The AXA Art Prize 2019: Spotlighting figurative art and promoting emerging talent

For decades, critics have deemed figurative art as passé if not irrelevant, citing any number of milestones as evidence: The Industrial Revolution, the advent of Cubism, the ascendance of Abstract Impressionism, the deaths of Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon …. But, per Mark Twain’s well-worn riposte, reports of figurative art’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Today, figurative art still serves as a powerful medium for creating narratives around enduring questions of identity and our place in the world; explorations not at all unlike when humans first started painting on cave walls 40,000 years ago.

My belief in the continuing appeal of figurative art was only reinforced after I helped organize the AXA Art Prize (formerly the XL Catlin Art Prize); I also had the privilege of serving as one the prize jurors. Building on a 10-year legacy of a related prize in the United Kingdom, the AXA Art Prize is a juried art contest and traveling exhibition that celebrates and champions figurative art by emerging artists. The AXA Art Prize is now in its second year in the United States, where it has become one of the country’s foremost student art competitions.

The AXA Art Prize is open to undergraduate and graduate students majoring in studio art at a U.S. college or university; entries are limited to figurative paintings, drawings, or prints. For the 2019 Prize, more than 500 submissions were received from students attending 130 different schools. From these, 40 finalists were selected by an exhibition jury comprised of curators from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Museum, Whitney Museum, and MoMA. The selected works were displayed in a traveling exhibition, which drew thousands of visitors during its stops at the San Francisco Art Institute, Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago, and the New York Academy of Art.

The 40 students competing for the AXA Art Prize come from widely varying backgrounds, cultures, and life experiences — highlighting, again, the relevance of figurative art in today’s contemporary art world. And, while their works demonstrated exceptional creativity and skill, the media and styles represented are similarly diverse, from oil on canvas to collage to wood-cut print.

Even so, each of these artists is, in their own way, telling a story. The desire to tell stories is, of course, a fundamental element of figurative art. Or as David Ebony, the former managing editor and now a contributing editor of Art in America, put it in his introductory essay in the exhibition catalog,

“All of the finalists in this year’s AXA Art Prize exhibition demonstrate an extraordinary gift to make life visible. This diverse group explores issues of identity, conveying an autobiographical scenario, perhaps, or simply reflecting a moment in time. Some establish a credible narrative, fanciful or otherworldly though it may be.”

I was joined on the prize jury by Sanford Biggers, Will Cotton, John Currin, and Tschabalala Self, renowned figurative artists who are each working within this lasting tradition in their own unique way.

Biggers is best known for his multimedia works combining references to African-American ethnography, hip-hop, jazz, and icons of Americana. Cotton, meanwhile, is acclaimed for his photo-realist paintings of women in sugary landscapes of desserts and confections that call to mind Marie Antoinette if Marie Antoinette had Instagram. Currin is renowned for his figurative paintings and portraits, which deal with controversial social issues in a satirical way. And Tschabalala Self depicts the Black female body through a highly colorful, mixed-media language of paint, fabric, and discarded items. This group of jurors itself reflects both the diversity of what figurative art is and can be while inspiring a generation of younger emerging artists to take up the mantle of figurative art.

We awarded the $10,000 first prize to Anna Park for her charcoal and graphite on paper drawing titled “Parent Teacher Conference.” Anna is a Brooklyn-based artist who is pursuing an MFA at the New York Academy of Art. Her works have been described as “kinetic and absorbing” and exhibiting a style that “moves between cartoonish and realistic rendering.” Upon learning that she had won the 2019 AXA Art Prize, Anna commented, “It was an incredible opportunity and honor to have my work showcased alongside so many of my creative and talented peers. And then to have been chosen as the winner is unbelievable. I can’t begin to express how grateful I am.”

In giving these talented young artists a forum for their works to be shown, critiqued, and discussed, we reward their risk-taking and champion their desire to continue this tradition for the benefit of future generations.

Jennifer Schipf is AXA XL’s global practice leader for art. Opinions expressed here are the author’s own. 

This piece was originally published by AXA XL and is republished here with consent. 

Related: AXA XL expands support for art and emerging artists