Saatchi Art & Absolut Announce Studio Fund Winner

As part of this years New Sensation Exhibition, Saatchi Art & Absolut Vodka have announced the return of the Studio Fund, a prize designed to fund a studio for 12 months to allow one of the shortlised artists to develop their practice.

The first spirit brand to forge genuinely close ties with the art community, Absolut has been active in the art world since 1986, when it invited Andy Warhol to create the first in a series of iconic advertisements inspired by the Absolut bottle. Since then, Absolut has collaborated with more than 1000 artists on over 800 commissioned projects.

This years New Sensations exhibition saw 25 BA & MA Graduates chosen by judges Ceri Hand, Tom Hunter, Jessica Lack, Kirsty Ogg and Rebecca Wilson. Of these 25 artists, Charles Richardson was selected as the overall winner of the Absolut Studio Fund.

Of his work, Charles says that “I explore such themes as autobiography, male identity, popular culture and historicity: patterns that weave themselves into the contemporary. It is the incompatibilities in this weave that especially fascinate me. However, I do not wish to objectify my subjective experience, rather I prefer to create work that stands on its own two feet producing autonomous and seductive experiences.”

The three runners up for the prize included Emily Motto, Jessica Ramm and Felicity Hammond all of who's work you can check out at the exhibition which is open up until the 18th of October at Victoria House. 

For more information about the prize, make the jump.