AXA XL has announced that works from 40 student artists have been selected for the second edition of the AXA Art Prize Exhibition.
AXA XL launched the AXA Art Prize in 2017 as the XL Catlin Art Prize. The prize is open to figurative paintings, drawings, and prints made by undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in courses in the United States.
The exhibition of shortlisted works will go on a nationwide tour beginning at the San Francisco Art Institute from September 6 – October 6. It then will travel to Chicago where it will be on view at Richard Gray Gallery from October 24 – 30. The tour finishes in New York City at the New York Academy of Art with an exhibition on view from November 18 – 22. The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue featuring an essay by David Ebony, former editor at Art in America.
The first prize and second prize winners will be announced at the closing reception on Thursday, November 21, 2019. The first prize is $10,000 and second prize is $5,000 and winners will be chosen by artists Sanford Biggers, Will Cotton, John Currin, and Tschabalala Self alongside Jennifer Schipf, global practice leader for art at AXA XL.
Over 500 submissions were received from 130 different schools, both undergraduate and graduate programs. Submissions for the prize were first reviewed by regional jurors from the prize's strategic advisory board of 34 art schools and programs in the United States including the Rhode Island School of Design (“RISD”), Columbia University School of Arts, California College of the Arts, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Pratt Institute, and Bard College.
The final 40 works in the exhibition, which include paintings, drawings, and prints, were chosen by an exhibition jury comprised of Ian Alteveer, curator for modern and contemporary art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Massimiliano Gioni, artistic director of the New Museum, Jennie Goldstein, assistant curator at the Whitney Museum, and Cara Manes, associate curator at the Museum of Modern Art.
The shortlisted artists, nine young men and 31 young women, are enrolled at 30 different schools. The artists hail from 14 different states and three countries. Four schools have multiple shortlisted artists: California College of the Arts and the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University both have two, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago has three, and the New York Academy of Art has seven finalists. Three artists who made the 2018 shortlist were accepted once again in 2019: Merritt Barnwell of Yale University and Luisiana Mera and Prinston Nnanna of the New York Academy of Art.
Last year's Prize, selected by Nicole Eisenman, Eric Fischl, and Amy Sherald, was awarded to an undergraduate student from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Monica Ikegwu. Ms. Schipf of AXA XL said, “We were thrilled with last year's launch of the AXA Art Prize and are proud to continue our tradition of supporting emerging artists in the U.S. and around the world.”
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Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].