The ŠKODA Prize winners announced

Navin Thomas was announced the winner of the second edition of The ŠKODA Prize at a ceremony at the Taj Palace hotel. World-famous British artist Marc Quinn handed over the Trophy and a cheque for Rs.10, 00,000 to him.

The ŠKODA Prize is the largest and most prestigious award on the Indian visual arts scene. It recognizes cutting-edge work demonstrating vision, innovation, and a mature understanding of material and form. The Prize brings to public notice exciting trends in contemporary art, highlighting the output of established mid-career artists as well as new voices.

Navin Thomas’ series of works, entitled ‘From the Town’s End…’ was shown at GALLERYSKE in Banglore. The two Runners-up were awarded residencies in Switzerland, courtesy Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council. Inaugural ‘The Breakthrough Artist Award’ was given to Madhuban Mitra and Manas Bhattacharya. The two received a cheque of Rs. 50,000

The Jury was headed by Kiran Nadar, the Chairperson of Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. Other members of the Jury were Pooja Sood, the Director of KHOJ International Artists’ Association; Vivan Sundaram, a renowned India contemporary artist; Heike Munder, director-curator of the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst in Zurich; and Martin Clark, Artistic Director of Tate St Ives.

An organizers note stated, “The ŠKODA Prize has been able to achieve in its second year itself. And we are confident that from here on, it will grow stupendously in stature and popularity. The corner stone of success in second season for us has been to see more and more contemporary artists from beyond the metros became a part of the prize. The organization will continue to provide its whole hearted support to this incredible platform. ‘The Breakthrough Artist Award’ and a public platform for the nominated artists to showcase their artworks have helped us achieve just that.”

The ŠKODA Prize Twenty 2011-2012, an annual documentation that accompanies every edition of The ŠKODA Prize is being published by Popular Prakashan this year and is on sale during the exhibition.