Artists’ Profiles 2023

Selecting works for the Aesthetica Art Prize is an inspirational and enlightening experience. There are so many artists worldwide creating pieces that need to be seen. Below is an image and short synopsis from each 2023 artist.

Finalists

Ada Cotton
& Etienne Joseph

Progress (1968) is an immersive visual and sonic experience invoking notions of time, struggle and spirituality.

Bea Last

The Red Bags is a reaction to issues affecting society at large, such as war, displacement and climate crisis.

Becky Probert

Invisible Planets is a close-up exploration of environmental details and patterns, echoing small and large cosmic scales.

Caro Williams

Metal notes are created from lark song recordings in In The White Dawn, inspired by poetry and nature.

Computational Design and Visualization Lab

The Middle Passage provides a deeper understanding of the Transatlantic Slave Trade through visualisation.

Dario Pilato

PolyKinderchromie n°1 revives vintage Kinder Surprise toys whilst revealing deeper meanings about society.

Debi Cornwall

Pineland/Hollywood challenges audiences to distinguish fact and fiction and consider how films are consumed.

Gareth Phillips

The Caligo photobook installation tells a fictional story of a group of humans escaping climate catastrophe.

Hope Strickland

Winner | I’ll Be Back! examines objects of colonial violence, reconsidering the distance between myth and power.

Jacob Talbot

Nurture; Nature surveys climate fragility and technological advances, as well as humanity’s relationship with nature.

Johanna Marie Schimming

Johanna Marie Schimming’s paintings
convey harmony, serenity and joy, distinguished by organic and clear lines.

Julia Fullerton-Batten

Contortion uses staged tableaux and lighting techniques to create thought-provoking narrative “stories.”

Kristina Varaksina

In Self-Portrait. Queen, Kristina Varaksina holds the viewer’s gaze in a 21st century take on classical painting.

Larry Achiampong

Winner | Larry Achiampong’s work examines the intersection between popular culture and colonialism.

Lavinia Keller

Lavinia Keller discloses the invisible impact of technology, inviting viewers to rethink ownership and identity.

Lisa Traxler

Lisa Traxler explores the boundaries of 2D and 3D, addressing an ongoing fascination with history and place.

Rosie Sherwood

The Seagrass Walk raises awareness about one of the world’s most threatened ecosystems.

Steph Tari Odu

Steph Tari Odu’s The Language is an exploration of the emerging ballroom community in Barcelona.

Valentina Ferrandes

The script for Valentina Ferrandes’ Daaphne was written by AI GPT-3, prompted with excerpts of Ovid.

Wen Ching Hao

Observation Station manipulates the physical perception of each viewer, resulting in an emotional awakening.

Zoe Childerley

Beneath the Waves explores landscape, studying the psycho-geography of the coast and the lure of the sea.


Photography

Alexej Sachov

In this contrast of elegance and chaos, underwater worlds teeter on the edge of fragility, engulfed by cresting waves.

Beverley Cornwell

In Astronoids , objects are manipulated into astronomical bodies, transforming the familiar into unknown frontiers.

Chia Yun Wu

In Borderless Place images stretch the boundaries of reality, focusing on the intersections of freedom and belonging.

Chrissy Lush

Hold Me Tight stages imagined journeys between present-day and younger selves, attempting to reconcile youth.

Christos J. Palios

Architecture of Gilded Dreams transports viewers to a bygone era of opulence and early 20th century movie-palaces.

Cody Cobb

Spectral represents entanglement between the observer and observed, showcasing a hidden luminescence.

Deb Leal

We Had to Wait Until Dinnertime depicts a idyllic summertime scene as the sun bathes a figure in an orange glow.

Elisa Miller

Cinematic portraits investigate expressions of the self, showing or concealing identity in human shells.

Fernando Viscasillas

Remembrances is an idyllic embrace between the past and present, combining architecture and scenery.

Frederic Aranda

Vogue House features LGBTQI+ individuals from around the world in Paris, boldly posing for a family portrait.

Jennifer Georgescu

Mother documents a journey over eight years, from a disconnection with the self, to realising the legacy of children.

Karen Navarro

Segmented pushes the boundaries of image-making and expressions of self with 3D structures and vivid tones.

Kate Hrynko

Blue combines traditional photographic techniques with colour theory to visualise feelings of fear, joy and pride.

Katerina Belkina

Cook, Little Pot, Cook examines the psychology of emotion, drawing inspiration from The Brothers Grimm.

Kyle Sven

Power Struggle subverts stereotypes, inviting viewers into an alternate world that champions self-expression.

Lexi Laine

Dystopia visualises a dark underwater world, highlighting the impact of humans on marine environments.

Michael McLaughlin

Blue Silo Hokkaido conveys a sense of unblemished abstraction, describing complex realities of the environment.

Michel Rouabah

Dark Galaxy‘s swirling staircase continues the artistic desire to use photography to capture buildings.

Natalie Christensen

Empty parking lots, forgotten swimming pools and clear skylines ask viewers to reassess everyday settings.

