Announcing the ninth winner of the Jonathan Vickers Fine Art Award

Max Gimson, Down Dandelion Lane
Max Gimson, Down Dandelion Lane

Winner announced: Jonathan Vickers Fine Art Award 2023/24

Mall Galleries and Foundation Derbyshire are pleased to announce the ninth winner of the Jonathan Vickers Fine Art Award, one of the largest art prizes for an emerging artist in the UK, as Max Gimson.

A graduate of the Royal College of Art in 2019, Max Gimson (b. 1990) will take up the nine-month residency in Derbyshire as he works towards two solo exhibitions: one at Derby Museum & Art Gallery, the other at Mall Galleries in London.

The biennial award brings a rising artist to Derbyshire to produce and exhibit a body of work inspired by the county’s landscape, heritage and people.

As the winner, Max will receive:

• A bursary of £18,000 over the nine-month residency period, from 1 October 2023 to 30 June 2024

• The use of a studio at Banks Mill, Derby

• Expenses up to £3,000

• On-going support, mentoring, and professional development and teaching opportunities within the University of Derby’s BA (Hons) Fine Art programme

• A solo, selling exhibition at Derby Museum & Art Gallery, then Mall Galleries, London

The continuing theme of the award is ‘A Sense of Place’.

Winner: Max Gimson

Max Gimson Down Dandelion Lane jpg

In the artist's words:

‘A Sense of Place’ as a theme embodies everything that I try to achieve in my paintings. The works I make are a ‘feeling out’ of my immediate environment. Encounters and experiences that hang around like psychological barbs in my thoughts end up informing anything from the narrative and figurative forms in my work, to more intangible qualities like mood and passages of colour.

I’m interested in the temporal qualities of painting as a medium, how a painted surface can be fast and visually impactful and also slow, revealing itself over prolonged viewing through the use of gesture and materiality, somewhat like sensing the histories of a location, overlapping and interplaying into a present moment, through architecture, people and nature.

We are delighted that Max is joining us as the ninth recipient of the award. We can’t wait to see how he responds to our county and brings his exceptional talent to bear on the residency.

Rachael Grime - Selector

Winners of the Jonathan Vickers Fine Art Award have included Ed Burkes (2019/20), Eleanor Watson (2016/17), Kerri Pratt (2014/15), Bartholomew Beal (2012/13), Natalie Dowse (2007/08), Helena Ben Zenou (2005/06), Kerry Harker (2003/04), Lewis Noble (2001/02), and now, Max Gimson (2023/24).

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