In conversation with the Artist: Susanne Kamps

While Young Masters Art Prize starts its regular touring program at Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary, we are proud to introduce the work by our 2019 alumna Susanne Kamps. Susanne was highly commended by the Young Masters Art Prize and ACS, and we talked to her about the work she had created for the Prize – Behind the Screen. This amazing artwork is now available for sale at the Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary art fair in Miami.

Susanne Kamps in her studio.

In your artistic practice you often pay homage to Henri Matisse. What attracts you to him? What are your other sources of inspiration?

Matisse’s colours are the attraction – and I think I’m not alone there. Maybe I am different from other admirers in that I’ve made some Matisse pilgrimages – to see the church windows near St. Paul, for example. It’s that one particular range of Matisse colours – the green-to-tourquise shades – that grab me the most. As far as others, just about any painter that uses strong colours in a composition with clear shapes piques my interest. Hockney, Fantin-Latour, Wayne Thibaud – these were inspirations for other works that I submitted for the Young Masters Art Prize.   

In 2019 you won one of the awards of the Young Masters Art Prize. What did this experience give you?

The Young Masters Art Prize was a fantastic experience for me. I think it gave me a new awareness of how artists are influenced by the past. I mean others, besides myself, the other artists who won recognition – women and men from so many different countries with different languages but united in their work by this pull from the past. The prize certainly has the right theme.

What were your thoughts when you learned that your artwork Behind The Screen was chosen by Cynthia Corbett for the Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary art fair in 2020?

Surprise. I painted the picture especially for the Young Master competition only a short time before. So soon after the moment of creation, nobody thinks about recognition – you are focused on the baby you’ve just had, absorbed in it, wondering why you gave it this or that characteristic. What you might change if you painted it again. And then somebody else likes it – somebody in the art world like Cynthia. My husband doesn’t count – he says he likes all my paintings (I think he really does).

Susanne Kamps, Behind the Screen, 2019. Oil on canvas.

Could you tell us a bit more about Behind The Screen? How did this spectacular diptych come to life? 

I had done the right side – the ideal Paris interior with windows looking out in two directions – un appartement à l’angle – not easy to find! – and I put my two cats on the sofa. Then the left side – it struck me to paint a paravent (screen) that I had actually painted in wood and sold years ago. Very Matisse, to paint an old work into a new one, and not only Matisse of course. The coup was the nude female shadow figure to unite the two halves. I frankly don’t know where I got that idea but I think it works.

The Young Masters Tour program 2020 is available here.

In Retrospective: Young Masters Art Prize & Bazaar Art Week

We are extremely pleased to see the Young Masters Art Prize featured in Harper’s Bazaar’s January 2020 issue.

On the 2nd October 2019 our Judge and Associate Editor of Harper's Bazaar and Town & Country, Frances Hedges, has chaired a panel discussion about women in art. She talked to ceramicist Lucille Lewin, Overall Winner of Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize 2017, and to photographer Isabelle van Zeijl, Highly Commended Emerging Woman Artist of Young Masters Art Prize 2017, about their creative paths, becoming artists and challenges on the way.

The spread dedicated to the events of Bazaar Art Week, highlights the delicate and powerful installation of our awarded artist Amanda McCavour – 'Poppies’.

Click on the image below to access a pdf of the feature.

(c) Harper’s Bazaar UK, January 2020

We are thrilled to announce that the Young Masters Art Prize becomes part of Bazaar Art Week in 2019!

On the 2nd October our Judge and Associate Editor of Harper's Bazaar and Town & Country, Frances Hedges, will chair a panel discussion about women in art. She will be talking to ceramicist Lucille Lewin, Overall Winner of Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize 2017, and to photographer Isabelle van Zeijl, Highly Commended Emerging Woman Artist of Young Masters Art Prize 2017.

We are very pleased that the works of our shortlisted artists: Amanda McCavour – 'Poppies’, and Eduardo Recife – 'Reaching Peaceful Waters’ – in their full glory in the publication's materials announcing the Bazaar Art Week events.

Book your tickets here and join us for an evening of art and lively discussions!

In conversation with the Judge: Dr Virginie Lerouge Knight

We talk to our illustrious judges, while they are getting ready for short-listing. Today we have talked to Dr Virginie Lerouge Knight, artist and scientist, as well as patron of the Young Masters Lerouge Knight Art Award. This award recognizes artists who explore and embrace cross-cultural awareness through their work. The criteria include artworks that explore cross-cultural themes and issues, including those relating to the artist’s own background and upbringing, as well as the artists who in their practice draw on diverse techniques and media reflecting various cultural influences.

