- Hello and welcome to the First Prize announcement
of the John Moores Painting Prize 2020
coming to you from the Walker Art Gallery.
Now, today we are exploring the history of the competition,
learning more about our five shortlisted artists
and revealing the winner
of this year's John Moores Painting Prize.
But before we dive in,
let's hear a little more about the history of the Gallery
and the Painting Prize from Executive Director of Galleries,
Sandra Penketh.
- I'm Sandra Penketh.
I'm Director of Art Galleries
at National Museums Liverpool.
The Walker Art Gallery opened in 1877
and one of its founding principles
was to house a contemporary art exhibition annually.
So actually it started its life as a contemporary art venue.
(slow music)
The Walker Art Gallery has a really strong position, I think,
within the UK British painting scene,
if we think about its history as a contemporary art venue
showing one of those great Victorian
early 20th-century annual exhibitions.
And then, following the example of the Festival of Britain,
many people in Liverpool were keen
that its culture and its arts became strong again,
and a partnership was created
between the Walker Art Gallery and Sir John Moores
bringing the best of British painting to Liverpool.
And for many artists, the Gallery,
the John Moores Painting Prize
and our wonderful historic collection
hold a very special place.
Many of our artists talk about being inspired
by visiting the Gallery at some point in their youth
or in their early careers
and really reflecting on the wonderful art that's here
and taking inspiration from previous artists.
So we want to welcome you
to this year's John Moores Painting Prize.
It's a fantastic exhibition of 67 works
and I think anybody looking at this exhibition
will really think that British painting
is as strong as ever
and many artists are doing fantastic work
that we can all enjoy.
(slow music)
- Thanks to Sandra there for that wonderful overview.
Now, this year we launched an entirely new category.
The Emerging Artist Prize.
Supported by Winsor & Newton,
the award was created to help artists
in the early stages of their career.
Sandra told us a little more
about the importance of this new prize.
- So this year we've got a new prize,
which is the Emerging Artist Prize,
which carries the same prize money
as some of the other prizes - £2,500 -
but it also comes with a month-long residency
plus a wonderful gift of artist materials
to support their work
and all supported by Winsor & Newton.
The idea very much was to encourage artists
early on in their careers to enter the competition
and hopefully really give them a boost.
- Thanks for that Sandra.
And today we're so pleased to announce
the first artist to win
the John Moores Emerging Artist Prize -
Kiki Xeubing Wang - with her piece 'Untitled [Loafer]'.
Now I caught up with Kiki to find out more about her work
and this exciting moment.
- Hi Kiki.
So, tell us, how does it feel to be our very first
Emerging Artist Prize winner?
- I was surprised when I first found out.
I'm just really grateful for this opportunity
and it has been very motivating for me,
not necessarily just winning the Prize,
but being part of this
and the process is very rewarding to me.
So tell us about your painting, 'Untitled [Loafer]'.
What inspired you to create it in the first place?
- So I'm always interested in the texture of things,
either fabric or clothes,
and mainly interested in how luxury is portrayed
in magazines and stuff.
And so when I first started the piece
I just wanted to portray the texture of it
and during the process of making, it makes me question
why it's so desirable for people
and also consumerism and capitalism
and how they feel eerie to me,
and just to make the viewer to question what it is and push the boundary.
and push the boundary.
- Oh, Kiki, thanks so much for chatting to us.
But just before you go,
is there anything you'd like to say?
- Thank you so much for choosing my painting.
And I'm again very, very thrilled
and grateful for this Prize
and also it just has been just very motivating for me.
- Brilliant, thank you so much Kiki
and congratulations once again
and we wish you all the best for the future.
- Thank you so much!
- Bye. - See you soon.
Bye, bye.
- As with every John Moores Painting Prize
this year saw an enormous variety of works being submitted,
whittled down from almost 3,000 entries to just 67.
But five paintings in particular stood out for the jurors
and it's time for us to take a closer look
at both them and their creators.
(upbeat music)
- I can't describe how proud I am to have got to this stage.
Because like many artists, particularly artists of my age
who may have been through lots of ups and downs,
to get to this stage now...
even when I was at longlisted into
the initial selection online
I was completely bowled over.
And then to get the call was -
I was white as a sheet and shaking
when I went back through to the kitchen
and I've been dying to tell people ever since.
- It's something that I've been entering for many years
since I graduated, as a lot of other painters have.
Just getting into it was more than enough for me,
so being a prize winner is the cherry on the top.
I can't say how pleased I am because I am.
