Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020
Virtual Exhibition Tour

TRINITY BUOY WHARF
64 Orchard Pl, Poplar, London, E14 0JW

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize received a record-breaking number of entries in 2020. The volume and quality of artworks submitted by creatives from 42 countries around the world made the selection more challenging than ever for this year’s selection panel – Ian McKeever RA, artist, Frances Morris, Director of Tate Modern, and Sophia Yadong Hao, Principal Curator of Cooper Gallery, Dundee. The Working Drawing Award was selected by Sir Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum, Piers Gough CBE RA, Architect, and Sophie McKinlay, Director of Programme at V&A Dundee.

Out of 4,274 entries, 71 works by 56 drawing practitioners were selected – making the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize exhibition a ‘must see’ for everyone interested in drawing, contemporary art, design, and architecture today. The exhibition includes works by artists, architects, designers, and makers at all stages of their careers - from students to established practitioners - located across the UK, as well as in France, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, and Turkey. The selected works create a diverse exhibition that reflects a broad scope of contemporary drawing practice.

M. Lohrum received the First Prize of £8,000 for You are It, a performative drawing that questions the notion of authorship by emphasising collectivity and collaboration. Participants created a collaborative drawing by following these rules: ‘Walk along the paper. Draw circles with your arm. Stop below the lights. Resume your march when other participant touches your shoulder’ for the performance documented in film in the exhibition. You Are It has also been adapted to accommodate safe social distancing for participants at Cooper Gallery at the University of Dundee and Trinity Buoy Wharf in London.  It is the first time a performative drawing has been awarded First Prize in the history of the exhibition.

The Second Prize, worth £5,000, was awarded to Nancy Haslam-Chance for her series of Caring Drawings. Individually entitled Pendant Alarm, Tea, and Teeth, these pencil drawings document the artist’s role as a carer and support worker. Focusing on the relationships she has formed with her clients, Nancy Haslam-Chance represents the daily details and practicalities of a job she describes as “rewarding but also hard and lonely”. Drawn from memory while the artist travelled between shifts, the prize-winning drawings expressively capture moments of intimacy, tenderness, and companionship.

Ayeshah Zolghadr received the Student Award of £2,000, for Circling the Square I. This drawing traces repetitive walks made by the artist’s father from 7 February until 21 May 2020, walking around the square outside of his home multiple times a day and following varying paths. Through the practice of walking, Ayeshah’s father seeks control over his medical anxiety and ongoing stroke recovery. Initially recorded through the running app Strava, the line drawings represent an abstracted visual database and transcribes 116 meditative walks in total within this digital line drawing,

The Working Drawing Award was selected by Sir Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum, London, Piers Gough CBE RA, Architect, and Sophie McKinlay, Director of Programme at V&A Dundee. Worth £2,000, the Working Drawing Award went to Ben Johnson’s meticulously detailed Scrovegni Chapel Worksheet, a preparatory drawing for a painting. This drawing represents Ben Johnson’s reflections on the Scrovegni Chapel, renowned for Giotto’s frescoes of the story of Christ’s life, which dominates the experience of the architectural space of this perfect but humble architecture.

The selectors also awarded three Special Commendations to:

• Frank Leuwer, for his three drawings Untitled (Attic), Untitled (Room), and Untitled (Room), 2020, all Sellotape on paper.

• James Robert Morrison, for his three drawings in the series There is Never More Than a Fag Paper Between Them - Phil & Jacob, Leo & Brian, Andrew & Ben, 2020, all made with pencil on fag (cigarette) papers.

• Isabel Rock, for her drawing, Grief 1 - Leap from The Island, 2019, acrylic ink on paper.

The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize has an established reputation as the UK’s most important annual exhibition of drawing. Led by Professor Anita Taylor, Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at the University of Dundee, and supported by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust, the annual Drawing Prize exhibition is known for its influential role in promoting and celebrating contemporary drawing practice and championing the role and value of drawing as a vital means of communication and expression. 2020 is the third year of support for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust and the 25th consecutive annual exhibition since it was founded in 1994.

After a successful tour to Drawing Projects UK in Trowbridge and Cooper Gallery in Dundee, the UK’s most established open exhibition for drawing, the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, will be available to see online this January. Described by visitors as “a visual feast”, “a revelation” and “a real treat”, this show of 71 works by 56 artists will be available to see on the Trinity Buoy Wharf website and on the TBW Drawing Prize’s website.

Follow on Instagram: @trinitybuoywharf
Find out more: trinitybuoywharfdrawingprize.drawingprojects.uk trinitybuoywharf.com
From 9 January 2021 to 22 January 2021.

More Virtual Exhibitions→