Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2023
Loewe Foundation announcing the 30 shortlisted artists for the 2023 edition of its Craft Prize.
Text and images courtesy of Visions and Expressions
February 14, 2023
Loewe Foundation is pleased to announce the names of the 30 shortlisted artists for the 2023 edition of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize. Each finalist’s work will be exhibited in Is'amu Noguchi’s Studio at The Noguchi Museum in New York from 17 May until 18 June 2023.
The sixth edition of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize presents a selection of works that explore meditative, time-intensive techniques and skilful manipulation of materials. Unexpected forms and colours also feature in this year’s shortlist, introducing a sense of playfulness and surprise. The use of trompe l’oeil techniques in many of the works further confounds viewers’ expectations; on first look they appear to be made from one material and on closer inspection are revealed to be another entirely. Many of the works presented in this year’s shortlist also examine the relationship between light, material and surface, with an expert handling of materials and form used to transform the reflective properties of the works and to create a sense of movement.
This year’s finalists were chosen by a panel of experts from over 2,700 submissions by artisans representing 117 countries and regions. The finalists selected represent 16 countries and work across a range of mediums including ceramics, woodwork, textiles, furniture, paper, basketry, glass, metal, jewelry lacquer, leather and bookbinding. In their deliberations, the panel sought to identify the most outstanding works in terms of technical accomplishment, skills, innovation and artistic vision.
The annual prize was launched by the LOEWE FOUNDATION in 2016 to celebrate excellence, artistic merit and innovation in modern craftsmanship. The award, which was conceived by creative director Jonathan Anderson, aims to acknowledge the importance of craft in today’s culture and to recognise artists whose talent, vision and will to innovate promise to set a new standard for the future. The prize was conceived as a tribute to LOEWE’s beginnings as a collective craft workshop in 1846.
The 30 finalist’s work for the 2023 LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize will go on display in Isamu Noguchi’s Studio at The Noguchi Museum. The 2023 LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize will be the first time a public exhibition has been staged in the space. Purchased by Noguchi in 1961, his Long Island City Studio was the centre of his artistic practice in the United States during the last decades of his life. The studio is also the reason he purchased the empty 1929 factory building across the street, where he eventually established his eponymous museum. The legacy of the exhibition will be documented by a catalogue containing each of the finalists’ pieces.
Previous iterations of the prize have been exhibited at Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid (COAM), Madrid (2017); The Design Museum, London (2018); Isamu Noguchi’s indoor stone garden ‘Heaven’ at the Sogetsu Kaikan, Tokyo (2019); digitally in a joint presentation with Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (2021) and at Seoul Museum of Craft Art (SeMoCA), Seoul (2022).
Jonathan Anderson stated at the award’s inception: ‘Craft is the essence of LOEWE. As a house, we are about craft in the purest sense of the word. That is where our modernity lies, and it will always be relevant.’
Regarding the selection process, Anatxu Zabalbeascoa, Executive Secretary of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize Experts Panel, said: ‘On the sixth edition, we have felt that, with the Prize character established, we ought to open doors. And therefore, we are happy to have been able to further expose the notion of craft with artistic ambition by analyzing non-western cannon aesthetics as well as by approaching figurative craft’.
A jury composed of 13 leading figures from the world of design, architecture, journalism, criticism and museum curatorship will select the winner of the 2023 Craft Prize. The prize awarded to the winner is 50,000 Euros and the announcement will be made on 16 May 2023, at the opening of the Craft Prize 2023 exhibition at The Noguchi Museum.
The selected finalists for the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2023 are (in alphabetical order, with nationality):
Ai Shikanji (Japan)
Aranda\Lasch & Terrol Dew Johnson (United States)
Claire Lindner (France)
Dominique Zinkpè (Benin)
Dong Han (People’s Republic of China)
Eriko Inazaki (Japan)
Giorgi Danibegashvili (Georgia)
Healim Shin (Republic of Korea)
Inchin Lee (Republic of Korea)
Jaiik Lee (Republic of Korea)
Jana Visser (South Africa)
Johannes Kuhnen (Australia)
Kaori Juzu (Denmark)
Keeryoung Choi (United Kingdom)
Kenji Honma (Japan)
Kristin McKirdy (France)
Kyouhong Lee (Republic of Korea)
Lene Bødker (Denmark)
Liam Lee (United States)
Luz Moreno Pinart (Spain)
Mabel Irene Pena (Argentina)
Maina Devi (India)
Maki Imoto (Japan)
Moe Watanabe (Japan)
Nathalie Doyen (Belgium)
Prue Venables (Australia)
Shinji Nakaba (Japan)
Tanya Aguiñiga (United States)
Wanbing Huang (People’s Republic of China)
Woosun Cheon (Republic of Korea)
Experts Panel
Andrew Bonacina, LOEWE Art Consultant and Independent Curator. Anatxu Zabalbeascoa (Executive Secretary), Architecture and Design Correspondent for El País.