And I think most painters would be the same way.
I know how many amazing painters there are.
One thing that I am really pleased about
is seeing in the last ten years or so,
there's such a buzz around painting.
There's such a huge number of amazing painters.
So I'm thrilled, really thrilled.
- I'm quite pleased with it, you know.
I think this is something that underscores all the effort.
It consolidates it,
but also if you look back at all the prize winners,
there's a lot of people who are fairly significant figures.
So I'm quite chuffed with that really.
- You always hope, don't you,
that someone's going to have seen something in your work
to be in the list of prize winners.
Is just a real big boost to this year actually
to come into this year with something, like, really positive
and also to be able to, like, show
for quite a considerable amount of time in the Museum
in Liverpool - that's amazing.
I think for any artist, even if you're not in it
you just look forward to going to the show.
(upbeat music)
- So now we've learnt more about our shortlist of artists
and seen their amazing work,
it's almost time for us to reveal the winner
of this year's John Moores Painting Prize.
The Prize is organised in partnership
with the John Moores Painting Prize Trust
and at the heart of our selection process
is of course our phenomenal jury
who, being unable to visit the Gallery in person,
have faced some unique challenges this year.
To hear more about the process
and to share which of our five prize winners
is this year's winner, we dialed-in our shortlisted artists
for a group call with members of the jury.
Let's see how they got on.
(slow music)
- There is something about the John Moores
that captures the imagination.
- I really love the fact that the John Moores Prize
is an open call that anyone at any stage in their career
can enter the Prize.
And I think that's wonderfully democratic.
- Nobody knows who you are, just a single painting.
And you're just being - being judged by that.
- We don't have the age, gender, name.
It's the painting that speaks to you when you judge
and I think judging was really hard in that respect.
- But there are certain qualities I think
that really do distinguish a great painting.
Originality, a sort of freshness.
- In tune with their subject matter.
- Thinking about light, thinking about composition.
- Showing you things that you've probably not seen before.
- I think that what really marks out
the shortlisted paintings is that they're all very original,
very imaginative and they're all approaching their subject
in a very unique way.
They've all allowed their imaginations to flourish in a way.
- They were ones that I think we all remembered
right from the start. They're beautifully painted as well.
- Everything was... was kind of thought out.
(slow music)
- 'Neanderthal Futures Infirmary' by Robbie Bushe.
This was a painting that leapt out
right from the early rounds.
- It's kind of fascinating
because suddenly it just dawns on you
that you're looking at lots of patients.
The intensity.
- There is also something unhinged about this -
the obsession with the extraordinary detail.
- [Juror] As you kept going,
there seemed to be more and more going on.
- [Juror] It's really quite brilliant.
It's a wonderfully sort of atmospheric,
anxious, brilliant rendering
that reflects something about collective psychology
at the moment I think.
- 'Compost' by Michele Fletcher
has such a glossy quality.
It had such a vibrancy and it was almost like a jewel.
You know, it really has a gem-like quality.
- It's a really extraordinary still life.
There was something about it that summed up
something of the days that we're all experiencing.
And so there's an ambiguity to this painting
that I think is incredibly skilfully rendered.
- That intrigue. It's so fluid.
It almost feels like it's been made in one move.
- [Juror] 'The Motherland' by Steph Goodger
is a painting that caught all of our eyes quite early on
and sort of... we kept returning to.
- Steph's painting is really about the roots,
you know, the rootedness of something.
- [Juror] This to me summed up how nature
is something that you crave.
- [Juror] It had such vibrancy and energy.
- There's almost an aggression - it's coming to life
and it has a feeling of something wrestled with.
(slow music)
- [Narrator] 'March' by Stephen Lee.
- [Juror] I think there's something incredibly both gentle
and robust about it.
- [Juror] There is something British about it in a way,
not just because of the landscape -
it's more to do with the palette.
I think in each area there's something,
something being considered.
- It was the unique quality of these works
that made it through.
And I think at a certain point you have to make a decision.
- [Juror] It was an extremely difficult thing
to come up with in a winner
because there were so many absolutely brilliant paintings.
And of course, you know, we had to reach a consensus.
- But then when it came to the moment to decide,
I think all the judges kind of came to the conclusion
that Kathryn Maple's 'The Common' was the winner.
(slow music)
- [Juror] This painting just stepped away
from anything else that we'd seen.
- [Juror] The more you look at it, the more it rewards you.
- [Juror] You don't feel like
there's any part of this painting
this person got bored with.
