Outset Contemporary Art Fund has launched a three-year partnership between 2017-2019 with Tiffany & Co., which made seven rent-free studios in London available to outstanding MA Fine Art graduates from the capital’s finest art colleges.
For the 2018 edition, the seven prize-winning art school graduates – James Fuller, Mark Corfield-Moore, Miriam Naeh, Neung Wi Kim, Roy Efrat, Sofia Mitsola and Yasmine Robinson – showcased their works with an exhibit unveiled on the 26 September 2018 at Tiffany’s new concept store in Covent Garden. During the three-week installation, visitors could view the visionary works by the winning MA Fine Art graduates, spanning an exciting variety of mediums from print and textiles to sculpture and jewellery design.
The seven winners were selected from world-renowned art schools (the Royal Academy, the Royal College of Art, Chelsea College of Arts, Slade School of Fine Art, Central Saint Martins and Goldsmiths University) by an expert panel of judges comprised of Justine Simons (Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries), Richard Moore (Divisional Vice President – Store Design & Creative Visual Merchandising, Tiffany & Co.), Jenni Lomax (Former Director of Camden Arts Centre) and Aaron Angell (Artist).
Neung Wi Kim, Samrimryok
In three words: Experimental luxury, well-being, sustainability
Neung Wi Kim is a contemporary jewellery designer from South Korea, producing useful objects for wearers. She graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2018.
‘Samrimryok’ meaning the immersion of self within nature, is an attempt to connect with the intensity and sensation of past experiences of nature, particularly seashores, as a healer. Exploiting sensations of touch and the visual qualities of unique hand-cut stones to create symbols of well-being and restfulness.
Roy Efrat, Jar
In three words: Painting, video, intervention
Roy Efrat is a painter, video artist and performer, born in Jerusalem in 1979. He studied at the Shenkar College of Art and Design in Ramat Gan in 2009. Since 2016 he has lived in London, where he graduated from the Royal College of Art.
Thomas Bernhard dancing with himself – spitting on self-importance, the humanistic and humourist approach to the tragedy of being trapped in place.
Miriam Naeh, Stinky Souls, Soles and Holes
In three words: Slimy, theatrical and hybrid
Miriam Naeh works and lives in London. She graduated from Musrara School of Art, Jerusalem (2014) and from Goldsmiths MFA in Fine Art, London (2016 – 2018).
A creature bursts from an orifice, arching down, gazing deep inside itself. In the darkness below, there’s the glow of a projection and the sound of squelching. A hybrid body moves through a wooded landscape, passing slowly across the surface of the screen. A single body with another caught deep within.
James Fuller, Double Splice
In three words: Seduction, destruction & waste
James Fuller recently graduated from Sculpture at the Royal College of Art in 2018, where he was the recipient of a Leathersellers educational grant, Gilbert Bayes Scholarship grant for sculpture and a Stapely Trust educational grant. He was also awarded the Kenneth Armitage Post-graduate Sculpture Prize 2018.
Double splice consists of two individually referenced moments from the wholesale market floor, as the material palette continually rearranges on the surface as a by-product of the commercial activity. Before the reset—the restart. Moving between new Covent Garden to old—floor to wall—waste to luxury.
Mark Corfield-Moore, Stiff Peaks III
In three words: Injet, archival, paper
Mark Corfield-Moore (b. Bangkok, Thailand) lives and works in London. He studied Art History at University College London (2007 – 2010), Fine Art at Central Saint Martins (2012 – 2015) and at Universität der Künste, Berlin.
The work displays the temporally unstable texture of sugar icing, simultaneously armouring and feminising the solid marble busts. The bust is shown from the reverse, the subject’s identity obscured and anonymised. The sense of authority and the monumental inherent in a bust are thus subverted for the ornamental or decorative.
Sofia Mitsola, Frasikleios
In three words: Oil, acrylic, canvas
Sofia Mitsola was born in Thessaloniki, Greece and currently lives and works in London. After completing her BA in painting at the School of Visual and Applied Arts at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, she moved to London where she did her MFA painting at the Slade School of Fine Art.
The idea for my painting Frasikleios came from “Kore Frasikleia”, a standing female archaic sculpture delicately presenting the viewer with a flower bud. This gesture has become the main focus of the work. The unidentified object that the figure is gently holding, which could be either a flower bud or a strawberry, reflects the ambiguity of the character, which stands on the verge of being male and female.
Yasmine Robinson, HUEY
In three words: Contemporary, painting, urban
Yasmine Robinson is a painter from Northern Ireland. She graduated from Fine Art at Belfast School of Art and following this, moved to London where she received a Scholarship and graduated from the MA course at Chelsea College of Art.
Exploring notions of cultural identity and a sense of belonging, Huey is the maiden name of the artist’s mother, with Gaelic roots. As a native of Northern Ireland living in London, the artist provides ‘Huey’ as a cultural artefact, a representation of memories that may help shape a person’s perception of the other, as well as perceptions of self.
The Tiffany & Co. x Outset Studiomakers Prize provides a 12-month rent-free studio space to seven graduates from London’s premier art schools, allowing them to refine their practice. The project is part of the strategic private-public partnership – Studiomakers – to sustain the flow of ideas and talent in London through securing accessibility to creative workspaces.
Tiffany’s legacy with the arts dates back to its founder, Charles Lewis Tiffany, an original trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and his son Louis Comfort Tiffany, a pioneering designer and jeweller of the American Art Nouveau movement. Tiffany continues its commitment to arts and culture with the recent support of the Robert Rauschenberg exhibition at the Tate Modern in December 2016 and a long-term sponsorship of the Whitney Museum of American Art biennials in New York City in 2017, 2019 and 2021.
