West Prize to Award $100,000 to International Emerging Artists

by Art Fag City on April 29, 2008 · 25 comments Newswire

benson.jpg
Erik Benson, Staying Up All Night, 2004, acrylic and canvas on wood panel, 40 x 72 inches. West Collection

International emerging artists have until October 1st 2008 to submit their applications to Paige West’s competition. Aptly named the West Prize, a total of $100,000 will be given out to young artists, the grand prize being a total of $25,000 in addition to a West Collection acquisition. Artists applying should take a look at her collection to get a better idea of the kind of work she responds to. It’s no small amount of money being given out, so you’ll really do yourself a favor by doing a bit of research before submitting. Notable artists in the collection include, Amy Bennett, Vic Muniz, Erik Benson, Larissa Bates, Roxy Paine, Eve Sussman and more.

{ 24 comments }

Cat April 29, 2008 at 3:12 pm

Wow, what a prize. And only one person has submitted so far.

Cat April 29, 2008 at 10:12 am

Wow, what a prize. And only one person has submitted so far.

jmb April 29, 2008 at 5:12 pm

guess im out of the running 🙂 —–> “To the best of my knowledge, my artwork doesn’t infringe any copyright or other rights. I have the permission of any third-party whose rights may also be involved because that person is featured in some way in my artwork. I will indemnify and hold harmless the West Collection and its agents, licensees, successors, and assignees for any and all liability, damages and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) that they may incur as a result of any claim regarding the artwork. “

jmb April 29, 2008 at 12:12 pm

guess im out of the running 🙂 —–> “To the best of my knowledge, my artwork doesn’t infringe any copyright or other rights. I have the permission of any third-party whose rights may also be involved because that person is featured in some way in my artwork. I will indemnify and hold harmless the West Collection and its agents, licensees, successors, and assignees for any and all liability, damages and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) that they may incur as a result of any claim regarding the artwork. “

Paige April 29, 2008 at 8:00 pm

Thanks for posting about the prize Paddy. We launched this prize at the NEXT fair in Chicago last Friday. One entry so far, but we’re hoping many others are preparing to submit. One thing that it doesn’t mention in the fine print of the Prize details is that I plan on sending dealer and collector friends (and anyone else who I think would appreciate seeing some new art) to specific artists throughout the submission timeline. So, hopefully some artists will feel the benefit of submitting long before the winners are announced.

Paige April 29, 2008 at 3:00 pm

Thanks for posting about the prize Paddy. We launched this prize at the NEXT fair in Chicago last Friday. One entry so far, but we’re hoping many others are preparing to submit. One thing that it doesn’t mention in the fine print of the Prize details is that I plan on sending dealer and collector friends (and anyone else who I think would appreciate seeing some new art) to specific artists throughout the submission timeline. So, hopefully some artists will feel the benefit of submitting long before the winners are announced.

martin April 30, 2008 at 6:36 pm

no minimum or maximum age restrictions, no geographic or media restrictions, no minimum education requirements, nothing about current students or those already represented by a commercial gallery. it’s generous and welcome, but will be a crap shoot once word gets around on places like the saatchi site.

martin April 30, 2008 at 1:36 pm

no minimum or maximum age restrictions, no geographic or media restrictions, no minimum education requirements, nothing about current students or those already represented by a commercial gallery. it’s generous and welcome, but will be a crap shoot once word gets around on places like the saatchi site.

twhid May 1, 2008 at 1:29 pm

There are media restrictions:

From the rules:

3. The West Collection will review works in painting, sculpture, photography, and installation.

+++

No video or new media? Bah!

twhid May 1, 2008 at 8:29 am

There are media restrictions:

From the rules:

3. The West Collection will review works in painting, sculpture, photography, and installation.

+++

No video or new media? Bah!

martin May 1, 2008 at 5:51 pm

oops.

martin May 1, 2008 at 12:51 pm

oops.

Art Fag City May 2, 2008 at 5:33 pm

Yeah, it’s really too bad New Media and Video are excluded.

Art Fag City May 2, 2008 at 12:33 pm

Yeah, it’s really too bad New Media and Video are excluded.

Paige May 2, 2008 at 7:54 pm

We goofed with not allowing new media and video. So sorry. We collect video and new media so it should be represented in the prize. We are working on changing that as soon as possible.

