On the heels of being included in the Aesthetica Art Prize's inaugural exhibition at York St Marys in the United Kingdom this spring, local artist Marcus Jansen has been chosen by an esteemed panel of judges as a finalist for the Seventh Annual International Art Prize Arte Laguna. This prestigious event takes place in Venice, Italy this March and includes cash prizes, a collective exhibition in Venice Arsenale, a special exhibition at the Romanian Institute for Arts, Culture and Research, a number of exhibitions in art galleries, and an official catalogue.
The Prize Arte Laguna is open to artists without any limit of age, sex, nationality or other qualifications. Each artist can participate with one or more artworks in painting, sculpture and installation, photography, video art and animation, performance art and virtual art.
Submissions were judged by Umberto Angelini (Italy, Director of Festival Uovo), Gabriella Belli (Italy, Director of Musei Civici of Venice), Adam Budak (United States, Curator of Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden of Washington), Cecilia Freschini (China, Independent Curator; founder and director of lab-Yit | the Italian Contemporary Art Platform in China), Mario Gerosa (Italy, Senior editor of AD, Digital Art Curator), Lina Lazaar (Great Britain, Expert in International Contemporary Art for Sotheby’s), Kanchi Mehta (India, Founder and Chief Curator of Chameleon Art Projects & and India Editor for Flash Art), Sabine Schaschl (Switzerland, Director and Curator of Kunsthaus Basel), Felix Schöber (Germany, Independent Curator), and Claudia Zanfi (Italy, Art Historian and Cultural Manager).
Aimed at promoting and enhancing contemporary art, the International Art Prize Arte Laguna is organized by the Italian Cultural Association MoCA (Modern Contemporary Art) in collaboration with Arte Laguna.
The Prize Arte Laguna represents the third time in less than six months that Jansen has been chosen for a major internationally-curated exhibition. In December, Jansen won 5th Semi-Annual Dave Bown Project International Award and earlier this month, his dystopian urban landscape, Imminent Threat, was chosen from more than 3,000 entries for inclusion in the Aesthetica Art Prize competition and exhibition that will be decided this spring.
The New York City native has also been selected for the cover of The New American Paintings No. 94 and the upcoming "Studio Visit" publication, both published by The Open Studio Press.
Jansen has been mentioned by many art critics and historians as one of the most the art world's most exciting rising stars. The artist and Gulf War Veteran has upcoming museum exhibitions in Rome, Italy and other parts of Europe, with dates to be announced later this year. His work is included in the permanent collections of the PERMM Museum of Contemporary Art, The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, The Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA), The New Britain Museum of American Art and the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, Taiwan.
Companies including Warner Brothers, the Ford Motor Company and Absolut Vodka have also commissioned Jansen to create special works just for them. Absolut, for example, invited Jansen to participate in their ABSOLUT BLANK global marketing campaign along with 17 other internationally-acclaimed artists. AndyWarhol, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Douglas Gordon, Louise Bourgeois and, more recently, Ellen von Unwerth and Spike Jonze are some of the icons with whom Absolut has partnered in this way.
Jansen's work can be seen locally at UNIT A Contemporary Art Space in Fort Myers during Art Walk; the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery on March 1, where selected work will be included in the Eye on the Storm group show guest curated by D. Dominick Lombardi; and at BIG ARTS on Sanibel, where Jansen's solo show, Expressionism Today: Urban, Socio-Political Paintings, opens at 4 p.m. on March 15.
Comments