A recent Oxford Fine Arts graduate has won a prestigious contemporary art prize from the Saatchi Gallery and Channel 4.
Jack Stanton, 24, who graduated this year with a BFA from the University’s Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, was awarded the New Sensations Prize, which is open to all BA or MA students graduating in a particular year from a UK or Republic of Ireland art school, for work he was asked to produce as one of four finalists in the competition. In addition to a gallery showing of the winning artist’s work, the prize brings with it a cash award, the amount of which is not made public.
First awarded in 2007, the New Sensations Prize is known by some as the “baby Turner Prize,” a reference to the highly influential Turner Prize, winners of which include contemporary art heavyweights Damien Hirst and Anish Kapoor. New Sensations’ promoters bill their award as “the most important annual prize for emerging artists” in the UK.
Stanton’s winning entry featured an installation called “The Personality Agreement,” in which different “morsels” of sampled video were shown on two large screens while original music by Stanton played alongside. The eight-minute “operetta” explores what the artist sees as contradictory representations of adolescence in the mass media.
In another video made for the project, Stanton explains his process: “I approach my artwork with the mindset of a pop musician… Usually I gather an array of imagery from found material, then I zoom in to isolate whatever it is that interests me, searching for moments that function independently of their origins [and reveal] something of the inner workings of our digital reality… in a camp, dumb sort of way.”
The artist told Cherwell he was pleasantly surprised at his win. “I think virtually everyone in my 3rd year at The Ruskin applied for New Sensations after our degree show,” he said. “Its just something you’re encouraged to do. … I had no expectation of getting through to the long-list, let alone getting a bursary to make new work for the show.”
Elizabeth Price, a fellow of Lady Margaret Hall and Stanton’s tutor during his final year at the Ruskin said she was “delighted, but not unduly surprised” by the news. “I thought he had an exciting future in the profession,” she said. “This high profile Prize confirms his great potential, and will bring him many exciting opportunities to publicly fulfil. It’s great for the Ruskin too – as it builds our reputation as an art school generating innovative, experimental contemporary art.”
Current Ruskin fine artists expressed admiration at Stanton’s achievement, and cited the School as a source of inspiration and encouragement. “Jack Stanton won because he deserved to win and because he was encouraged to win,” said Irina Iordache, a second-year fine artist at Christ Church, “That’s what the Ruskin does for you: it constantly pushes you outside your comfort zone; it makes you want to give your best.”
Stanton also praised the Ruskin School’s approach. “I think the two most valuable things that the school offers are the freedom to explore whatever avenue a student wishes to take, and that this work is then taken so seriously by the tutors,” he said.
The shortlist for the prize, which was revealed in late September and included 20 candidates, included three other recent graduates of the Ruskin school in addition to Stanton: Rhea Storr, James Cross and Finbar Ward. Ruskin graduates made up twenty percent of the shortlisted candidates.
Stanton is currently working on developing a two-person frisbee game with Ward, the court for which they are building in the basement of the Cock ’n’ Bull Gallery, Shoreditch.
