SD Art Prize at The Athenaeum by Vanessa Christie

 

Photo by Roy Porello: Bhavna Mehta,front, back Joseph Huppert, Philipp Scholz Rittermann Marianela de la Hoz

Now in its 8th year, the San Diego Art Prize is an annual prize for artists in which established artists exhibit alongside emerging artists. Each years two winning artists are selected by a panel including the previous years winners, writers for the SD Art Prize Notes and the SD Art Prize committee. These established artists then select two emerging artists. This year for the first time two artists not only displayed work together but also collaborated on the artwork itself.

The established artists whose work is currently on view are Marianela De La Hoz and Philipp Scholz Rittermann. Bhavna Mehta and Joseph Huppert, are the 2014 emerging artists.

The established artist Marianela De La Hoz is paired with the emerging artist Bhavna Mehta. Marianela De La Hoz and Bhavna Mehta both make use of intricate processes in order to create art. The art they create tell stories; stories about life and death and culture.

Marinela De La Hoz paints using the old world technique of egg tempura to create darkly humorous but brightly colored surreal paintings. These works often depict children juxtaposed with the elderly, life and death side by side showing the links between the two as more real than the barrier we try to imagine.  Her intensely detailed work plays against the flattening  affect of a medium which was most commonly used in pre-Renaissance work. There exists in her work a study of contrasts the darkness of the subjects playing against brilliantine colors, modern subjects against a centuries old technique.

Bhavna Mehta, an artist who draws using a knife. Her art is influenced by her upbringing in India, in which she witnessed the women in her family embroidering, knitting, and sewing. Using a single sheet of paper her work explores the universality of connection to humanity and to the world we share. Her work tells stories, sometimes with, and sometimes without words. The words of one of her pieces on display, “I’ll Always Remember To Forget…” as sharp as any blade. Both use different forms of destruction in order to create; eggs to create egg tempura and papers original use and context removed to create art.

Philipp Scholz Rittermann is a photographer whose work spans time and place, industrial, and pristine environments. His work shows aspect of the world both natural and man-made which are otherwise misunderstood or overlooked. A recent series consists of photographs reflecting the changing world both physical and spiritual affecting contemporary China. His work is held in over one hundred public, private, and corporate collections including MoMA, the Bibliotheque Nationale, and the Anthenaeum Music and Arts Library.

Joseph Huppert is a guerilla artist who chose to work outside the museum and gallery system. He admired the words and imagery of the artist Robert Irwin and in 2007 helped him hang his work at the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego. He has subsequently begun to exhibit his work at the ICE Gallery and at Bread and Salt. His work consists of drawings of geometric imagery exploring space and light.

For the first time the established artist Philipp Scholz Rittermann and Joseph Huppert collaborated on the work on display at the Anthenaeum. Joseph Huppert used geometric forms to make changes to a landscape and Philipp Scholz Rittermann photographed the changes.

The opening reception was Friday March 27^th at the Anthenaeum and will be on view through May 2^nd 2015.

image by Roy Porello: Robert Irwin and Ann Berchtold

 

Image by Roy Porello: Patricia Frischer announcing SD Art Prize for 2015

Image by Roy Porello: audience include Aida Valencia from Valencia Gallery the host for the New Contemporaries exhibition of the SD Art Prize opening May 1 at Liberty Station

image by Roy Porello: Philipp Scholz Rittermann and Joey Huppert from the outside

image by Roy Porello: Philipp Scholz Rittermann and Joey Huppert from the inside

Bhavna Metha started this work and Marianela de la Hoz completed it

Marianela de la Hoz started this work and Bhavna Mehta completed it

The SD Art Prize winners for 2015 have been selected; Wendy Maruyama and Roy McMakin. Wendy Maruyama is best known for the often male dominated art field of furniture. Roy McMakin, also known for work with furniture runs an architecture firm. These artists will select a pair of emerging artists to exhibit alongside them.

San Diego Visual Arts Network sponsored the awards of the SD Art Prize each year. Read more about the SD Art Prize on SDVAN  and in the A+Art Blog.  San Diego Art Prize at the Athenaeum March 2015

Marianela de la Hoz with emerging artist Bhavna Mehta
Philipp Scholz Rittermann  with emerging artist Joseph Huppert