Daiwa Foundation Art Prize Winner
November 7 - 21,2009
Tomio Koyama Gallery Tokyo
OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday 7 November, 6 - 8pm
The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation is a UK-based charity which supports closer links between Britain and Japan. Coates competed against nearly 900 applicants for this unique opportunity.
Jonathan Watkins, Director of Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, was one of the eminent judges. He remarks: 'Coates has emerged as an artist with a distinct and extraordinary vision. He is making work now which is better than ever.'
Professor Marie Conte-Helm, Director General of the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, comments: 'This challenging exhibition reflects the spirit behind the Daiwa Foundation Art Prize - to open new doors for British artists in Japan.'
Coates'film, installation and performance art focuses on the relationship between humans and other species. His work has received international acclaim and he has recently shown work in Tate Modern, London. The exhibition will include one of his best known works, Dawn Chorus, in which the human voice accurately mimics birdsong, as well as his most recently commissioned piece, Intelligent Design, filmed in the Galapagos Islands in 2008, it depicts the failed attempt of two mating tortoises.
▼Notes to Editors
Marcus Coates (b.1968, London) graduated in 1990 with a BA (Hons) Degree in Fine Art from Kent Institute of Art and Design, (UK). He also gained a Post Graduate Diploma from the Royal Academy of Art (London, UK) in 1993. Most recently, he has exhibited as part of Altermodern: Tate Triennial, at Tate Britain, London. Coates has exhibited his works in many countries around the world, holding solo shows around Europe and group exhibitions in Scandinavia, Israel and also in Japan. His Japanese shows took place in 2006 and included Grizedale Arts 'Seven Samurai' in Toge-mura for the Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial and Tokyo Ikebukuro International Art Festival. This will be his first solo show in Japan.
The Judging Panel
- Jonathan Watkins (Chair)
- Director of Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
- Mami Kataoka
- Chief Curator, Mori Art Museum / International Associate Curator, The Hayward Gallery, London
- Tomio Koyama
- Owner of Tomio Koyama Gallery
- Joanna Pitman
- Art Critic for The Times and former Times correspondent in Japan
- Edmund de Waal
- Artist potter, curator, writer and Professor of Ceramics at the University of Westminster
Posts
