Concordia MFA student wins the Nancy Petry Award in Painting
Painter Lauren Pelc-McArthur in her studio. Photo credit: Richard-Max Tremblay.
Of the 30 artist applicants for this year’s Nancy Petry Award in Painting, a winner has been named: Lauren Pelc-McArthur, an MFA candidate in Concordia University's Department of Studio Arts.
In partnership with the Joe Plaskett Foundation, the Nancy Petry Foundation awards $10,000 to an outstanding emerging Canadian artist in the field of painting. Beginning in 2015, the Petry Award annually funds a candidate to live abroad for two months, drawing inspiration from their travels and creating art.
“I am honoured to receive the Petry Prize” says Pelc-McArthur, who sees the award as an encouraging sign that she is on the right path. “Nancy Petry is an influential figure in Canadian painting, and I am in great company with the previous winners of the award.”
Born in Toronto, Pelc-McArthur’s artistic practice reflects on technological and organic interconnectivity and its potential for both creation and annihilation. The jury for the Petry Award particularly appreciated the visual complexity of her paintings, which create optical effects through their high-chroma fluorescence, rhythm, and pattern. Playing with texture and visual overload on the surface of the paintings, Pelc-McArthur is interested in digital culture, screen aesthetics and the flux of imagined spaces.
Pelc-McArthur has participated in residencies and exhibitions in the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States. Most recently, her work was featured in IGNITION 15, the annual exhibition of graduate student work from the Studio Arts and Humanities at the Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery. In 2018, she was nominated for the RBC Prize for Painting. The Patrick Mikhail Gallery recently announced that they will be representing Pelc-McArthur, where she will join artists like Chun Hua Catherine Dong (MFA'15) and Jinyoung Kim (MFA'14).
Lauren Pelc McArthur, from left to right: DuoSifter Snap; Liquidation Strategy to Official Space; Sprite Riot; Think, Simpson, Think, 2019. Acrylic and oil on canvas, 152.4 x 101.6 cm each. Installation view, Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery. Photo: Paul Litherland/Studio Lux.
Pelc-McArthur says that the Petry Award will allow her more freedom and she is looking forward to travelling and discovering new parts of the world.
“I have never swum in the ocean before, so that is probably the first thing I am going to do!”
Across two months, the artist will visit Germany, Russia, and Italy. She will also stop in Switzerland to visit the CERN laboratory, where she hopes to participate in their public events and art activities.
The next call for applications to the Nancy Petry Award as well as the Joe Plaskett Award will be open in February 2020.