Dr Virginie Lerouge Knight

1. Why did you decide to support the Young Masters Art Prize?

I very much support the overall theme of the Young Masters Art Prize centred on the importance of reflecting on and learning from the past, and I have admired the amazing range and quality of artworks that have been submitted previously.  Being a French artist who has been living for the last 25 years in China, I wanted to introduce a prize which specifically focuses on cross cultural appreciation, something that I believe is increasingly important in today’s social climate – and again an area in which we can learn from the past.

2. How did the idea of a Young Masters Lerouge Knight Award come to life?

Having visited the Cynthia Corbett Gallery on numerous occasions and bought artworks from a previous winner, I wanted to actively participate in the awards to help to promote emerging artists.  After discussion with Cynthia we agreed that a focus on cross-cultural awareness and appreciation was a natural area for me to support, given my interests and background.

3. If you could give your award to any artist of the past, who would that be and why?

I would have given the award not to an artist, but to a Russian patron of the Arts – Sergei Shchukin – for his visionary collection of French Modern Art at the beginning of the 20th century, when artworks by Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Modern masters were criticised by the French art scene and snubbed by Le Louvre at that time. His personal collection of “unpopular “ works was a daring approach, based on personal taste and appreciation of cultural differences and innovative expression.

4. What are you most looking forward to this anniversary year of the Prize?

I am really looking forward to expanding my own artistic understanding through the selected artworks and meeting some of the talented prize winners in person to discuss their perspectives in more detail.

In conversation with the Judge: Frances Hedges

We talk to our illustrious judges, while they are getting ready for shortlisting. Today we are in conversation with Frances Hedges, the associate editor of Harper's Bazaar and Town and Country, overseeing all features for both magazines, with a specialism in the visual arts.

Frances Hedges

1. Why did you decide to support the Young Masters Art Prize?

The Young Masters Art Prize is a wonderful way of encouraging both emerging and established artists from around the world to look to the past in order to inform and enhance their creative approach. At Harper’s Bazaar, we believe in celebrating our long heritage (the magazine was founded in 1867) so that we can maintain our strong visual and editorial identity while continuing to innovate and evolve. That balance between respect for the past and a willingness to embrace the modern or futuristic is, I think, reflected in the ethos of the Young Masters Art Prize.

2. What do you hope to get from the experience of judging the Prize?

Judging is always a fascinating learning experience. I am looking forward to developing an even sharper eye for beauty and creativity, and to encountering an array of talented artists who may not yet be on my radar. I am also delighted to have the opportunity to judge alongside a number of other leading names from across the creative disciplines.

3. What are you most looking forward to this 10th anniversary year?

I am excited to discover how a new set of talented artists have taken inspiration from, and reinterpreted, masterpieces from a bygone era for a contemporary audience.

4. We know that Harper’s Bazaar has recently launched its own Fashion Illustration Prize. In your opinion how do prizes shape the art market and what do they give to artists?

Art prizes are a brilliant way for emerging or mid-career artists to gain a platform to showcase work that might otherwise never get the audience it deserves. At Harper’s Bazaar, we believe in celebrating the power of the imagination, and especially the shared landscape between different creative disciplines, such as art and fashion; the prizes we have either launched or support all aim to promote such positive connections.

In conversation with the Judge: Marine Tanguy

We talk to our illustrious judges, while they are getting ready for shortlisting. Today we are in conversation with Marine Tanguy, Founder of MTArt Agency, that promotes the most inspiring visual artists across the globe.

Marine Tanguy and artist Adelaide Damoah

1. Why did you decide to support the Young Masters Art Prize?

Cynthia Corbett is a dear friend and I love supporting initiatives lead by women in our industry. The Young Masters Art Prize also aims to support artists, which is my core passion so it was an easy decision!

2. What do you get from the experience of judging the Prize?

It’s always so interesting to see how other people judge and select artists so I am looking forward to being challenged!

3. What are you most looking forward to this year?

So many things! We have recently opened a second office for our company in Paris and it is a joy to see how well Paris is doing for us. Supported by the Mayor of Paris, our artist Saype has recently covered the 14,000 square meters of the Champ de Mars in Paris with his biodegradable paint. I can’t wait!!! https://www.mtart.agency/news/beyond-walls/

4. What advice would you give to artists who have applied to this year’s prize?

I hope you've cut the fluff out and written an artistic statement that is meaningful. I wish you luck and look forward to be inspired by your works!

