Thami Mnyele Fine Arts Award

2009-06-16T12:39:00.000-07:00

The Thami Mnyele Fine Arts Award is one of South Africa's oldest national fine art awards, and remains one of the countries premier contemporary fine art events. Every year one hundred artworks from across the country are selected by the adjudicators for an exhibition. Since its origins in 1988, it has upheld its mission statement, to facilitate an annual prestigious showcase of South African art which highlights all aspects of contemporary art making.

The award was originally called the Kempton Park Tembisa National Fine Arts Award. Following the changing of municipality names it became known as the Ekurhuleni National Fine Arts Award. In celebrating the 21st birthday of the event in 2009, the City of Ekurhuleni is privileged to rename the competition in admiration of the acclaimed resistance artist Thami Mnyele, who personified the culture of resistance.

2009 Competition:

This year the opening function and prize giving ceremony will be held on 27 June 2009 at 18:00 at the Coen Scholtz Recreation Centre. The exhibition will run until 10 July 2009, and is free to the public. The R70 000 prize money is awarded as follows:

First Prize: R30 000
Ekurhuleni Prize: R20 000
New Media and Multimedia Merit Award: R5 000
Painting Merit Award: R5 000
Art on Paper Merit Award: R5 000
Sculpture Merit Award: R5 000

The 2009 judging panel is made up of:

Vedant Nanackchand – Printmaker, Lecturer Visual Arts Department University of Johannesburg,
Renier Le Roux – Sculptor, Technical manager at the Tswane University of Technology Visual Arts Department and First Prize winner of Ekurhuleni National Fine Arts Awards 2008.
Lerato Shadi – Performance Artist, Curator and visual arts professional.
Michelle Harris – Artist, Curator.
Celia de Villiers –Sculptor, Lecturer at the Visual Arts Department, UNISA

Details:

Coen Scholtz Recreation Centre
Mooifontein Road
Birchleigh North
Kempton Park
(+27) 11 391 4006 / 4007
hanolet@ekurhuleni.com

2009 Winners:

1st Prize:
Poorvi Bhana, "Untitled", White Stoneware Clay and Embossed Fabriano.

Ekurhuleni Prize (shared):
Mahlomola J. Nkosi, "Amajens Ayaphanda", Lino

Ekurhuleni Prize (shared):
Carmen Van Der Merwe, "Cyber Netixs", Installation

New Media and Multimedia Merit Award:
Tempest van Schaik and Jenna Burchell, "Cameos and Genotypes", Interactive Installation.

Art On Paper Merit Award:
Nellien Brewer, "Let The Words Of My Mouth And The Meditation Of My Heart, Be Acceptable In They Sight", Digital Print

Sculpture Merit Award:
Trinni Nazzaris, "Untitled-2008", Fat, Salt, Granite.

Painting Merit Award: Pieter Schalk Van Staden, "Spiral Master Glass", Diptych Oil On Canvas.

75 artworks were chosen for the final exhibition. An excerpt from the adjudicator's report explains this year's choices:

"adjudicators look for artworks that are based on strong ideas that make clear comments on current socio-cultural issues... There are two global trends in art at the moment:

A return to subtle, clean, minimalist, poetic artworks – a trend which is clearly reflected here in the top ten selected works such as the finalist Nan Spurway’s fragile cocoons, Sarel Petrus’ elegantly curved wood sculpture, the poignant Braille work by Megan Coetzee and the Art on Paper winner Neline Brewer’s spiritual work. The unanimously selected delicate mixed media work of the overall winner Poorvi Bhana reflects the ultimate sublime aesthetic of less is more.

The second global trend in art is the tendency towards neo-Baroque aesthetics. This is evident in few of the fanciful more decorative artworks such as Gordon Froud’s Bakkie and the patterned work of Ekhuruleni award winner Mahlomola Nkosi, the playful collaborative work by Multimedia Winners Tempest van Schaik and Jenna Burchell, the curvilinear wood sculpture by Danielle Janse van Vuuren and the glowing gold encoded prayer of Mariette Naude. The Painting Merit award winner Peter Schalk van Staden’s work echoes the neo-Baroque aesthetic of exuberant multiplicity as does the theatrical work of Ekhuruleni Prize winner Carmen van der Merwe and the sensual aversion-attraction of the sculpted fat in the work of Merit Award Winner Trinni Nazzaris."

(From the adjudicators report compiled by Celia de Villiers.)