- I think what initially struck me about this painting
was closeness between the people in the scene
combined with a really lush landscape
that they find themselves in.
- It's an immensely rich and resonant painting
and it really caught my eye straight from the word go.
- It is a strong work and it, and it has a vibrancy and
it has a life of its own.
- [Juror] It really also reflects
something about this common moment.
What we can't do right now is gather
and so it reflects something of a longing,
I think, that we're all feeling -
that we want to be outside in the warmth
in a beautiful landscape with our friends.
- And I think the intensity you just realise,
again, everything has been thought out.
Definitely a worthy winner.
(slow music)
- Everyone who entered the John Moores Prize
did a brave and a bold thing
and it was an incredibly enriching and privileged experience
to see the result of their labours.
We would be nothing without art.
It would be an impoverished landscape
so I thank you all.
(slow music)
- A huge congratulations to Kathryn
for her stunning painting, 'The Common'.
We gave Kathryn a moment to take in the news
before dialing back in to have a quick chat
about how it felt to be the John Moores Painting Prize
2020 winner.
Hi Kathryn.
A massive congratulations!
So how does it feel to be this year's prize winner?
- Thank you!
I just went, I'm really cold and shivery!
I'm so happy just to be in the show
but this is just, oh, it's mad!
It's sort of the build-up to the whole Prize,
even getting those first emails
and, kind of, getting through the stages...
Yeah, I'm so happy!
- So tell us a little bit about your piece, 'The Common',
and what went into creating it.
- It was kind of inspired partly by a trip to Japan.
It was based on this park
which I, kind of, liked as sort of a bit the resting point
within the city.
Looking out
there's all these kind of, like, lotus stems.
The nearest sort of thing we have here is bulrushes.
So I, kind of, had been thinking about that
for quite a few months.
Most of the actual direct drawing
has come from this area...
Like Lewisham, in South London.
Just people in parks,
people, in a sense of, they're in their own thoughts
and they're sort of absorbed by the environment.
I think it's just such an exciting
kind of... theatre of life, like an arena of some kind.
- Amazing.
Amazing.
Now when it comes to painting what is it that drives you
and is there a consistent theme throughout your work?
- I sort of think it, kind of goes with me.
I'm quite a physical sort of person,
but that's not necessarily why I kind of...
I guess it's an ongoing inquiry.
Maybe the feeling of something actually touching it
and then trying to translate that into paint.
- And now having won the John Moores Painting Prize,
what's next for Kathryn Maple?
- I'm painting every day
but I wouldn't say I show that much.
So I think as an exciting thing,
it'd be maybe working towards some sort of small solo show.
But it definitely means getting some really nice new brushes
and potentially a bigger studio space at some point.
- Ah, well Kathryn, thank you so much for chatting with us
and congratulations once again.
Now before you go is there anything that you'd like to say?
- Oh gosh, I'd love to thank especially the judges
and to all the people, all the staff at the Walker Gallery.
Yeah, so thanks for your generosity.
My partner, oh God I'm getting a bit teary.
And, oh my mother, just for her support through the years.
So yeah, and to all my friends.
I'm really, really glad
to have such a nice group of people.
- Thank you so much, Kathryn.
We wish you all the best for 2021
and can't wait to see where you go next.
Congratulations and take care.
- Thank you.
- And there we have it.
Our winner for the John Moores Painting Prize 2020,
Kathryn Maple and her extraordinary painting 'The Common',
which will now be joining the world-famous collection
of the Walker Art Gallery.
We'd like to thank our jurors Hurvin Anderson,
Michelle Williams-Gamaker, Alison Goldfrapp, Jennifer Higgie
and Gu Wenda for their time and expertise.
Thank you also to Winsor & Newton
for helping us nurture new talent
with the Emerging Artist Prize award
and Rathbones for sponsoring the Visitors' Choice Award.
And, as always, we would like to thank
the John Moores Painting Prize Trust
for their continued support.
But most of all we would like to give thanks
to all of the artists who entered this year's competition
and to you at home for watching
and continuing to support our artists and their work.
We want to wish you all the best for 2021
and we can't wait to open our doors to you again soon.
Thank you and goodbye.
(upbeat music)
And don't forget that you can access our virtual tour
of the exhibition at liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/johnmoores
And while you're there,
why not cast your vote for our Visitors' Choice Award
sponsored by Rathbones?
Voting is open until the 3rd of May,
so be sure to visit our website
and vote for your favourite painting.
(upbeat music)