Overview
Newby wins $50,000 and an all expenses paid trip to New York
with the opportunity to exhibit her work at Saatchi & Saatchi's
world headquarters.
International judge, Chief Curator at the Mori Art Museum (MAM)
in Tokyo, Japan, Mami Kataoka says, 'I would like to award the 2012
Walters Prize to Kate Newby. It has been very difficult to
create an order among the four artists' practices, which are all
outstanding in different ways. While Newby's work is probably the
least eloquent by making minimal interventions into the given
space, it embraces memories of locations, her personal gestures and
subtle actions, which viewers can relate to through small objects
embedded into the concrete ramp and the materiality of the
suspended fabric.
'More importantly, the use of natural light and the way the work
gradually crawls out of the museum space is the most reserved but
radical way of transcending the fixed architectural space for
contemporary art, liberating us towards wider universal space. The
colour yellow emphasizes the cognition for the light and the space
and the whole installation offers the physical experience and
awareness of both void and silence. This decision is derived from
my attempt to evoke a state of equilibrium in our ever competitive
and hierarchical society and its abiding belief in power.'
Newby joins a celebrated list of former Walters Prize winners
and contemporary New Zealand artists: Yvonne Todd, et al., Francis
Upritchard, Peter Robinson and Dan Arps.
The Walters Prize is awarded for an outstanding work of
contemporary New Zealand art produced and exhibited during the past
two years.
Held every two years, the Walters Prize aims to make
contemporary art a more widely recognised and debated feature of
cultural life. Named in honour of the late New Zealand artist
Gordon Walters, the Prize was established in 2002 by Founding
Benefactors and Principal Donors Erika and Robin Congreve and Dame
Jenny Gibbs, working together with Auckland Art Gallery.
The winning work for the WALTERS PRIZE
2012
Kate Newby: Crawl out your
window, shown at Gesellschaft für aktuelle Kunst GAK, Bremen
(28 August - 7 November 2010)
The Walters Prize 2012 exhibition opened on 4 August
and will run until 11 November. It is the first
Walters Prize presented at the newly developed Gallery and, for the
first time in the Prize's history, entry to the exhibition is
free.
Founding Benefactors and Principal Donors
Erika and Robin Congreve
Dame Jenny Gibbs
Major Donor
Dayle Mace
For media information please contact:
Tae Allison, Communications Coordinator
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
P +64 9 307 7706
M +64 27 291 9953
E tae.allison@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz