnes Martin, Eva Hesse, On Kawara, Sol LeWitt
Specialty: Drawing on paper
Noah James Saunders
38 years old, USA (Georgia)
Self-taught. Specialty: wire sculpture
Sources of Inspiration: Alexander Calder, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo Picasso
Eugenio Schirone
17 years old, Italy
Education: V. Calò Arts High School – Grottaglie (Ta) Italy
Sources of Inspiration: Hieronymus Bosch, Paolo Uccello
Specialty: Digital Photography
Ritu Binhay Sinha
42 years old, India
Education: Master's degree in drawing and painting (specialization in frescoes and miniature painting) from Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan, India
Sources of Inspiration: Edvard Munch, Louise Bourgeois, Tracey Emin
Specialty: Painting on paper and mixed media
Ludovic Thiriez
34 years old, Hungary & France
Mostly self-taught. 1-year painting program at the School of Fine Arts in Budapest, Hungary
Sources of Inspiration: Adrian Ghenie, Albert Oehlen, Cecily Brown, Gerhard Richter, Marlene Dumas, Maurizio Cattelan, Michaël Borremans, Neo Rauch, Peter Doig
Géraldine Tobé
26 years old, Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa)
Education: The Academy of Fine Arts in Kinshasa, Congo. Painting specialization
Sources of Inspiration: Christian Boltanski
List of finalists for the 2017 Luxembourg Art Prize
Maria Eugenia Gamiño Cruz
56 years old, Mexico
Education: UAEMEX-UNAM Curator's degree with a specialization in visual arts, production, management and restoration from the Polytechnic University of Valencia-UNAM. Master of visual arts, sculpture specialization, Graduate Department of San Carlos UNAM, graduated with honors. Bachelor's degree in Visual Arts from ENAPUNAM, graduated with honors. Hand-made drawing in Cuenca, Ecuador (OAS grant). Sculpture at INBA's Center for Research and Experimentation in Fine Arts
Specialty: Sculpture
Sources of Inspiration: Alexander Calder, Andy Goldsworthy, Anthony Caro, Antony Gormley, Carl Andre, Christo & Jeanne-Claude, Gabriel Orozco, Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois
Severija Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė
40 years old, Lithuania
Education: Postgraduate degree at the Vilnius Academy of Arts (Lithuania). Received the qualifying diploma of a Bachelor of the Arts. Artistic project and thesis subject: “The relationship between modernity and ethnic tradition in contemporary Lithuanian textiles.”
Specialty: Sculpture in cross-stitch on metal
Sources of Inspiration: Banksy, Jeff Koons, Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois
Jarik Jongman
55 years old, Netherlands
Education: Academy of Arts, 1990-1992, Hogeschool v/d Kunsten, Arnhem, The Netherlands
Specialty: Painting
Sources of Inspiration: Adrian Ghenie, Anselm Kiefer, Peter Doig
Vladimir Kartashov (Владимир Карташов)
20 years old, Russia
Training: NGHU, Novosibirsk, Russia. Specialty: Oil painting
Sources of Inspiration: Diego Rivera, El Greco, Giorgio de Chirico
Jennifer Krause Chapeau
55 years old, USA (New Jersey)
Education: BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) from the Michigan School of Art. Specialty: Painting
Sources of Inspiration: Alice Neel, Anselm Kiefer, Chantal Joffe, Eric Fischl, Fairfield Porter, George Bellows, Gerhard Richter, Gustave Caillebotte, Gustav Klimt, John Singer Sargent, Lois Dodd, Neil Welliver, Rackstraw Downes, Vincent van Gogh, Yvonne Jacquette
Jeppe Lauge
37 years old, Denmark & the Netherlands
Education: Academie Gerrit Rietveld, Baccalauréat in Fine Arts (2008-2011), Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Specialty: Painting
Sources of Inspiration: Adrian Ghenie, David Hockney, Peder Severin Krøyer, Peter Doig
Sali Muller
36 years old, Luxembourg
Education: Master of Visual Arts, UMB Marc Bloch University, Strasbourg, France
Specialty: Installation, Sculpture
Sources of Inspiration: Mona Hatoum, Tracey Emin
Alexandra de Pinho
40 years old, Portugal
Education: Doctoral thesis "‘OmphalOskepsis’ (‘Navel-gazing’). An approach to the surrounding media" under the supervision of Prof. Juan Moraza at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Pontevedra University of Vigo [ES]
Specialty: Fabric, stitched thread, and watercolor on paper
Sources of Inspiration: Ellen Gallagher, Louise Bourgeois, Lygia Clark, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Robert Rauschenberg, Shirin Neshat
Steeven Salvat
26 years old, France
Self-taught. Specialty: Rotring and India ink drawing on paper, antique engraving
Sources of Inspiration: Albrecht Dürer, Gustave Doré, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Leonardo da Vinci
René Seifert
36 years old, Germany
Education: School of Art and Design, Burg Giebichenstein - Halle/Saale, Germany
Sources of Inspiration: Gerhard Richter, Jackson Pollock, Pierre Huyghe, Rosemarie Trockel, Paul Klee, Alexander McQueen, Sterling Ruby, Christopher Wool, Autechre, Superflex, Santiago Sierra, Allan Turing, Immanuel Kant, Husserl, Wittgenstein, John Berger, Marcuse, Hannah Ahrendt, Foucault, Bourdieux, Einstein, Hawking Uvm
Lalula Vivenzi
31 years old, Colombia & Italy
Self-taught. Specialty: Photography
Sources of Inspiration: Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, M. C. Escher, Marina Abramović, Sandro Botticelli, Yayoi Kusama
List of finalists for the 2016 Luxembourg Art Prize
Alexei A. Izmaylov
Age 31, Russia and the UK
Speciality: mixed media
Primarily self-taught.