Andile Dyalvane, ceramist and Special Mention of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2022.
Antonia Boström, Director of Collections at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
Hyeyoung Cho, Chairwoman at the Korea Association of Art and Design. Myungtaek Jung, furniture artist and finalist of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2022.
Mary Savig, Curator of Craft at the Smithsonian American Art Museum Renwick Gallery, Washington.
Juha Marttila, LOEWE Leather Goods Design Director.
Wolfgang Lösche, Head of Exhibition and Fairs at the Chamber of Skilled Trades, Munich.
Sara Flynn, Ceramicist and finalist of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2017.
Jury
Abraham Thomas, Curator of Modern Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Anatxu Zabalbeascoa (Chair), Architecture and Design Correspondent for El País. Benedetta Tagliabue, Architect and RIBA Stirling Prize Winner.
Deyan Sudjic, Essayist and former Director of the Design Museum, London. Enrique Loewe, LOEWE FOUNDATION Honorary President.
Dahye Jeong, Textile artist and Winner of LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2022. Hongnam Kim, former Director of the National Museum of Korea, Seoul.
Jonathan Anderson, LOEWE Creative Director. Magdalene Odundo, Ceramicist.
Naoto Fukasawa, Designer and Director of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum, Tokyo. Olivier Gabet, Director of the Art Department at the Louvre Museum, Paris.
Patricia Urquiola, Architect and Industrial Designer. Wang Shu, Architect and Pritzker Prize Winner.
Applications
Anyone over 18 years of age working in a craft-based profession is welcome to apply.
The LOEWE FOUNDATION
The LOEWE FOUNDATION was established as a private cultural foundation in 1988 by Enrique Loewe, a fourth-generation member of LOEWE’s founding family. Today, under the direction of his daughter Sheila Loewe, the Foundation continues to promote creativity, organize educational programs and protect cultural heritage in the fields of craft, design, photography, poetry and dance.
The Foundation was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts by the Spanish government in 2002.
LOEWE & Culture
With the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize the house reasserts its longstanding commitment to creativity in all forms and disciplines. Culture is a pillar of the brand. Reflecting fashion’s vital link to contemporary life, a strong emphasis on art, design and craftsmanship has been a cornerstone of Jonathan Anderson’s rebuilding of the house. Since Anderson’s appointment in 2013, LOEWE has initiated an important series of collaborations with artists and artisans who reinterpret and expand the brand’s values.
Apart from showcasing the many facets of LOEWE, these cultural projects reflect the transfer of knowledge and the cooperative spirit that have been characteristic of LOEWE since the day it was founded.
More information:
web | www.loewe.com
blog | www.blogfundacionloewe.es
Instagram | @loewefoundation
The Room
The Room is a digital platform dedicated to showcasing works by the artists nominated for the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize, our annual international award celebrating excellence in craftsmanship. Part of the LOEWE FOUNDATION’s longstanding commitment to supporting contemporary craft, The Room enables the artists to share their work with a global audience and give viewers the opportunity to discover, research and collect art by some of the world’s most innovative craftspeople working today. Find out more at theroom.loewe.com
The Noguchi Museum
The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum (now known as The Noguchi Museum) in Queens, New York City, was founded and designed by Japanese American artist Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988), one of the most significant sculptors of the twentieth century. It was the first United States museum to be established by a living artist for the display of their own work. Itself widely viewed as among the artist’s greatest achievements and holding the world’s largest collection of his works, the Museum features open air and indoor galleries in a repurposed 1920s industrial building and a serene outdoor sculpture garden. Since its founding in 1985, the Museum has served as an international hub for Noguchi research and appreciation. In addition to managing the artist’s archives and catalogue raisonné, it exhibits a comprehensive selection of Noguchi’s material culture, from sculpture, models, and drawings to his personal possessions. Provocative installations drawn from the permanent collection, together with diverse special exhibitions and collaborations with contemporary practitioners across disciplines, offer a multifaceted view of Noguchi’s art and illuminate his enduring influence as an innovator. noguchi.org | @noguchimuseum
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