Niklas Hlawatsch

Aluminum and Ash investigates the relationship between industry and nature through vast pipe networks.

Nikola Olic

Structure Photography reappropriates buildings as repeating geometries, shedding new light on the world’s cities.

Ruby Hyde

Ruby Hyde’s dark visual fairytales embrace contrasts between light and shadow, addressing emotive concepts.

Salomé-Charlotte Camors

Akunnaaq, mounted on raw steel, is vulnerable to oxidation, reflecting the fragile state of the landscape.

Sarah Bird

Haptic House explores how rapid technological advancement permeates private life and the sense of identity.

Scott Morgan

10,000 Years envisages ancient elemental light, using solar radiation to etch onto silver gelatin papers.

Theo Deproost

In Re:Collect, viewers are encouraged to study and re-interpret abstracted, twisted subject matter in new ways.

Till Rückwart

Till Rückwart builds an archive of “dysfunctional images” – presenting new ways to think about technology.

Uwe Langmann

Uwe Langmann takes photos in particular weather conditions, utilising snow, fog and bright yet overcast skies.

Viet Ha Tran

Wall of Nature is like a still from a daydream, where reality converges with Viet Ha Tran’s inner world.

Wei Jian Chan

Spiral utilises geometry, architecture and motion to find beauty and stillness in the chaos of modern working life.

Wizard Tang

Blow-up 00:00‘s saturated compositions paint a picture of activities enjoyed by contemporary Chinese youth.

Xanthe Hutchinson

Lee Bleaching His Hair centres on notions of visibility, challenging society’s often narrow perceptions.

Zhou Chengzhou

Times Paradise is a series full of contrasts: past meets present, nature meets manmade, work meets leisure.

Zillah Bowes

Green Dark is set in an upland area of Mid Wales that sustains a historic community with open hill farming.


Sculpture

Annie Trevorah

CLADES reveals fluidity inherent within structure, cultivating a balance between containment and freedom.

Charlie Cluff

Photographic Memories pushes the boundaries of photographic art, transforming slides into an installation.

Francesca Silverton

Francesca Silverton combines found objects with mathematic principles to produce narratives on identity.

George Andric

Ellipsis appears like a vortex to another land, blurring the boundaries between materiality and viewer.

Liang-Jung Chen

The Egg Rack Made a Disclaimer is informed by an interest in the tensions embedded in everyday scenarios.

Manuel Ursprung

MMXX is made from more than 300 Plaster of Paris shapes, representing a stark, empty urban landscape.

Marc Vilanova

In Phonos, 208 recycled speakers are sent individual infrasonic frequency signals, causing the structure to vibrate.

Min Jeong Song

The In-between Moments: Homage to E.J. Marey explores the seemingly empty space between two complete actions.

Nia E. Robinson

Backwards in Coming Forwards is a collection of wooden objects combining minimalism with modern technology.

Peter Baran

In Regular Concrete, electronic devices, cast in a signature Brutalist style, are immortalised like time capsules.

Peter Walker

The Peace Doves conveys a sense of reflection: on the self, humanity and the important questions about the world.

Sarah Strachan

Becoming reflects a desire to understand how perceptions of the world affect our ecological awareness.

Steve Anwar (aka Sapien)

Only Breath is inspired by “the collision of opposites” – an idea which Steve Anwar describes as a creative catalyst.

Zhiqiang Li

The Sound of Changsha Kiln harnesses digital innovation to project possible futures for disappearing ways of life.


Painting

Ben Power

Ben Power takes inspiration from graffiti, combining the essence of design and street art in an abstract way.

Eddy Greenwood

The Lace Collar echoes 17th century Dutch portraits of noblemen, informed by classical technique and life drawing.

Emma Berkery

Emma Berkery processes the human experience, evoking inner and
outer landscapes through paint.

Haruna.paint

In Iberis, handpainted swatches represent a bloom from the artist’s memory, as cells appear like pixels.

Joanna Cohn

Joanna Cohn’s landscapes mimic the formation of Earth’s surface through natural and chemical processes.

Jongwoo Ahn

Jongwoo Ahn uses traditional pigments from his home South Korea for studies of monochrome everyday objects.

Kathleen Beausoleil

Kathleen Beausoleil’s photo-based paintings focus on interactions during the Black Lives Matter protests.

Lunyu Fu

Before You Call It a Tree melds paint, plant, print and environmental design as it records fading moments of beauty.

Nicholas Jones

Nicholas Jones’ haunting acrylic paintings celebrate the sublimity of nature, alongside intimacy and wonder.

Teresa Lawler

Stylised houses are inserted into fictitious landscapes, with cities occasionally glimpsed in the distance.

Tyler Mallison

_____(NTIME) is a collection of illusory surfaces that prompt questions of presence and orientation.

Veronika Krämer

In Construction lines and shapes collide, overlap, merge and vanish in a complex haze of geometric arrangement.


Installation

Caroline Burraway

Ungrievable Lives is a harrowing display, depicting 13 children’s dresses made from discarded lifejackets.