Degree in Visual Communication and Graphic Design, University of Leeds, UK.
Degree in History of Art, University of Leeds, UK.
Inspiration: Asger Jorn, Cy Twombly, Donald Judd, Edward Ruscha, Erwin Wurm, Francis Bacon, Franz West, Guy Bourdin, Hans Haacke, John Baldessari, Juergen Teller, Marcel Duchamp, Marlene Dumas, Ryan McGinley, Sarah Lucas, Thomas Ruff
Renata Franzky
Age 47, Germany
Speciality: painting
Self-taught
Inspiration: Anselm Kiefer, Caravaggio, El Greco, Lucian Freud, Maria Lassnig, Max Beckmann
Jaeyeol Han
Age 33, South Korea
Speciality: painting
Degree in Fine Art, Suwon University, South Korea
Inspiration: Jenny Saville, Paul Cézanne, Peter Paul Rubens, Willem de Kooning
John Haverty
Age 29, USA (Massachusetts)
Specialities: painting, drawing
Master's in Fine Art, Savannah College of Arts and Design, Savannah, Georgia, USA
Bachelor's degree in Fine Art, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
Inspiration: Dieric Bouts, Hieronymus Bosch, Salvador Dalí
Bartosz Kołata
Age 37, Poland and Germany
Speciality: painting
Master's in Art Conservation and Restoration, Nicolaus Copernicus University, UMK (Poland)
Inspiration: Ambrosius Holbein, Andrzej Wróblewski, David Hockney, Jan van Eyck, Marlene Dumas
Maurice Mbikayi
Age 42, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa
Specialities: video, sculpture
Master's in Fine Art, Michaelis School of Fine Art, Cape Town, South Africa
Degree, Academy of Fine Arts, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
State Diploma, Academy of Fine Arts, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Inspiration: Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois, Marcel Duchamp, Yinka Shonibare
Graciana Piaggio
Age 45, Argentina
Speciality: photography
Self-taught
Inspiration: Adriana Lestido, Frank Auerbach, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Joel Meyerowitz, Josef Sudek, Minor White, Nicolas de Staël, Richard Diebenkorn, Rinko Kawauchi, Sally Mann, Willem de Kooning
Jose Sierra Vega
Age 26, Colombia
Speciality: photography
Master's in Fine Arts, Bolivar University of Fine Arts and Sciences, Cartagena, Colombia
Inspiration: Felix Gonzales-Torres, George Platt Lynes, Gilbert & George, Marcel Duchamp, Nan Goldin, Robert Mapplethorpe, Wilhelm von Gloeden
Melissa Vandenberg
Age 38, USA (Kentucky)
Speciality: sculpture
Master's in Fine Arts, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois, USA
Inspiration: Carrie Mae Weems, Lorna Simpson, Louise Bourgeois, Shirin Neshat, Yinka Shonibare
Simon Vienne
Age 24, France
Speciality: photography
Second entry to the Luxembourg Art Prize (2015, 2016)
Technical Certificate in Photography & Technical Diploma in Photography (distinction) from URMA (Regional University of the Craft Trades) in Tourcoing
Inspiration: Andreas Gursky, Gregory Crewdson, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Josef Koudelka, Peter Lindbergh, Philippe Halsman, Sebastião Salgado, Stephen Shore, Steve McCurry, Vivian Maier, William Klein, Willy Ronis
List of finalists for the 2015 Luxembourg Art Prize
June Allen
52 years old, Franco-American. Born in the USA. Lives in France
Education: Bachelor of Fine Arts, Pratt Institute, New York. Master of Fine Arts, The Sorbonne. PhD thesis in progress, Fine Arts, The Sorbonne.
Frédéric Blaimont
Age 67, French. Born and lives in France.
École d’Art Graphique (Kunstgewerbeschule) - Basel - Switzerland, École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs - Paris - France
Xavier Drong
Age 44, French. Born in Belgium, lives in France.
DNSAP, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, France
Michel Fouarge
Age 42, Luxembourger. Born and lives in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Self-taught
Albert Janzen
Age 26, German. Born in Russia, lives in the Netherlands
School of Arts and Music, University of Amsterdam & Humboldt Universität in Berlin
Natalie Lamotte
Age 50, French. Born and lives in France.
CAPES in Visual Arts (Aix-en-Provence, France)
Herrel
Age 44, French. Born and lives in France.
Self-taught
Assaf Matarasso
Age 31, Israeli. Born in Israel, lives in France.
European Bachelor in Photography (Paris)
Dany Mayer
Age 64, French. Born and lives in France.
Self-taught
Américo Prata
Age 56, Portuguese. Born in Mozambique, lives in Portugal.
Faculty of Fine Arts, Lisbon (Portugal)
Sophie Rambert
Age 45, French. Born and lives in France.
Self-taught, degree in Philosophy from Paris X Nanterre