A fine artist who has just graduated from Nottingham Trent University has been named as one of four finalists in the Saatchi Gallery and Channel 4’s New Sensations Prize 2011. As a result, Krystina Naylor has been invited to show her work at an exhibition in London in October, has been given a bursary to produce a new piece, and will have a short Channel 4 film made about her.
Krystina, who was based in the university’s School of Art and Design, is a sculptor whose work is intended to have a playful relationship with the ideas of mass, surface and situation. While her sculptures represent everyday objects and look visually familiar, there is often a difference between what it is they are mimicking and what they actually are.
Since 2007 the New Sensations Prize has aimed to find and support the most imaginative and talented artists graduating across the UK. It is open to art students completing undergraduate and postgraduate courses and provides young artists with a range of opportunities such as helping them to sell their work, being taken on by galleries or being invited to participate in exhibitions.
Each year 20 shortlisted students are chosen to present their work at Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square, London, while the four finalists are also given a bursary to create a new work to show at the exhibition. The finalists also have a short Channel 4 film made about them and their work.
The ultimate winner of this year's New Sensations Prize will be chosen by the judges in October. This year's judges are artists Hew Locke and Chantal Joffe; Kate Bush, Head of Barbican Art Galleries, London; Tabitha Jackson, Commissioning Editor, Arts, Channel 4; Tony Chambers, editor-in-chief, Wallpaper magazine; and Rebecca Wilson, Associate Director, Saatchi Gallery. Krystina said: "I’m delighted to have been named a finalist in the New Sensations Prize. The day I was told I had just come back from my first exhibition in London, I really wasn’t expecting to get this far because of the sheer number of applicants and the high quality of submissions. It’s just great to have my work recognised in this way.”
“One thing I am really interested in for my work is how information is read by the brain, and how an object can mislead by representing authenticity through things like pattern, shape, colour and weight. A bit of deceit does no harm when it comes to sculpture, I’d like to think it makes it more interesting.”
