LEOPRIJS 2020 to Jamie Kane
Jury report | 17 November 2020
It is with pleasure that the jury of the Leoprijs 2020 announces that this years’ prize is awarded to Jamie Kane (1989), who recently graduated (with distinction) from the MA Fine Art of the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam. From 34 submitted applications by artists that recently graduated from a Bachelor or Master studies in the Netherlands, the jury chose an inquisitive artist with an own visual language. Kane will live and work in the guest studio during the residency period from March to June 2021.
The jury of the Leoprijs 2020, this year consisting of Domeniek Ruyters, chief editor of Metropolis M, Fenne Saedt, independent editor, curator and moderator, and Maria Schnyder, curator at museum De Pont, Tilburg, was pleasantly surprised by the large amount of fascinating research, that led to moving projects and poetic works. The proposals alternated between the banality of everyday life, social issues, material experiments, to the desire to archive. The quality of the proposals was surprisingly high taking in regard the difficulty many had to face this year working under lockdown due to all COVID-19 measures.
By selecting Kane the jury chose for an artist whose work consists of paintings, collages, videos and installations, the search for narratives and material research plays a central role. Kane has expressed his wish to deepen an emerging material aspect of his practice in order to develop a new body of work that takes his great grandfather Alexander Johnstone’s 1914’s diary as a starting point. During his residency at Gastatelier Leo XIII Kane will be guided by curator Fenne Saedt, who is looking forward to the dialogue with the artist about his auto biographical study slowly transforming into material constructions.
The jury would like to thank all artists who applied for sharing a glimpse into their thoughts and practice.The Leoprijs is a yearly prize awarded to an artist who graduated form a BA or MA at an art-academy in The Netherlands in that year. The winner is granted a four month residency, a budget of 1000 euros, partnered with a mediator, a weekend long presentation and an online publication.
