The award aims to champion contemporary art by emerging artists resident in South Africa, increasing exposure for their work, and encouraging further professional development opportunities.
Entrants were asked to submit work to the theme Cultivating Culture and were challenged to explore the characteristics that determine their personal and social identity: their own unique culture – within a South African context.
The 10 shortlisted finalists were selected from hundreds of artists from across South Africa who applied for the award. A work by each of the finalists went on show earlier this month for the final round of judging in a group exhibition.
Mirjam Asmal, director, AVA; Carol Hodes, curator and collector; Chris Denovan, award-winning artist; and Jennifer Reynolds, director of StateoftheART comprised this year’s panel of respected art professionals who named Legoabe the overall award winner.
The award finalists' exhibition reflects a broad range of media. In addition to Legoabe, the show features the work of Monique Day-Wilde, Minenkulu Ngoyi, Natasha Brown, Christelle Viviers, Laurette de Jager, Nonkululeko Sibande, Larissa Mwanyama, Damian Osborne and Simon Venter.
As the 2019 winner, Balekane receives a prize of a solo exhibition in 2020 and a R20,000 cash award to support the development of new work.
Director of StateoftheART, Jennifer Reynolds said: “We are thrilled to be working with Balekane towards her 2020 show. The quality and standard of work submitted to the second edition of the StateoftheART Gallery Award were outstanding and we congratulate the winner and all the entrants on their inspiring artworks. We look forward to following their developing careers, and wish them and each of our shortlisted entrants all the success for the future."
The award finalists' exhibition concludes Saturday, 14 September 2019.