Paige May 2, 2008 at 2:54 pm

We goofed with not allowing new media and video. So sorry. We collect video and new media so it should be represented in the prize. We are working on changing that as soon as possible.

kelsey May 5, 2008 at 6:31 pm

psyched about this! thanks for posting.

kelsey May 5, 2008 at 1:31 pm

psyched about this! thanks for posting.

Kirsten May 7, 2008 at 5:04 pm

Thank you for making this open to artists outside the U.S.

Kirsten May 7, 2008 at 12:04 pm

Thank you for making this open to artists outside the U.S.

Joan Daidone July 24, 2008 at 5:37 am

There will be more and higher quality submissions if the legalese were not so off-putting and did not appear as if one was giving away one’s copyright and rights to the work all over the world forever. This needs to be clarified for both artists and their representatives. I deal with legal contracts all the time, and I find the fine print on this particular prize indecipherable. I have a great deal of respect for what Paige West is doing and has done for the world of Contemporary Art. And I admire the West Collection based on what I’ve read and heard, but still find it difficult to recommend this to the artists I represent without more clarification. There is a communication issue that needs to addressed. Let’s put this in plain language. Emerging artists and their supporters do not have easy access to costly legal counsel. It’s a wonderful concept, let’s be more open and transparent. Thank you.

Joan Daidone July 24, 2008 at 12:37 am

There will be more and higher quality submissions if the legalese were not so off-putting and did not appear as if one was giving away one’s copyright and rights to the work all over the world forever. This needs to be clarified for both artists and their representatives. I deal with legal contracts all the time, and I find the fine print on this particular prize indecipherable. I have a great deal of respect for what Paige West is doing and has done for the world of Contemporary Art. And I admire the West Collection based on what I’ve read and heard, but still find it difficult to recommend this to the artists I represent without more clarification. There is a communication issue that needs to addressed. Let’s put this in plain language. Emerging artists and their supporters do not have easy access to costly legal counsel. It’s a wonderful concept, let’s be more open and transparent. Thank you.

Paige July 31, 2008 at 3:12 pm

Joan, Thanks for your kind words and constructive critique of the legalese for the West Prize. I am in total agreement with you. Thanks to you we are right now working to get the off-putting legalese fixed. It is often a battle with lawyers to get them to think/speak/write in plain language, but we will fight this battle to make sure we are helping artists understand exactly what they are getting into. It sounds a lot scarier than it is. We do not want anyone thinking they are giving up their rights for this prize. What is needed is only for artists to allow us to potentially use images of their work for press on the prize, as an example. Hopefully, press for us will be good for them as well. We also plan on publishing a book on the ten winners and their permission to reproduce their work in this book is needed. It isn’t more complicated than that, but the legalese sounds like one has to give up copyrights for eternity. This is the lawyers’ way of blanketing/covering the bases/protecting us from a “just in case” scenarios. Thanks again for the heads up and I hope you check in again to see if we have “fixed it” so that you may want to recommend the prize to others. Any other recommendations or opinions you have would be greatly appreciated and you can contact me directly at paige@mixedgreens.com.

Paige July 31, 2008 at 10:12 am

Joan, Thanks for your kind words and constructive critique of the legalese for the West Prize. I am in total agreement with you. Thanks to you we are right now working to get the off-putting legalese fixed. It is often a battle with lawyers to get them to think/speak/write in plain language, but we will fight this battle to make sure we are helping artists understand exactly what they are getting into. It sounds a lot scarier than it is. We do not want anyone thinking they are giving up their rights for this prize. What is needed is only for artists to allow us to potentially use images of their work for press on the prize, as an example. Hopefully, press for us will be good for them as well. We also plan on publishing a book on the ten winners and their permission to reproduce their work in this book is needed. It isn’t more complicated than that, but the legalese sounds like one has to give up copyrights for eternity. This is the lawyers’ way of blanketing/covering the bases/protecting us from a “just in case” scenarios. Thanks again for the heads up and I hope you check in again to see if we have “fixed it” so that you may want to recommend the prize to others. Any other recommendations or opinions you have would be greatly appreciated and you can contact me directly at paige@mixedgreens.com.

Comments on this entry are closed.

{ 1 trackback }

Previous post:

Next post: