Goleen painter shortlisted for major art prize

WEST Cork painter Pascal Ungerer has been shortlisted for a prestigious British art award which will be announced next month.

From more than 1,600 entrants, Pascal from Goleen has been selected as one of the finalists of this year’s Robert Walters Group UK New Artist of the Year Award.

Artists who are eligible to live, work, or study in the UK can submit their work for consideration. The award sets out to discover and champion exceptional emerging artists in the first 10 years of their professional practice.

Pascal will join their fellow shortlisted artists in exhibiting their work at the prestigious Saatchi Gallery in London on Thursday November 9th. The overall winner of the £10,000 (€11,500) cash prize will be announced at a VIP awards evening and the runner-up will receive a cash prize of £5,000 (€5,750).

Speculative Artefact, a piece by Pascal Ungerer.

Pascal specialises in contemporary landscape painting and often works on large scale oil paintings. His work focuses on the in-between spaces or ‘edgelands’ that lie at the intersection of urban and rural.

He is particularly interested in the obsolete infrastructure on the margins of human habitation.

‘Winning the UK New Artist of the Year award will propel my art practice to the next level and form an integral part of my artistic progression,’ said Pascal. ‘It would also be a huge vote of confidence for me as an artist and give me a great sense of validation for the work I have been producing in recent years.’

Pascal holds an honours degree in Fine Art from the Crawford College of Art in Design. In 2018 he completed a scholarship funded MFA at Goldsmiths University London. He has exhibited his work extensively throughout Europe – as well as in North America and Asia – including Blackburn Museum, CICA Museum South Korea, Roman Road Gallery London and the Visual Centre for Contemporary Art, Ireland.

He has won, been shortlisted, and long-listed for many awards such as the Jacksons Painting Prize, Alliance Francaise de Cork Exhibition Award, Bloomberg New Contemporaries, The Solo Award, The Alpine Fellowship, The Sunny Art Prize, The ACS Studio Prize and the Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize.

This is the fourth year of the UK New Artist of the Year award, which is organised by recruitment consultancy Robert Walters Group, British arts charity UK New Artists, and renowned contemporary art platform Saatchi Gallery - to help provide a career springboard for up-and-coming artists.

The other nominees in this year’s shortlist are: Damaris Athene (London), William Bacon (Oxford),Parham Ghalamdar (Manchester), Sofia Laskari (London), Kieran Leach (Manchester), Elena Njoabuzia Onwochei-Garcia (Glasgow/Macclesfield), Edward Rollitt (Winchester), Anna Tong (London), and Kim Thompson (Nottingham).

On the day of the awards ceremony, the 10 shortlisted artists will have their work judged by an expert panel including art enthusiast Robert Walters of Robert Walters Group; Michelle Bowen, director of UK New Artists; Alex Zawadzki founder of the Second Act Gallery; Habib
Hajallie, artist and winner of the 2022 UK New Artist of the Year award; artist Harold Offeh; Paul Foster, director of the Saatchi Gallery; and Inger Margrethe Stoveland director of Fluks Centre for Young Art.

‘I think this year our short-listed artists all share a unique perspective on the world and their work is compelling, engaging and inspiring. UKNA is proud to be able to support talented new artists and watch as their careers grow and blossom,’ said Michelle Bowen, UK New Artists director.