Emerging Artist Prize Winner

Friday, June 1, 2012


Open to the public - you do not have to be a CASV member to attend this event. Read about the benefits of becoming a CASV member and the events open to members only.

The winner of the 2012 Contemporary Art Society Emerging Artist’s Prize is Nicole Ondre, who was awarded $3000 at last night’s opening of the CASV Emerging Artist’s Prize Exhibition. Jurors Patrik Andersson, Monte Clark, Makiko Hara, Nigel Prince, and Marina Roy selected Ondre from a field of five finalists. The jurors recognized the quality of work of all five finalists, who were chosen from a field of 147 entires.

Ondre’s work, along with that of the other four finalists, Scott Billings, Jordy Hamilton, Jeremy Hof, and Natalie Purschwitz, is on view from June 1 – June 16, 2012 at Access Gallery, 222 E. Georgia Street, Vancouver.

To create her wall paintings Ondre applies oil paint to either a sheet of paper or directly onto the wall, and then uses those marks to adhere paper and wall. As she writes in her artist’s statement, “The paint serves as the structural support for the painting, while also constituting the material of the picture itself. Over time, the paint soaks into the paper and the oil is absorbed, in a sense merging the painted surface with the wall.” Created specifically for the exhibition, Rectangle variations / fading lights, will change over time as the paint becomes lighter or darker, the oil stains yellow, and the paper ages.

Nicole Ondre studied at the Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, the University of British Columbia, and received a BFA from Emily Carr University. She has had solo exhibitions in Vancouver at CSA Space and Helen Pitt Gallery, Hunter and Cook Projects, Toronto, and the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York, and has participated in group exhibitions in Vancouver, Istanbul, and Los Angeles.

This inaugural prize was established to encourage and support artists within the first five years of their careers, and is the only one of its kind in Vancouver selected through an open competition.

The prize is entirely funded by CASV memberships and donations.  The CASV is a not-for-profit membership-based organization founded in 1977 that focuses on promoting an appreciation and understanding of Contemporary Art.

Image: Nicole Ondre, Untitled, 2012, oil paint and paper on wall, 22 x 34 inches, approximately.  Image courtesy of CSA gallery