Congratulations to our artist Gelah Penn (USA), on making it to the final at the FID Prize drawing contest! Being selected as one of 23 international artists is a well-earned honour, and we are proud to represent her.
Penn has an active artistic praxis, and frequently displays her works both in solo and group shows. She uses her skills to create art with great fascination power, both thematically and technically. Her art challenges the medium itself and puts the drawing into new contexts.
Penn deploys a variety of synthetic, often transparent materials, which she folds, rip, puncture, smudge and “draw” stiches upon. Investigating the materials at hand, she transforms them into enthralling abstract, expressionistic landscapes.
The artist’s aim is “to construct interiorized events of perceptual incident and psychological dis-ease”. Her hope is that this conflation of disparate parts – mark, shadow, geometry, gesture, concord, and dissonance – results in “some sort of riotous whole”.
The international FID Prize drawing contest is organized by FID, an independent cultural institution specialised in the patronage of the arts. The institution, dedicated to contemporary drawing, was founded in Paris in 2007.
The contest is open to artists from around the world, without any age limit. The subjects, techniques and dimensions are at the discretion of the participants, who can apply with four works. FID is open to all modes of expression, from the most traditional to the most experimental. Gelah Penn was selected as one of 23 finalists, who were then narrowed down to the Top Ten winners. Penn didn’t make it to the last round of Top Ten, but was happy to make it that far.
The jury awards the Top Ten winners several texts on her/his work. These brief, analytical and critical notes, accompanying reproductions of their work, will be published in the FID Digital Catalogue, which constitutes the Grand Prize. Signed by international figures as Brett Littman (President) and other Members of the Jury, the notes place the work of the winners in the broad perspective of the international contemporary art scene.
The FID Prize Top Ten 2017 are: Alexander Hamilton (Australia), Boedi Widjaja (Singapore), Hiraku Suzuki (Japan), Jans Muskee (Netherlands), Jonathan Rosic (Belgium), Kay Arne Kirkebø (Norway), Luis Almeida (Portugal), Mathieu Dufois (France), Scott Hunt (United States) and Yara Pina (Brazil).
The jury consisted of Andrew Solomon, Brett Littman, Magda Carneci, Maurits van de Laar, Philippe Rey, Tsjalling Venema, Jaanika Peerna and Serghei Litvin.
Picture: Courtesy of the artist.
