Trumpeting artistic vision

Gay provocateur David Altmejd won the $50,000 Sobey Art Award, the country’s richest art prize. His win was announced at Art Gallery of Nova Scotia on Oct 15. The jury cited his macabre sculptures and installations for their “pursuit of metamorphosis and mutation as a means of releasing energy.” The New York-based Montrealer was chosen from a shortlist of five artists under 40 representing regions across the country including Ontario’s Shary Boyle.
Boyle wasn’t given much opportunity to cry in her soup, however. On Oct 27 she won the 2009 Gershon Iskowitz Prize, a $25,000 award from the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Iskowitz Foundation.
Boyle will be presented the prize at a reception on Tue, Dec 1 where a commemorative volume celebrating the first 20 years of the Iskowitz Prize will be launched. The prize also includes an exhibition of Boyle’s work — fantastical paintings, porcelain sculptures and projections/installations — at the AGO in 2010.