Rodrigues Goncalves wins the People's Choice Award for the 2022 Robert Walters Prize
Rodrigues Goncalves. Photo by Tom Morley.
Artist Rodrigues Goncalves has won the People’s Choice Award for his ‘Briton’ series in the 2022 Robert Walters Group UK New Artist of the Year Award, in collaboration with Saatchi Gallery.
Rodrigues Goncalves was one of ten shortlisted artists selected for the annual Robert Walters Group UK New Artist of the Year Award. The prestigious national award sets out to discover and champion exceptional artists who are representative of contemporary Britain and is organised by global recruitment consultancy Robert Walters Group, leading arts charity UK New Artists (UKNA) and renowned contemporary art platform Saatchi Gallery.
Out of a possible 1,400 entries, 10 exceptional shortlisted artists exhibited their work at the Saatchi Gallery on 10 November 2022 with works addressing the theme ‘The Unimagined Future’. The exhibition was presented online in a virtual gallery between 11 November 2022 and 10 January 2023 and the public had the opportunity to vote online for their favourite artist. Rodrigues Goncalves secured the majority of the votes cast for the People’s Choice Award and his prize will be an opportunity to take part in one of UK New Artists’ international presentations.
Photo by Tom Morley.
Rodrigues Goncalves says:
"Firstly, I must thank the extreme support of the public that made this possible. It represents the dialogue of coexistence of my work, my life and audience.
Winning the People’s Choice Award is a remarkable achievement in the legacy of my work, where its acknowledgement is equivalent as the acknowledgement of modern history."
Michelle Bowen, Director of UK New Artists, says:
‘’We would like to congratulate Rodrigues on winning the People's Choice Award. His work had a fantastic response from the public and we’re delighted that Rodrigues’s mixed media sculptures received the popular vote. We look forward to working with him in 2023.’’
The overall prize for the 2022 Robert Walters Group UK New Artist of the Year Award was won by Habib Hajallie. The runner-up prize recipient was Tyreis Holder.
For more information about the 2022 Robert Walters Group UK New Artist of the Year Award click here.
2022 Robert Walters Group UK New Artist of The Year Award shortlisted artists were: Damien Cifelli, Polina Filippova, Farnaz Gholami, Rodrigues Goncalves, Habib Hajallie, Tyreis Holder, Anne Moses, Jacob Talkowski, Ella Van Der Straaten, Joanna Van Son.
About the artist:
Rodrigues Goncalves (b.2000) is a Portuguese-British artist currently located in the UK.
Rodrigues studied primarily visual arts on Madeira Island, Portugal. He spent multiple years working at the internationally renowned Fine Art Foundry Powderhall Bronze in Edinburgh, UK. Rodrigues graduated with a BA (Hons) in artist designer maker: glass and ceramics at the University of Sunderland, UK. Additionally, he was awarded a three-year mentorship programme by the well-known British architect Mike Davies, CBE designer of Pompidou Centre, Paris and Lloyd’s Building, London.
Rodrigues has exhibited internationally. He was awarded Best in Show (Glass) 2022 Degree Show BA (Hons) in artist designer maker: glass and ceramic University of Sunderland (2022), Highly Commended Artist New Graduate Review UK (2022) and the 2021 Glass Prize Artist UK (2021).
He made an appearance in Biomedical Visualization, Advances in Experimental Medicine, and Biology, Glasglow (2022), The New Artist, Boomer Gallery, London, UK (2021) and The Working Artist III, London (2021).
Website: https://www.rodriguesgoncalves.com/