Djeneba Aduayom

There are more qualities that connect individuals than divide. This is at the core of Djeneba Aduayom’s expression.

Elisa Artesero

Elisa Artesero uses light and text in spatial environments to address themes of transience, happiness and hope.

Elizabeth Withstandley

Getaway is a 10-channel video that uses the backdrop of a tragic event at the Everglades in the mid-1990s.

Enni-Kukka Tuomala

Is There Space for Empathy? invites individuals to step inside the installation together.

Gemma Fenol

Paper Sculptures sees the artist combine film production and sculpture to play with perceptions of space.

Gérald Foltête

In Inconsistency & Obviousness, fragments of paper are scattered in puzzle-like patterns.

Gillian Hobson

Radiance Vertex uses mirrors, reflection and transparent materials to fill public spaces with luminous colour.

Jan Van Eijgen

Jan Van Eijgen is fascinated by the body; he graduated as a physician and works in ophthalmology.

Lady Kitt

Lady Kitt is a UK-based disabled artist and drag king who describes their work as “mess making as social glue.”

Lisa Pettibone

Lisa Pettibone investigates human perception through the language of science, expressing energy and form.

Liz Wilson

Within the Wake is an ensemble of sculpture, sound and video that draws inspiration from canals.

Natalia García Clark

Conflicto Interno (Internal Conflict), encourages viewers to think about the spirit of captive animals.

Paul Bonomini

London-based sculptor Paul Bonomini’s L’Ascensione is a sprawling mass of interlocking metal tubes.

Phoebe Lee

Each of the 100 puzzle segments in The Missing Piece are part of a publication that holds experiences of joy.

Quiet Ensemble

Quiet Ensemble specialises in unexpected audiovisual experiences, capturing the essence of things.

Simone Fezer

Tipping Point is a series of glass and wood installations, dominating everyday spaces from floor to ceiling.

Taezoo Park

Digital Being asks questions about the direction of technological development and its sustainability.

Tanatsei Gambura

Hand Wash Only employs unique material techniques, contemplating processes of forgetting and memory.

Yen-Hsu Chou

Bird’s Summoner experiments with classical music, bringing performance and humour to an unassuming location.


Digital

Brigitta Zics

“What makes us human?” is a question reflected in Brigitta Zics’ series of portraits distorting the face.

Filip Custic

Filip Custic examines the impact of digital technologies on our conscience, identity and sense of self.

Lyndsay Martin

Lyndsay Martin combines film, found objects and photography to record emotional landscapes.

MASARY Studios

MASARY Studios produces site-specific installations that use sound, light, interactivity and performance.

NJ

NJ transforms code and raw data into painterly materials, transcending the boundaries of artificial and organic.

Sonia Levesque

AI&I is a record of Sonia Levesque’s first year working with artificial intelligence tools like GPT-3 and DALL-E.

Ziyao Lin

Limit Situation is set against a busy modern-day backdrop, defined by the information explosion on the internet.


Mixed Media

Béatrice Lartigue

Les Villes Invisibles depicts the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, allowing viewers to enter a 3D rendering of the building.

Iluá Hauck Da Silva

In Disquiet, a cloud tainted with red mist floats over a minimalist bedroom, combining two states: good and evil.

Olga Woszczyna

Oolong Tea documents vacuum packed materials, presenting readymades, Eastern tea and modern aesthetics.

Peter Mastrantuono

Stillwater is a visual thinkpiece, taking viewers on a journey as it charters a single summer’s day at the coast.

Theresa Schubert

Hylē exists between alchemy and science fiction, created from 3D laser scans of a forest and a server farm.

Zinzi Minott

Bloodsound examines broken narrative, considering racism as experienced through the span of a Black life.


Artists’ Film

Joanna Penso

Joanna Penso works in audio, digital drawing and video to investigate human interactions in different contexts.

Jooyeon Lee

In Fortune Teller, the working conditions of South Korean aircrews are compared to the Radium Girls in the 1920s.

Laura De Decker

Canadian visual artist Laura De Decker develops computer programs to construct abstract images.

Lisa Roggenbuck

Lisa Roggenbuck deals with the impact of western beauty standards perpetuated by popular culture.

Maryam Tafakory

Documentary, found material, performance and poetry come together in Maryam Tafakory’s filmic collages.

Oluwaseun Olayiwola

Dance film Stay is a collaboration with artist Sam Williams, unpicking themes of grief, desire and the Black body.

Simon Robson

Abstract, metaphor-laden narratives are Simon Robson’s signature, brought to life using high-end 3D software.


Performance

Anna Dobrovolskaya-Mints

Somewhere to Swim was taken during Covid-19 lockdowns — minimalist compositions draw attention to the lifelessness of ordinary public spaces.

Glen Ogden

Intensive durational performances and films repurpose human subjects as tools, reflecting a cycle of burnout.

Tom Foulsham

B♭Minor Arrangement for 3 Musicians and 1300m stages three trumpeters across the wide expanse of the Thames.