Young painter with new Warrington exhibition is shortlisted for major art prize
A young painter who recently unveiled a solo exhibition at Warrington Museum & Art Gallery has been shortlisted for a major national art prize.
Louise Giovanelli, 24, who was described as ‘one to watch’ by leading online art gallery Saatchi Art, has been announced as one of 12 artists in the running to win the 2017 Contemporary British Painting Prize.
One of the pieces she entered in the competition, Mould II, can now be seen at the Warrington gallery as part of her new body of work, A Throw to the Side, which was inspired by the gallery’s collection.
Louise admitted she was surprised but overjoyed to discover she had been shortlisted.
“I’m just really pleased,” she said. “All the other artists are really good; they’re all older and more experienced so I’m just grateful to have made it this far.”
Three of Giovanelli’s paintings will be featured in a special exhibition in August, at London’s The Stables Gallery along with the other shortlisted artists’ work, when the winner will be announced.
If she wins, Louise will be awarded a solo exhibition at The Herrick Gallery in London, a critical essay on her practice by art critic and curator Nicholas Usherwood and a £2,000 purchase prize of her winning work which will then enter The Priseman Seabrook Collection of 21st Century British Painting.
As one of the country’s most promising young painters, Louise’s work has attracted huge interest since she studied fine art at Manchester School of Art, for which she was awarded a first degree.
A Throw to the Side is a completely new collection of haunting yet beautiful work which explores the sensorial possibilities of paint.
“I like to consider the figure and object,” she added. “I’m really interested in art history and talking about where our visual tradition comes from.
“Over the last couple of years I’ve been visiting galleries around the world, taking snapshots of different elements of paintings, reinterpreting and reimagining them in new pieces.”
Louise has done the same with Warrington Museum & Art Gallery’s collection by creating alternative narratives to existing work; in this way painting is used as a camera, drawing attention to details that would otherwise be left overlooked or unexplored.
Her starting point was the work of John Warrington Wood, a sculptor of mythological and biblical subjects who was born in the town but later moved to Rome to work. His statues of Raphael and Michelangelo stand at the entrance to the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.
Giovanelli has reflected upon and considered not only the pieces of his held within Warrington and the art gallery itself, but his wider reach and legacy and how these can be connected to her recent investigations into the relationships between painting, sculpture and architecture.
A Throw to the Side is Louise’s third solo exhibition, with previous displays at Grundy Art Gallery in Blackpool and Touchstones Rochdale.
She is currently working with The International 3 Gallery in Salford and her work is in great demand, with a month-long residency at The Griffin Gallery in London later this year and a dual show at Liverpool’s Crown Building Studios in June.
Louise has already been the recipient of a number of prizes including The Leonard James Fine Art Prize, The Manchester Academy of Fine Art Award and The Ken Billany Painting Prize, and in 2015 she was awarded second place in the Saatchi Art Showdown online art competition.
Her work is held in private collections in the UK, USA, Canada, China, Germany, Slovakia and Italy.
Derek Dick, outreach and engagement manager for Culture Warrington, the charity which runs Warrington Museum & Art Gallery, said: “We’re really proud to be featuring work by Louise Giovanelli, especially as she’s now been shortlisted for a top competition like the Contemporary British Painting Prize.
“She has a really keen eye for subtleties and nuances which others might overlook, and the fact that the new work featured in A Throw to the Side was inspired by exhibits from our collection makes it a really unique display.
“Warrington Contemporary Arts Festival is returning this autumn and I hope Louise’s work and achievements inspire other artists to enter the Open Art competition.
“Here at Culture Warrington one of our aims is to support and provide opportunities for emerging artists within the region; Louise’s exhibition is proof of that commitment.”