Future Now, the Aesthetica Art Prize Annual featuring this year’s longlisted and shortlisted artists is out now. Inside this book, there are descriptions and images of works from new and exciting emerging practitioners from across the world. There are 100 artists represented in this text, spanning a range of media that includes painting and drawing, photography and digital, three-dimensional design and sculpture, and installation and video art.
From ecological concerns to transitions in urbanisation and developments in technology, this year’s themes instigate a cohesive commentary on the way we inhabit the earth. Questions of material and personal value align with definitions of virtual and physical realms; depictions of natural landscapes defy tangible realities; and an awareness of time is portrayed through in elements of light and sound.
The shortlisted works are also on display in a group exhibition at York St Mary’s until 29 May. The show is curated as a survey of new works with an approach that is responding to new and imaginative artistic practice. Coherence is achieved by connecting topics such as the relationship between the individual and the landscape; understanding of the natural world and our distance from it through urbanisation; technological advancements; the natural world versus technology / mankind; and, seeking to harmonise all of these.
A key theme in this year’s shortlisted works is time and its passage, whether through the use of organic materials such as eggshells or bamboo, or the creation of sophisticated sound pieces like TIME TO X, which contemplates the fourth dimension. The forms look at how we engage with the world in which we live and the consequences that modern life has on our psyche. Each artist asks you to look more profoundly at the rules of engagement and question current modes of thought.
The 2016 Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology Future Now provides readers with the opportunity to discover these artists’ works and read their statements, which discuss their current working practice and the inspiration behind the pieces selected. There are also four essays by 2015’s Main Prize winner, John Kean, curator Sophie Raikes from the Henry Moore Institute and Chris Littlewood from Flowers Gallery as well as from Dr Vanessa Corby, Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at York St John University. Through this compendium, you can read about current trends and engage with some of today’s key questions in contemporary art.
Future Now is available at York St Mary’s during exhibition opening times, and at: www.aestheticamagazine.com/buy/future-now-2016
Aesthetica Art Prize Exhibition: York St Mary’s, Castlegate, York, YO1 9RN. 14 April – 29 May, Wednesday to Sunday, 12pm-4pm. Free Admission.
Credits
1. Cover Image: Pere Ibañez, Aeon, 2015.
