Interviews with the Judges: Adeline de Monseignat

The Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize 2016 Judging Panel is a selection of highly respected and renowned individuals in the art world, who cover a wide range of viewpoints and varied tastes for all movements, mediums and types of Fine Art.

In the third of a series of interviews, we ask new judge Adeline de Monseignat the questions many artists have asked us. These including understanding what famous art and artists the judges like, more about the judges' expectations, their involvement in the art world, the exciting projects they are involved in and their own tips to help your career. If you have any new questions you would like ask yourself, feel free to comment below...

Adeline de Monseignat, a London-based multidisciplinary artist, has rapidly become one of the most exciting emerging artists since gaining an MA in Fine Art from City & Guilds of London Art School in 2011. She has been featured in numerous art prizes, gained an exhibition alongside Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley and the Chapman Brothers at Victoria Miro Gallery, and is currently represented by the Mayfair-based Ronchini Gallery. We welcome her to the judging panel for 2017, to share her knowledge and skills in sculpture, as well as advice from her rapidly growing career, to help entrants to this years art competition.

---

Q1: Which artworks or media or movements are your favourites?
A1: Surrealism.  An extraordinary movement that brought together all art forms - from poetry to painting, from sculpture to film - and enabled for us to reconsider the world we live in with a fresh pair of eyes.

Q2: What do you appreciate or look for in an artwork?
A2: I look for its soul, whether it stirs a known emotion in an unfamiliar way. 

Q3: If realism/traditional is 0 and abstract is 10, what number places your favourite artworks/type?
A3: Whether a piece speaks to me or not doesn’t depend on its level of abstraction or figuration but on its level on honesty.

Q4: Which important/renowned artists are you interested by?
A4: Cy Twombly, Brancusi, Bourgeois, Cai Guo Qiang.

Q5: What do you appreciate or look for in an artist with potential?
A5: An honest display of vulnerability tackled with skills and conveyed with strength.

Q6: Do you have one important piece of advice for emerging artists?
A6: Trust your gut and stay honest with yourself: only you know whether your work is good or bad.

Q7: What has been your favourite art project that you have been involved with?
A7: My favourite project is always the next one to come because the planning phase is always the one with most potential.

Q8: What plans and projects have you got for 2017?
A8: House of Penelope at Gallery 46 curated by Lauren Jones and Alix Janta (7-20 Jan) 
Through The Looking Glass at the Mile End Art Pavilion curated by Alteria Art and James Putnam (8 Mar-9 Apr)
Force of Nature II curated by James Putnam, at the Mile End Art Pavilion (8 Mar-9 Apr)
Fibra residency in Colombia organized by Mia Pfeifer and Bea Bonafini (Jan-Feb 2017) 
Stone carving in Mexico at artist’s Marina Lascaris's studio (Feb-Mar 2017).

Join our newsletter (click here) to be notified of the next issue of interviews with the judges as well as invites to our exclusive events for artists and news on the art prize.

Interview by Conrad Carvalho, Prize Director