Ones to Watch: Art
Compiled by Megan Potterton
Artes Mundi 8
Artes Mundi is an internationally-focused arts organisation which holds Wales’ biggest contemporary art exhibition in Cardiff every two years since 2002. The biannual exhibition is set to make a return to the capital city in 2018 with its eighth instalment. Shortlisted artists whose work will appear in the exhibition have recently been announced. A small group of judges will choose a winner from the shortlist, awarding them the largest international contemporary art prize in the UK: £40,000. The artists in the running are: Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Trevor Paglen, Otobong Nkanga, Bouchra Khalili and Anna Boghiguian. All the shortlisted artists directly explore social issues across the globe in their work, having been chosen for precisely this reason. Artes Mundi 8 kicks off at the National Museum Cardiff in October next year.
Info: http://www.artesmundi.org/en/
Ragnar Kjartansson
Icelandic performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson, already a well-known figure in the art world, comes to Cardiff with his new piece, The Sky in a Room. Kjartansson was previously shortlisted for the Artes Mundi prize back in 2014 and was later awarded the £30,000 Derek Williams Trust purchase award (which allows the National Museum of Wales to purchase art produced by Artes Mundi shortlisted artists). The Sky in a Room centres around a series of organists using the 1774 Sir Watkins Williams Wynn organ in the museum, playing the Italian pop song Il cielo in una stanza (The Sky in a Room), whilst the gallery gradually empties of paintings. This is set to be a fantastic, unusual and playful artistic performance piece that is not to be missed.
Info: https://museum.wales/cardiff/
Carl Chapple
Carl Chapple moved to South Wales in 2003 and currently works from his studio in Barry. He has always been interested in painting people, but since 2010 Chapple’s work has become primarily focused on portraiture. He has worked with comedians, musicians and dancers in his recent work. A year ago Chapple’s project Painting Dance was funded, and since then he has collaborated with Ballet Cymru to produce a collection of fantastic pieces. Chapple already has further exhibitions planned, and he has also recently become a member of the Royal Cambrian Academy, so he is certainly one who’s on the up and worth keeping an eye on.
Info: http://www.carlchapple.com/
Martin Llewellyn
Considering Martin Llewellyn only began painting full-time in 2012, his work so far certainly shows no shortage of natural talent and ability. Llewellyn has already had two sell out exhibitions at the Ffin Y Parc Art Gallery in 2015 and 2016, and the gallery will once again welcome his work for a major solo exhibition in February. Llewellyn originally began as a watercolour painter, but he has more recently focused on using oils and a pallet knife to create stunning landscape pieces. Originally from Neath, Llewellyn uses the beautiful Welsh coastline and landscape as inspiration for his paintings. His exhibition at Ffin Y Parc Art Gallery in Conwy opens on the 4th February 2018.
Info: https://welshart.net/artists/54-martin-llewellyn/biography/