What’s on (March 8 2010) – illy art prize winners’ edition

by Alexandra M. Korey | Mar 08, 2010 in What's On | 1 Comment

Since 2002 illy has awarded a prestigious prize to young artists: the illy Prize consists of a monetary amount and in the chance for the young talented artist to submit a project for a new set of illy Art Collection coffee cups to illycaffè, the company based in Trieste which has been producing them for over 15 years.

This week’s “What’s on” is dedicated to just some of the winners of the prize since 2002 at ARCO (Madrid), Artissima (Turin), Art Brussels (Brussels), and Art Rotterdam (Rotterdam). As you can see, they are all still very active!

Watch a slide show of photos taken at the illy stands at ARCO Madrid and Artissima – here you see the works being judged at Arco Madrid and some of the coffee cups made by artists who have collaborated with illy over the years:

Lotte Geeven won at ARTRotterdam in February 2010 and it’s a busy few months for him: he has two shows open/opening now:

• opening 26 February 2010: A work on display at: LOKAAL 01 Pleasure Ground – Breda, The Netherlands.
• opening March 13 until May 1 2010: Cold Origami at Mart House Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

From the Press release: ‘Cold Origami’ refers to the power of line. Thinking as a drawer, the line dictates the shape of thought for Lotte Geeven (1980). In this exhibition with new large-scale drawings and installations; the line folds an interior, breaks a grand mountain panorama and maps routes through strange cities and foreign landscapes. In its ambiguous character it explores the mechanism of memory of another place at another moment.

Avinash Veeraraghavan won the sustain art prize in 2009 at Arco Madrid. Currently his work is on exhibit until April 4 2010 in San Paolo Brazil at “Urban Manners 2″, SESC Pompeia (see invitation in the photo of this post).

Robin Rhode won in 2007 at Art Brussels and has put on numerous solo exhibitions since then. Opening this week in Los Angeles (California, USA) at the LACMA is his latest solo exhibit (March 11 to June 6). On Thursday, March 11 at 7:00 pm the artist will speak with LACMA’s curator about his experience growing up in South Africa, recent work, and the site-specific performance created at LACMA for the exhibition (tickets are free, Brown Auditorium).

Press release: The work of South African artist Robin Rhode originates from his physical interactions with drawings executed on walls on the streets of Johannesburg or, most recently, in his studio in Berlin, where he is now based. The resulting works include performances, wall drawings, photograph compositions, objects, video animations, and film. In developing his process Rhode was first “inspired by a high school initiation rite whereby young pupils were unwillingly taken into the boys’ toilets by senior pupils and forced to interact with chalk-drawn objects on the walls.” Based on this formative childhood experience, Rhode has transformed a puerile game into a compelling and innovative form of expression reminiscent of stop-action films and/or flip books, as well as the art historical movements of constructivism and surrealism. This will be the artist’s first exhibition in Los Angeles.

Michael Beutler, who won at Artissima in 2005, is part of a group exhibit closing March 21 2010 at Basis gallery in Frankfurt (exhibition info).

New works: Beutler, Fleischmann, Hoener, Lee, Pohle, Reuter: features newly elaborated positions in a series by former students of the Städel Academy in Frankfurt/Main. The works elucidate topics now emerging among contemporary international artists and simultaneously create space for new, unusual ideas and concepts. All the works presented as part of the exhibition developed in the course of the last 12 months and will be exhibited in a German-speaking country for the first time ever.