Meet the Judges - Robert Walters Group UK Young Artist of the Year Award
Find out more about the stellar judging panel for the Robert Walters Group UK Young Artist of the Year Award: 2019.
Robert Walters, CEO Of Robert Walters Group
Robert Walters is the founder and CEO of Robert Walters Group, a global specialist recruitment group spanning 30 countries. As a passionate supporter of the arts, Robert Walters is a tenured supporter and patron of prestigious arts organisations including the V&A, Saatchi Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. He has also personally invested in seed capital projects ranging from a stage musical to an award-winning short film.
Philippa Adams, Senior Director At The Saatchi Gallery
Since becoming Saatchi Gallery Director, Philippa Adams has become an integral part of the transformation of Britain’s best known and most popular private museum of cutting-edge contemporary art. Working directly on the collection, liaising with artists and galleries on new acquisitions and commissions, she has worked on the Saatchi exhibitions and accompanying publications drawn from the collection, many of which have travelled to major museums and institutions worldwide.
Gavin Turk, Artist
Gavin Turk (b 1967) is a British born, contemporary surrealist and international artist. He has pioneered many forms of contemporary British sculpture now taken for granted, including the painted bronze, the waxwork, the recycled art-historical icon and the use of rubbish in art.
In 1991, Turk was spotted by Charles Saatchi in his notorious degree show and was included in several YBA exhibitions. Turk’s work has since been collected and exhibited by many major museums and galleries throughout the world.
Prestel published Turk’s first major monograph in 2013, showcasing more than two decades of his work, Turk's work has more recently been exhibited in landmark exhibition in Newport Street Gallery.
Turk has recently been commissioned to make several public sculptures including L'Âge d'Or (2016), in the Olympic Park and Nail, a 12-meter sculpture at One New Change, St Paul’s cathedral, London.
Rosalind Davis, Artist And Curator
Rosalind Davis is an artist-curator and a graduate of The Royal College of Art (2005) and Chelsea College of Art (2003). Davis is the permanent Curator at Collyer Bristow Gallery and has an expertise in the arts and creative sector. Her exhibition; Complicity. Artifice and Illusion was reviewed by Art Top 10; ‘Cracking Show. Superb Artists. Brilliantly curated.’ Previous curatorial projects have been at Standpoint Gallery, Geddes Gallery and with ZAP at Bond House Gallery (ASC). Davis has previously co-directed and developed two innovative and dynamic artist’s educational, membership and exhibition arts organizations; Zeitgeist Arts Projects (ZAP 2012-15) and Core Gallery (2009-11) based in London. Davis is a Published writer for a variety of publications and co-author of ‘What they didn’t teach you at art school’ commissioned by Octopus Books internationally distributed since 2016.
Michael Forbes, Artist
Forbes’ practice explores contemporary racial politics and migration, which is informed by history and religion - using sculpture, photography and installations.
Forbes' work has been exhibited across the UK and internationally, including at the Venice Biennale 2017, Yinka Shonibare’s Guest Projects, ISCP New York, and Amerikahaus Pasinger Fabrik, Munich.
Forbes is a founding member, Chair of Trustees & Directors of Primary (Nottingham) and played a leading role in developing the New Art Exchange and its programme from 1999 - 2010.
He is currently completing his MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art.
Meet the Curator
Garth Gratrix
The ten shortlisted artists’ work will be curated at the Saatchi Gallery by Garth Gratrix. Garth Gratrix is an internationally exhibiting artist, curator and director based in the North West. Garth works in favour of the artist as part of wider strategic developments that consider and impact on culture, people and place. From Gallery installations, site specific interventions, residencies, research and engagement programmes to large scale festival production, Garth has an open and progressive way of producing collaborative platforms for art.
Garth was Places for Art Manager for LeftCoast- Blackpool's Creative People & Places programme supported by Arts Council England; which led to the development of the first contemporary arts studios on the NW Lancashire coastline- Abingdon Studios Ltd.
Alongside establishing new spaces for artistic experimentation, Garth has also acted as Art Commissioning Lead for Art B&B CIC- a capital works project in Blackpool reimagining the role art plays within hospitality and tourism. Recent work with UKYA has included GRAFT- a show of UK young artists showcasing artists from across the UK in the second most visited contemporary art exhibition to have been on display at The Harris Museum, Art Gallery & Library, Preston and he has twice been shortlisted for the Clore Visual Artists Fellowship.