Multidisciplinary artist Chudamani Clowes has been awarded the Griffin Art Prize which includes a six-month residency in our studio above Griffin Gallery. she will take up her residency in March 2015.

Chudamani is a recent graduate of the Royal College of Art, and lives in South West London with her husband and son. For over 20 years, Chudamani worked as a teacher, before studying fine art at both Central St. Martins and most recently graduating with an MA from the Royal College of Art in 2014. Chudamani’s practice spans media from textile and sculpture to etchings and typography, developing an original alphabet using Victorian imagery and taking inspiration from the official language of flags, semaphore and the maritime alphabet.

Inspired by her research into the ethnographic archive at the British Museum Chudamani works with artefacts to form fictional narratives of a colonial past. She describes herself as a ‘post-colonial subject’, informing her reclamation and reappropriation of objects from her family history to shape her identity through a process of translation. Using the imagery and language of her chosen objects,
Clowes enacts a retelling of her own historical past, exploring issues of immigration, race and diaspora today.

The judging panel based their decision on innovation and potential of these promising artists, and was composed of Alastair Smart, chief art critic for The Telegraph; Gordon Cheung, internationally acclaimed contemporary artist; Anj Smith, whose paintings have been exhibited worldwide, with a solo exhibition opening at Hauser & Wirth in autumn 2015; Jenni Lomax OBE, director of the Camden Arts Centre; and Jenny Lindén Urnes, Owner and Chairman of Lindéngruppen, a family business based in Sweden, focusing on long-term development of industrial companies, including Winsor & Newton, Conté à Paris and Liquitex.

Chudamani Clowes, winner of the Griffin Art Prize 2014, said: "I feel incredibly privileged and excited to have won. The future is full of possibilities. I'm really looking forward to working closely with such an amazing team in developing my practice as an artist. Working collaboratively in a creative environment will allow me to develop my ideas to a new level. I want to be innovative in my use of paint media and explore themes relevant to the local area's multi-cultural heritage."

Becca Pelly-Fry, Griffin Gallery Director, says: “The quality of the work this year was very high, causing some real debate amongst the judges on the panel. Ultimately, the panel were drawn to more expressive, emotional work, resulting in the decision to make Chudamani Clowes our 2014 winner. She’s an extremely deserving winner and an interesting artist – I’m really excited to see how she responds to being resident here at Griffin Gallery next year.
Year on year we’ve seen the quality and diversity of work submitted increase, indicating that what we are offering is both needed and valued by the next generation of highly talented young artists. The diversity of backgrounds and interests panel members has resulted in a really interesting exhibition, which demonstrates diversity of artistic practice in the UK today. The ten shortlisted artists use a range of media and have very differing conceptual concerns; from explorations cultural heritage and identity to the transformation of mundane objects and however each artist demonstrates a strong commitment to their practice.”

Anj Smith, Griffin Art Prize 2014 Judge and Artist said: “The strength of Chudamani’s work spoke for itself and the decision was unanimous. I found the process very illuminating - my thanks to the other members of the panel for the many interesting exchanges during the discussions. I was keen to support this process as I feel that prizes like these, which give artists space, time and resources - are invaluable in the current climate.”

Alistair Smart, Griffin Art Prize 2014 Judge and The Telegraph art's critic said: "I found my experience as one of the judges of the 2014 Griffin Prize highly agreeable: in large part because of the quality and variety of the work. From portraits and tessellations to sculptures and video projections, there was no sense of homogeneity. I also think it helped that the judges themselves were from such a broad background: two artists, a gallery director, an art company chairman (plus myself from the media). Which meant, of course, for healthy discussion throughout. Though we were all happy with our final 10 artists, and indeed with our winner, there was much debate before we got there! On a personal level, everyone involved with the prize from the gallery's side was a delight to work with: Fiona and George from Kallaway, like Becca and Mathew from Griffin, made everything clear and straightforward from the start. You were also very welcoming. As for the prize itself, it felt extra special that it didn't simply offer the winner pride, prestige and cash. Part of the decision-making in picking our winner was how well we felt he/she would use the opportunity of a six-month studio residency: complete with all the materials from Winsor & Newton, and all the chemists' assistance from the Innovation & Development department, they could ask for. I wish Chudamani, a worthy winner, all the best with her residency and look forward to seeing the fruits of it in her exhibition next year."     

Jenni Lomax, Griffin Art Prize 2014 Judge and Director of Camden Arts Centre said: "I really enjoyed  being involved with the prize, it was a great opportunity to see high quality work by a wide range of emerging artists. I also enjoyed the discussions with my fellow judges and thought that the shortlisted artists made a very strong exhibition. From brief conversations I had with a few of the  artists on the night they seemed  thrilled at being selected and to  have the opportunity of exhibiting their work in the gallery, whether or not they won the final prize."

The work on show in the Griffin Art Prize 2014 Shortlist Exhibition includes a wide range of media from painting and drawing to printmaking, sculpture and installation.

The shortlisted artists are:

• Jennifer Campbell
• Elisha Enfield
• Yvonne Feng
• Evy Jokhova
• Matthew Krishanu
• Sarah Lederman
• Amba Sayal-Bennett
• Alexandra Sinopoulou
• Jinge Zhao

The Shortlist exhibition is on until 17th December 2014.

For more information visit the Grififn Art Prize website.