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Barclays Young Artist Award 1992

Group show at Serpentine Gallery. 1992
Date: 5 February, 1992 until 8 March, 1992
Organiser: Julia Peyton-Jones

Following two years of postgraduate study at Goldsmiths College, Yinka Shonibare was included in the prestigious Barclays Young Artist Award 1992, held at the Serpentine Gallery in London. (1) This was the eighth year of the annual exhibition of London art school postgraduates shortlisted for this award. Along with Shonibare, the other shortlisted artists were: Richard Ducker, Janice Howard, Andrew Kearney, Gabriel Klasmer, Joanna Lawrance, Lisa Richardson, Stefan Shankland, and Mari Tachikawa. Though five of these artists were apparently “not British in terms of birthplace or ethnicity,” (2) Elsbeth Court (who reviewed the exhibition for African arts magazine) also claimed that Shonibare was “the first non-European selected to be a finalist.” (3) The significance of Shonibare’s inclusion in the exhibition cannot easily be overstated. More than a decade and a half after the Barclays Young Artist Award 1992, Shonibare was asked, in an interview for the Guardian to describe what his big breakthrough was. He replied: “Winning a Barclays Young Artist award in 1992. It got me noticed.”(4)

The work that Shonibare exhibited in the Barclays Young Artist Award of 1992 was groundbreaking. (He had, the previous year, shown an earlier version of the work at Goldsmiths College). Elsbeth Court, provided the most substantial appraisal of Shonibare’s work in the Serpentine exhibition, which was titled Installation.

“On adjacent walls Shonibare composed an asymmetrical array of four-sided color field objects prepared from textiles stretched over a frame, like the traditional canvas, and painted. Stunning in appearance and significance, Installation is a watershed for contemporary African art.” (5)

In her review, Court distinguished herself as a particular admirer of this work by Shonibare. Other critics submitted more muted (and certainly, much briefer) comment on Installation. The Guardian’s Tim’s Hilton offered this weary assessment:

“Yinka Shonibare (born in London) shows paintings that are made from African fabrics, but even this explicit Africanness is sacrificed to the prevailing mood of the exhibition – which is of laid-back postgraduate knowingness, valuing sophistication more than commitment. Art-smart cool carries the day.” (6)

William Feaver perceived the significance of the notion of “cultural feedback” in his equally fleeting references to Shonibare’s work in the Barclays Young Artist Award exhibition.

“Samples of textiles such as used to be produced in Lancashire for the West African market are stretched up by Yinka Shonibare to form the fronts or sides of otherwise blank paintings. The concern is with cultural debasement, cultural trickle-down and cultural feedback. A point well made.” (7)

The exhibition came with a small, but hugely significant unpaginated catalogue.

(1) Barclays Young Artist Award 1992, Serpentine Gallery, London, 5 February–8 March, 1992. Richard Ducker, Janice Howard, Andrew Kearney, Gabriel Klasmer, Joanna Lawrance, Lisa Richardson, Stefan Shankland, Yinka Shonibare, and Mari Tachikawa. (exh. cat.)

(2) Elsbeth Court, “Yinka Shonibare: Finalist, Barclays Young Artist Award,” African Arts (January 1993): 79–80.

(3) Elsbeth Court, “Yinka Shonibare: Finalist, Barclays Young Artist Award,” African Arts (January 1993): 79–80.

(4) Laura Barnett, “Portrait of the artist: Yinka Shonibare, artist” (interview), The Guardian (27 January 2009), G2: 25. Shonibare’s answer is perhaps in need of some clarification. The winner of the Barclays Young Artist Award 1992 was in fact Andrew Kearney.

(5) Elsbeth Court, Yinka Shonibare: Finalist, Barclays Young Artist Award, African Arts (January 1993): 79–80.

(6) Tim Hilton, “Art school cool that is glad to be grey”, Guardian, (12 February 1992): 36

(7) William Feaver, “Mistress of the vessels”, Observer, 16 February 1992