LONDON.- 100 Sculptors of Tomorrow is the culmination of a year-long search to identify the 100 most exciting up-and-coming sculptors working today around the world.
Authored by Kurt Beers, whose groundbreaking 100 Painters of Tomorrow went on to launch many artists’ careers and is still a leading resource on some of the most important emerging painters in the world, 100 Sculptors of Tomorrow serves not only as an inventory of the most notable sculptors working across the world today, it questions what the very nature of sculpture can be.
The foreword is written by art historian and critic Richard Cork, who comments, “As this book attests with such vigour the artists of today refuse to be constrained in any way by traditional approaches…Sculpture used to be considered a fundamentally ‘tough’ activity, lauding bodily perfection. But practitioners in the twenty-first century are increasingly preoccupied with vulnerability.”
Selected sculptors include Chris Bogia, Shane Darwent Mark Whalen, Troika, Haroon Mirza, duo Ghost of a Dream, Zac Harmon, Michelle Segre, Alex Chinnock, Ben Long, Samara Scott, Jack Lavender, Leif Low-Beer, Rachel Ara, Jonathan Schipper, Emanuel Tovar, Donna Huanca, Renee So, Cammie Staros, Sebastian Neeb, Cameron Platter, Ludovica Gioscia, Ioanna Pantazapoulou, Rachel Champion, Rachel Pimm, Gal Weinstein, Haffendi Anuar, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Saad Qureshi, Zadie Xa, Rushdi Anwar, Kadar Attia, Cătălin Bădărău, EJ Hill, Thomas J Price, Robin Antar, Jebila Okongwu, Caroline Aichantre, Lindsay Lawson, Pepe Mar, Ruby Neri, Christian Newby, Ramesh Mario Nithyiendran, Zoe Paul, Nathan Mabry, Francis Upritchard, Olaniyi R Akindiya, Virginia Leonard and Hiromi Tango.
The 100 artists, chosen by a jury of professionals in the field of sculpture, represent a fifty-fifty split of online open-call submissions and juror recommendation including sculptors found by Beers at art fairs and on Instagram. A platform for those included to reach a wider audience, gain international exposure and encourage critical reception, 100 SCULPTORS OF TOMORROW offers three collectives, fifty-nine male, thirty-eight female and three non-binary artists born in thirty-eight different countries and working in over thirty. Recurrent themes, from technology and communication to ecology, are clear throughout, and dialogues with architecture and nature seem enabled by an openness to scale, site-specificity and temporality. The final sculptors of tomorrow represent an astoundingly diverse range of artists, backgrounds, styles and approaches.
“It is not just about creating something for a plinth, but about questioning and reshaping sculpture as a discipline, and rethinking precisely what we - as viewers - have come to expect a sculptor to make….Sculpture offers us something tangible, physical and material - a way, perhaps, of figuring out how to situate ourselves in a greater context.” Kurt Beers
The 288-page hardback includes high-quality reproductions of each artist’s work, short texts including biographical information, quotations from the artists themselves plus a further listing of artists to watch, recommended reading, and individual juror picks.
The respected panel of jurors are Anne Ellegood, Senior Curator at the Hammer Museum; Clare Lilley, Director of Programme at Yorkshire Sculpture Park; Jiang Jiehong, Professor of Chinese Art at Birmingham School of Art; Francesca Gavin, freelance writer, curator and editor whose credits include Dazed & Confused, Vogue, and Elle; David Huber, critic, editor, and frequent contributor to Artforum; Natalie King, curator and Senior Research Fellow at the Victorian College of Arts, Melbourne; Stefan Simchowitz, art collector, curator and advisor; and Anita Zabludowicz, UK-based collector and head of the renowned Zabludowicz Collection; as well as author Kurt Beers, Director of Beers London and author of 100 PAINTERS OF TOMORROW.
100 Sculptors of Tomorrow is the second book in the series authored by Kurt Beers and published by Thames & Hudson.
Kurt Beers is Director of Beers London art gallery and author of both 100 Sculptors of Tomorrow (2019) and 100 Painters of Tomorrow (2014). In his capacity as gallery Director since 2012, Beers has worked with emerging and established artists internationally, prioritizing an approach to contemporary art that is both progressive and thought-provoking. Through his work on both books with esteemed British art publishers, Thames & Hudson, Beers has worked to create an international network of artists with the goal of creating a legacy of books and an international fraternity of artists. Through continued collaboration with artists and organizations, Beers continues to spearhead one of the most regarded spaces operating under its first ten years in London. In 2015 and 2016, Beers London was listed in Blouin Media’s ‘500 Best Galleries Worldwide’ and in 2015 Director Kurt Beers was included in ArtLyst’s ‘Alternative Power 100’. Beers holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Master’s Degree from City University in London, England.
