KIKI XUEBING WANG WINS EMERGING ART PRIZE

New award for John Moores Painting Prize, supported by Winsor & Newton

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  • Kiki Xuebing Wang is the first winner of a new award for the John Moores Painting Prize, created to support painters in the early stages of their career                                     
  • Supported by Winsor & Newton, Kiki wins £2,500, premium art materials of the same value and an exciting residency opportunity
  • Kiki’s work is among the 67 paintings selected for the John Moores Painting Prize, on display at the Walker Art Gallery until 27 June
  • For a virtual tour of the exhibition until the gallery reopens: www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/johnmoores

 

The Walker Art Gallery has announced Kiki Xuebing Wang as the winner of the John Moores Painting Prize’s first Emerging Artist Prize.

Supported by Winsor & Newton, Kiki is awarded £2,500 and premium art materials of the same value for her beguiling oil painting, Untitled (Loafer). In addition, Kiki will be given a residency and display at Winsor & Newton in London, an exciting opportunity for experimentation and to develop her practice. 

Born in China in 1993, Kiki attended the Royal College of Art, London, from 2018-20 and the University of California, Los Angeles, from 2012-16. The award-winning work, Untitled (Loafer), portrays an object of desire, a shoe, at such a close range that the appearance is distorted and the object, and its worth, become unclear.

Sandra Penketh, Executive Director of Galleries said: “With such an exciting selection of work to pick from we’re delighted to be awarding the Emerging Artist Prize to an artist whose work shows such promise. The judges were drawn to the transformative quality of Kiki Xuebing Wang’s painting and we’re all very much looking forward to seeing where she takes her practice in the future.”

Charlotte Caton, from Winsor & Newton said: “We are delighted this award is going to Kiki Xuebing Wang. We are really interested in the way she explores her ideas through objects focussing on light, creating really beautiful, evocative pieces.”

Also announced today, The Common by Kathryn Maple has won the £25,000 first prize, with Robbie Bushe, Michele Fletcher, Steph Goodger and Stephen Lee each picking up £2,500 as prize winners.

The exhibition was selected from almost 3,000 entries. From large scale canvases, bold in brush strokes and colour, to exquisitely detailed pieces, the exhibition covers a wide range of styles, united by their use of paint. All paintings are for sale.

Five prizewinning paintings from the John Moores Painting Prize China will also be displayed during the run of the exhibition. Organised by the College of Fine Arts at Shanghai University, the China Prize was launched in 2010 to support the development of painting in China.

In addition to these jury-awarded prizes, visitors to the exhibition will be invited to vote for their favourite painting in the popular Visitors’ Choice Award. Now in its 11th year, the prize, sponsored by Rathbones, awards the winning artist £2,020.

Previous first prize winners of the John Moores Painting Prize include David Hockney (1967), Mary Martin (1969), Lisa Milroy (1989), Peter Doig (1993), Keith Coventry (2010) and Rose Wylie (2014). Sir Peter Blake, winner of the junior prize in 1961, is patron of the Prize. The winner of the prestigious first prize in 2018 was Jacqui Hallum with her painting King and Queen of Wands.

The John Moores Painting Prize is organised in partnership with the John Moores Painting Prize Trust. The exhibition is showing as part of Liverpool Biennial 2021, the largest festival of contemporary art in the UK, 20 March to 6 June 2021.

www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/johnmoores

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