Questions to the Artist: Ghost of a Dream

While the judges of the 5th edition of the Young Masters Art Prize are getting ready for short-listing, we want to remember our past editions and our amazing alumni. Today we have talked to Ghost of a Dream, The Collaborative Project of Lauren Was and Adam Eckstrom – winner of the very first Young Masters Art Prize 2009.

Ghost of a Dream. Dream Home (2009). Dream Home 2009 Discarded Lottery Tickets Wood and Mixed Media Dimensions variable, 8 panels plus furnishings and paintings.

1. Why did you decide to apply to the Young Masters Art Prize?

We met Cynthia in Basel where we were exhibiting our Dream Home during the Basel art fairs. From there, a wonderful relationship followed. Cynthia invited us to be part of the inaugural Young Masters curation shortly after we met in Basel and our Dream Home went straight from Switzerland to London. This was all very exciting for us. Those fairs in Basel was one of the first times we had shown our work anywhere, as we has only been working together about 2 years.

2. How did you choose the work you submitted, and what was is about?

the piece we did show, was titled Dream Home. It is a dining room we made with $70,000 worth of losing discarded scratch off lottery tickets. It was made while we lived in Basel Switzerland for six months in 2009. It was part of a trilogy where we made the three things people dream about when playing the lottery, and top 3 things people buy if they win; The Dream Home, The Dream Car, and The Dream Vacation. For the Dream Home, we made it in the style of a European period room. Inside the room where two "paintings" that we also made with discarded lottery tickets. They were copies of two things that were tied to the UK lottery through the National Heritage Fund. The fund was a highly contested issue at the time since so much of the funding was going to the arts, rather than things like education and housing. So we copied a Hans Holbein the Younger painting that was purchased using money from the Heritage Fund, as well as copying a painting from a church in Ealing, which was restored using those same lottery funds.

3. What did you get from the experience of participating in the Prize and how did your career change afterwards?

Following the prize, Cynthia has taken us to many fairs, which have led to many other opportunities, including being part of Bologna's Art First, as well as placing our work in many prominent art collections.

4. What would you say to artists who have applied to this year’s Prize?

Cynthia is a whirlwind of energy that is lovely to work with. We wish everyone best of luck!

In conversation with the Judge: Dr Chris Blatchley

We talk to our illustrious judges, while they are getting ready for short-listing. Today we have talked to Dr Chris Blatchley, dedicated Patron of the Arts and co-founder of the Emerging Woman Artist Award. Dr Blatchley is also Director of The Glass House Opticians, founder of Capital Aesthetics, and Medical Director of The London Migraine Clinic.

Dr Chris Blatchley

1. Why did you decide to support the Young Masters Art Prize?

I've known Cynthia Corbett since she first started as a gallerist many years ago, and indeed she ran pop-up exhibitions at my clinic in The City when we had the space. They were always interesting. I remember one piece – an installation of a naked man rowing in a boat that rocked from side to side.

2. What do you get from the experience of judging the Prize?

I think one needs to do new things that stretch ones experience. It is always fascinating to discuss art with other people. Sometimes you can hate an exhibition but when going around it with someone who loves it you can see it from a different perspective and even start to like something that you previously hadn't. I love the experience of doing something new to me and it will be an absolute pleasure to co-judge with Marine Tanguy, and learn from her expert eye too.

3. What are you most looking forward to this year?

That it should build on the success of last year's Young Masters Prize. I loved the work of the winner Azita Moradkhani and indeed bought 3 of her pieces!

4. What advice would you give to artists who have applied to this year’s Prize?

It is a hard slog being recognised as an artist and I admire the effort it requires. I wish everybody good luck. Sometimes it can be sooo difficult to decide who to give the prize to, and one wishes there were several first prizes!

5 questions to the Artist: Oliver Jones

While the judges of the 5th edition of the Young Masters Art Prize are getting ready for long-listing, we want to remember our past editions and our amazing alumni. Today we have talked to Oliver Jones, winner of the Highly Commended award of the Young Masters Art Prize 2017.

Oliver Jones

1. Why did you decide to apply to the Young Masters Art Prize?

My work has always had a strong correlation with works and artists of the past whether this is through the medium of pastel and its fittingness for rendering flesh or by the tradition of observational study and social comment. Young Masters looks specifically at the relationships between art and practitioners of the past and contemporary art practice so it presented an ideal platform to engage these kinds of conversations.

