ALTMEJD, DZAMA AMONG ARTISTS SHORT-LISTED FOR CANADA’S SOBEY AWARD

David Altmejd and Marcel Dzama, two of Canada’s best-known young contemporary artists, have been short-listed for this year’s Sobey Art Award, reports the CBC. The Montreal-based Altmejd, Canada’s featured artist at the 2007 Venice Biennale, is the finalist for the Quebec region. Royal Art Lodge cofounder Dzama, a sculptor, illustrator, and video artist originally from Winnipeg, was selected to represent the Prairie and North regions. Both are now based in New York.

Meanwhile, multidisciplinary artist Shary Boyle has been chosen to represent the Ontario region. Installation artist Graeme Patterson, now living in Halifax, is the finalist for the Atlantic region, while Victoria-based illustrator and sculptor Luanne Martineau, also originally from Saskatoon, represents the West Coast and Yukon.

The winner will take home a prize worth approximately forty thousand dollars. The remaining finalists will receive four thousand dollars each.

Established in 2002, the Sobey Art Award is an annual prize that honors Canadian contemporary artists under the age of forty. Past winners have included Brian Jungen, Annie Pootoogook, and Michel de Broin.