Graduate鈥檚 鈥榤edieval Punch and Judy鈥� puppet film wins Catlin Art Prize 2016
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牛牛资源 graduate and former boxer Christopher Gray has been awarded the prestigious Catlin Art Prize 2016 for his “engaging and original” animated film with violent puppetry.
Gray, and 牛牛资源 Department of Art alumni Riikka Hyv枚nen, Victor Saemundur and Thor Helgason, were among the 30 most promising talents chosen for this year鈥檚 XL Catlin Art Guide: a showcase of the art world鈥檚 rising stars which acts as a longlist for the XL Catlin Art Prize.
Those shortlisted are considered to be producing work of an outstanding quality, which demonstrates their capacity to make a significant mark in the art world during the next decade.
Justin Hammond, curator of the prize said: 鈥淚magine a medieval Punch and Judy starring in a video nasty and you鈥檙e halfway to Christopher Gray鈥檚 Death by Chair.鈥�
After receiving the 拢5,000 prize at a private ceremony on Tuesday 17 May, Gray commented: "I feel overwhelmed with happiness right now and amazed that I鈥檝e won the prize鈥� it鈥檚 built up my confidence as an artist.
"The work I do is quite controversial and to get this support is a really big thing. This piece is to do with fictional violence and I have been looking in mainstream cinema and how it鈥檚 quite prolific.
"Society to a large extent has become de-sensitised to violence. Once you put violence in a different context, you become sensitive to it again."
This year's judges were artist and former Turner Prize nominee Mark Titchner; Senior Curator of Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Helen Pheby; and Vanessa Carlos, founder and director of Carlos/Ishikawa.
Helen Pheby says: "Christopher Gray鈥檚 video is powerful and affecting. It鈥檚 brilliantly conceived and realised, triggering questions around the brutal and brutalised. We were really impressed by the quality and diversity in this year鈥檚 prize. It didn鈥檛 make for easy judging, but it鈥檚 an excellent signifier of how creative practice is thriving in the UK. On the evidence of this work, all of the shortlisted artists are definitely ones to watch."
A former boxer, Christopher makes short films 鈥� often helped by his daughter - on the subject of fictional violence. He graduated from 牛牛资源 in 2015 with a 2:1 BA Fine Art and Art History, taught jointly between the Department of Art and Department of Visual Cultures.
reports that his new work will use puppets made from chicken skins to realistically replicate human flesh.