2. How did you choose the work you submitted, and what was is about?

Given the predominant medium that I work in is Pastel, I have been acutely aware of the amazing work of artists such as Jean-Etienne Leotard, De la Tour and Chardin from the outset. I was confident that most of my work encompassed the plump fleshy renderings of skin purveyed by these artists as contemporaries of their day in this medium. Therefore I the decision over which works to include was quite easy for me as I could choose from most of the works from my portfolio, in particular those that I thought best described the work that I make and those which I was most pleased with.

Oliver Jones (c) Beyond Natural. Pastel on paper, 63 x 90 cm

3. What did you get from the experience of participating in the Prize?

Excellently, my work was awarded as ‘Highly Commended’ by the judges of the fourth addition of the prize which was presented at a prize giving at the Royal Academy by Charles Saumarez Smith then the Chief Exec. at the RA. The prize has since continued to gain in reputation and profile (in no small part due to the staggering determination of the Prize’s founder Cynthia Corbett and her team) and along with it, all of the artists shortlisted in the prize.

4. How did your career change afterwards?

I certainly have gained a great deal of exposure through being associated with the prize along with sales and some great connections and opportunities that have arisen from being part of it.

5. What advice would you give to artists applying to this year’s prize?

Have an unwavering understanding of your practice and what you do, take pride in what you are presenting and that way the work will speak for itself!

5 questions to the Artist: Azita Moradkhani

While the call for artists of the 5th edition of the Young Masters Art Prize is in full play, we want to remember our past editions and our amazing alumni. Today we have talked to Azita Moradkhani, winner of the Young Masters Art Prize and Young Masters Emerging Woman Art Prize in 2017.

Azita Moradkhani

1. Why did you decide to apply to the Young Masters Art Prize?

The Masters are extremely relevant to my work. I maintain a traditional artistic practice, using representation to comment on the contemporary world. I’m interested in bringing back beauty and realism to contemporary art, using formality, virtuosity, and delicacy to connect my work aesthetically to art of the past. So, when I heard about the Young Masters Art Prize, I thought it would be a great fit for the kind of projects I was working on.

2. How did you choose the work you submitted, and what was is about?

In my art-making process, I take time to go through the channels of the art world and make my points aesthetically approachable, but aesthetic pleasure is not enough. There has to be a conceptual dimension as well, and I want to challenge viewers to recognise the significance of both of these and how they work together in so many of the images made available to us. Themes from the Old Masters’ works emerge in my two drawings that I submitted for the prize. In one of the drawings – “Becoming” – I used the nearly-touching hands of God and Adam from the iconic image by Michelangelo. I challenge the story of Adam’s creation as an idealised representation of the physical birth of a man rather than of a woman. My piece points out the power of women’ bodies to give birth to humankind even while we are limited in our power to make decisions about our own bodies.

Azita Moradkhani (c) Becoming (Victorious Secrets). 2016. Coloured pencils on paper, 30.5 x 40.6 cm

In another drawing – “Not Too Far Away” – I use a photograph of migrants arriving in Greece on a Turkish boat in 2015. This piece was inspired by the painting “The Raft of the Medusa” by Théodore Gericault. The figure at the top right side of the drawing, holding a piece of fabric, is repeated in the figure of a child, also holding a cloth, at the top left side. Both of these images show immigrants drifting on the sea, risking their vulnerable bodies for the hope of a better future.

Azita Moradkhani (c) Not Too Far Away (Victorious Secrets). 2016. Coloured pencils on paper, 30.5 x 43.3 cm

3. What did you get from the experience of participating in the Prize?

Winning the Young Masters Art Prize and the Young Masters Emerging Woman Art Prize from The Cynthia Corbett Gallery has been an honour for me and I am very grateful for that. Through this experience, I have had the pleasure to work with The Cynthia Corbett Gallery and meet art professionals including curators, critics, collectors, and other artists beyond the borders of America.

4. How did your career change afterwards?

After winning the prize in 2017, through The Cynthia Corbett Gallery, my work has been exhibited internationally at different places such as London Art Fair, Art New York, Royal Academy of Arts, Art Miami, The Royal Opera Arcade Gallery, and The Royal Over-Seas League. Also, I have been interviewed and my work has been reviewed in different prestige publications such as The Guardian, BBC Persian, Financial Times, Women in Art, Crafts Council, After Nyne Magazine.

5. What advice would you give to artists applying to this year’s prize?

I strongly encourage all the visual artists in different disciplines around the world to apply to this great opportunity. I advise them to read the application carefully and take the time to answer the questions about their work and artist statement. Best of luck in this journey!

Artists wishing to apply to the Young Masters Art Prize are encouraged to do so until 31 May 2019.