In its 19th year, the Jerwood Drawing 2013 prize again delivers in its aim to “explore and celebrate the diversity, excellence and range of current drawing practice”. Selected from over 3,000 entrants, 76 shortlisted artists including the four prize (and two Special Commendations) winners will exhibit their work at Jerwood Space in Bankside, London from 11 September – 27 October 2013.
Svetlana Fialova wins Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013
The Jerwood Prize 2013 was juried by Kate Brindley, Michael Craig-Martin RA and Charlotte Mullins, who judged the work from the perspectives of curator, practitioner and writer. They awarded four artists a total of £17,000 in cash prizes, along with two other winners of Special Commendations.
Svetlana Fialova won First Prize for the 2013 open competition with a large ink drawing on paper, entitled ‘Apocalypse (My Boyfriend Doesn’t Care)‘. Fialova’s boyfriend is the central figure of the piece seemingly unperturbed by the scores of wacky cats surrounding him alongside people riding horses. Fialova is currently studying for a PhD at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava. She lives and works in London and Prague.
Two videos feature in this year’s Drawing Prize: Maria von Heyl won Second Prize for her performative video work of her interacting with a home environment, entitled, ‘Interior (Utopia)‘. Neville Gabie was awarded Special Commendation for ‘Experiments in black and white VII‘, a short film of him dragging a large piece of chalk stone to make deliberate marks.
The work of two students was selected from 24 entries to win £2,000 each. Kristian Fletcher submitted ‘The Wrench‘ a dark and moody work related to his interested in architecture or landscapes undergoing change; he studies at Prince’s Drawing School, Shoreditch, London. German student Tamsin Nagel from Royal College of Art won a prize for ‘Enclave (ii)‘, a quietly elegant line drawing in which a group of churches is surrounded by a forests and fields. And then unsettlingly, you notice the scene is strewn with dying livestock.
Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013 winners:
- First Prize (£8,000): Svetlana Fialova, ‘Apocalypse (My Boyfriend Doesn’t Care)’, 2013, ink on paper
- Second Prize (£5,000): Marie von Heyl, ‘Interior (Utopia)‘, 2013, video
- Student Awards (£2,000 each):
Kristian Fletcher, ‘The Wrench‘, 2013, pen, pencil and charcoal on paper
Tamsin Nagel, ‘Enclave (ii)‘, 2013, pencil on paper - Special Commendations:
Gary Lawrence, ‘Saint Stansted (and Other Stuff)‘, 2013, biro, ink, pencil and oil pastel on paper
Neville Gabie, ‘Experiments in black and white VII’, 2013, video and chalk work
Notes on the exhibition
While the range and variety of the types of work on display is certainly impressive, (it includes animation, iPad drawing, videos and 3-D pieces as well as more conventional pencil-on-paper submissions), a black and white palette seems to prevail throughout the show this year (of course, with the exception of Gary Lawrence’s bright orange ‘Saint Stansted (and Other Stuff)‘ piece). This sparse use of colour is not a disappointment by any means and the limited palette seems to put very few boundaries on an artist’s expression. Actually, it’s nice to see more ‘traditional’ methods taking centre stage after the recent trends of using anything-but, calling it a drawing and then working backwards to justify it as such.
This life-sized image of a soldier by Justar Misdemeanor is one of my favourites from the show. Maybe because my brother is a soldier, I don’t know, but I am really taken with the expressive quality of the charcoal marks together with the pose of the figure. The image of this man really grabbed me and held on for quite a few long minutes. I presume him to be a strong and fearless hero, yet he’s curled up in a feotal position, his weapon at his side, rendered seemingly helpless by something we onlookers can only imagine.
Oh and one more thing…
If you’re in Bankside anyway, maybe to see something at Tate Modern, the Jerwood Space is practically around the corner; it’s free and always worth the visit. They also have a lovely cafe and meeting space adjacent to the gallery (with better treats, in my opinion, than Tate’s ground-floor cafe).
More information and related links
- Click to read more about Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013
- Download Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013 press release
- Learn more about Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013 winner: Svetlana Fialova
- Gary Lawrence wins 2011 Jerwood Drawing Prize with biro on the back of advertising posters
- More about Gary Lawrence, Jerwood Prize Winner 2011 (a fellow Illinoisian)
- Read more about the Jerwood Prize as well as detailed list of the artists in the exhibition in
Making a Mark – Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013 by Katherine Tyrrell - BBC Entertainment’s coverage of Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013
- Artfund.org’s ‘What to See’ – Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013
- Drawing is highlighted at Wimbledon BA Degree Show 2013 – Wimbledon College of Art has long-standing connection with Jerwood.
Artist websites or links
- Svetlana Fialova
- Kristian Fletcher
- Neville Gabie
- Gary Lawrence (Jerwood Prize Winner 2011, and Special Commendation 2013)
- Gary Lawrence, South African dolphin painter (NOT the Jerwood Prize winning Gary Lawrence)
- Justar Misdemeanor (MMU site) or Justar Misdemeanor (Facebook)
- Tamsin Nagel
- Jonny Shaw
- Marie von Heyl
- Sue Williams A’Court
Exhibition details: The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013 exhibition is on at Jerwood Space, Bankside, 171 Union St, London SE1 0LN from 11 September – 27 October 2013. Free.
Jerwood Visual Arts
at Jerwood Space
171 Union Street, Bankside
London SE1 0LN
kelise soixante-douze 