London—In light of the COVID-19 crisis, Dentons and the judges of the ninth Dentons Art Prize have decided to divide the £5,000 award between all 11 shortlisted artists in the hope that it will offer some support at this difficult time.

The judges named Morris for a Special Commendation to acknowledge their collective appreciation of his work. Anna Freeman Bentley won the Staff Prize, voted for by Dentons' staff. Amanda Denny won the inaugural Committee Award, chosen by the members of the Dentons Art Prize Committee.

Dentons collaborates with curator Niamh White and artist Tim A Shaw to host the biannual prize for emerging contemporary artists. As part of the initiative, the shortlisted artists display their work at Dentons' London office and are given access to expert pro bono legal advice. The initiative gives the Dentons community the opportunity to engage with the artworks through a series of booklets and events with the artists.

Over the past five years, Dentons has been committed to supporting artists at pivotal times in their careers, and it fully agreed with the judges' decision to alter the format of the award for this unprecedented time.

Lucille De Silva, partner in Dentons' London office, said, "The aim of the Dentons Art Prize is to support the best emerging artists with a monetary award at a crucial stage of their creative careers and to enhance the working environment of our clients and lawyers with a changing collection of cutting-edge art. In these challenging times we can only really achieve our first goal, and the Dentons Art Committee agreed with our judges that sharing the prize was the best decision we could make in order to make a difference to all the talented and shortlisted artists. Each artist is a worthy winner."

Ordinarily the judging of the Dentons Art Prize takes place in person at Dentons' London office, where the panel can view each of the shortlisted works in close proximity. Due to the lockdown restrictions, the judging of the ninth Dentons Art Prize took place via Zoom, with judges only able to interact with digital imagery of the shortlisted works. 

Judge Ryan Mosley said, "With the uncertainty that the current pandemic brings, it was felt we could give a helping hand to all our participating artists by splitting the prize. All the artists in the prize were worthy winners and, in times where a helping gesture can have an even greater impact, it felt like the right decision.  

"Morris’s work hit a chord with me and with all the judges. I guess we all think of family in times of uncertainty, and these paintings of people represented for me an extended family. They made me think of what we are and who we are. We’re human, and we’re looking at a representation of that in a time when life becomes far removed from whatever normal was. 

"The split prize money offers the artists a helping hand to contribute towards studio rent or a decent amount for artists' materials to continue through these uncertain times we all find ourselves in."
Judge Angela Samata said, "I’m not sure a decision made by a jury I’ve sat on has ever felt more like the right thing to do. At this time of global emergency, we decided that we had an opportunity to make a small but significant contribution to all our artists, and so we decided to divide the prize money equally amongst them.

"We also decided that the work of Morris should receive a special commendation. His vibrant portraits instantly invite the viewer to explore their lives, their situations and their actions, an invitation that all the jury unanimously recognised and welcomed."

Judge Ryan Mosley is a painter currently exhibiting at the Whitechapel Gallery Radical Figures exhibition, judge Angela Samata is an arts professional and broadcaster who ran the John Moores Painting Prize, and judge Antonia Blocker is a senior curator at the Zablodowicz Collection.

Our previous judging panels have included artists Richard Wentworth, Susan Hiller, Mark Titchner and Michael Landy, gallerists Neil Wenman, Simon Lee and Maureen Paley, and collectors David Roberts and Valeria Napoleone.Previous winners of the Dentons Art Prize include Liqing Tan, Cherelle Sappleton, Katharine Lazenby, Alzbeta Jaresova, Paresha Amin, Alexandra Lethbridge and Aimee Parrott. 

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