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Organizers of the $70,000 Sobey Art Award, Canada’s pre-eminent prize for contemporary Canadian art, today announced the longlist of 25 artists selected by the Curatorial Panel.

WEST COAST AND YUKON
Rhonda Weppler & Trevor Mahovsky; Luanne Martineau; Keith Langergraber; Evan Lee; Julie York

PRAIRIES AND THE NORTH
Paul Butler; Marcel Dzama; Sarah Anne Johnson; Jon Pylypchuk; Althea Thauberger

ONTARIO
Shary Boyle; Christian Giroux & Daniel Young; Luis Jacob; Kelly Richardson; Derek Sullivan

QUÉBEC
David Altmejd; Raphaëlle de Groot; Manon De Pauw; Pascal Grandmaison; Adad Hannah

ATLANTIC
Alexandra Flood; Tara K. Wells; Ilan Sandler; Graham Patterson; Joe McKay

The shortlist for the 2009 Sobey Art Award will be announced on May 1, 2009. Selected work from the shortlisted artists will be featured in an exhibition at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia running September 5 to November 5, 2009. The winner will be announced during a gala event at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia on October 15, 2009.

The 2009 Sobey Art Award Curatorial Panel comprises: Liz Wylie, Curator, Kelowna Art Gallery; Kitty Scott, Director, Visual Arts, The Banff Centre; Ivan Jurakic, Curator, Cambridge Galleries; Louise Déry, Director/Curator, Galerie de l’Université du Québec à Montréal; Terry Graff, Curator and Deputy Director, Beaverbrook Art Gallery.

BACKGROUND
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia is responsible for accepting nominations for the 2009 Sobey Art Award from recognized agents and institutions. A panel of curatorial advisors, consisting of a representative from a noted gallery in each of five regions (Atlantic, Québec, Ontario, Prairies and The North and West Coast and Yukon), develops the shortlist for the Award. The curatorial panel creates a list of five artists from each region; these are selected from the list of nominated artists, and based on the panel’s professional knowledge of their regions and of the national art scene. The curatorial panel then meets and chooses one representative from each region to be included on the national shortlist. The panel will choose the winner in October 2009.

ABOUT THE AWARD
The Sobey Art Award, Canada’s preeminent award for contemporary Canadian art, was created in 2002 by the Sobey Art Foundation. It is an annual prize given to an artist under 40 who has exhibited in a public or commercial art gallery within 18 months of being nominated. A total of $70,000 in prize money is awarded annually; $50,000 to the winner and $5,000 to the other four finalists. Since its inception the Sobey Art Award and accompanying exhibition have been organized and administered by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.

Previous winners:
2002 – Brian Jungen (West Coast and Yukon)
2004 – Jean-Pierre Gauthier (Québec)
2006 – Annie Pootoogook (Prairies and The North)
2007 – Michel de Broin (Québec)
2008 – Tim Lee (West Coast and Yukon)

SOBEY ART FOUNDATION
The Sobey Art Foundation was established in 1981 with a mandate to carry on the work of entrepreneur and business leader, the late Frank H. Sobey, of collecting and preserving representative examples of 19th and 20th century Canadian art. One of the finest private collections of its kind, the Sobey Art Foundation has assembled exemplary examples from Canadian Masters like Cornelius Krieghoff, Tom Thomson and J.E.H. MacDonald. The collection is housed in an intimate setting at Crombie House, the former home of Frank Sobey and his wife Irene in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. Tours are regularly scheduled throughout the summer months and by appointment year round.

ART GALLERY OF NOVA SCOTIA
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia strives to act as a gateway for the visual arts in Atlantic Canada by bringing the art of the world to Nova Scotia and the art of Nova Scotia to the world. It is an agency of the Province of Nova Scotia responsible for the preservation, exhibition and education of art through its branches in Halifax and Yarmouth.

For more information please contact:

Sarah Fillmore,
Acting Chief Curator / Curator of Exhibitions
902-424-5169, fillmose@gov.ns.ca

Robert Zingone,
Assistant Curator, Contemporary Art
902-424-3001, zingonrj@gov.ns.ca

Sobey Art Award
C/O Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
1723 Hollis St, Box 2262
Halifax NS B3J 3C8
902 424 7359 fax
artgalleryofnovascotia.ca