Artists Kevin Osepa, Koes Staassen, Jay Tan and Geo Wyeth have been nominated for the Dolf Henkes Prize 2021. The prize is awarded every two years by the Henkes Foundation to an iconic artist from Rotterdam or Curaçao. On Thursday 1 July, the prize was awarded to Geo Wyeth, and an amount of 12.000 euros. The presentations of all nominees can be visited until 22 August 2021.
The jury, which this year is chaired by Nathanja van Dijk (curator and former director of the Kunsthal) and also consists of Fons Hof (director Art Rotterdam), Charl Landvreugd (artist, curator and Head of Research & Curatorial Practice at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam ) and Evelyn Taocheng Wang (winner Dolf Henkes Prize 2019), makes the following statement about the nominations:
“We were delighted to be able to choose from a large number of artists who put Rotterdam - and often Curaçao - on the map with their fresh, idiosyncratic and innovative artistic practice. In their great diversity, the nominated artists have in common that they each investigate topical themes such as origin, heritage, historiography, identity, queerness and physicality in a radically different way. At the same time they transcend the social debate by means of a refined and intelligent visual language. ”
About the nominees
Kevin Osepa was born and raised in Curacao and lives in the Netherlands. Starting from his own identity, he depicts what an Afro-Caribbean identity means in a postcolonial world. With film and photography he creates magical-realistic stories around Afro-spirituality, sexuality, masculinity and family.
In the refined, detailed pencil drawings of Koes Staassen, the male nude and queer sexuality are central. His drawings, constructed as still lifes, show an intimate game full of sensual desire and surrender that he plays with friends. These are images that we do not often see; explicit in nature but dreamy and vulnerable due to the way Staassen handles his pencil.
Jay Wendy Tan makes sculptures, performances, sound and video work. In spherical work Tan creates – often with everyday household or DIY materials and mechanics – open environments with meaningful constructions. Decoration is for them a political gesture.
Geo Wyeth moves between music, performance, installation and video. In their narrative work absurdity, theatre and poetry come together. The characters that Wyeth embodies try to break free from the position in which they seem to be stuck, with music often functioning as a portal to another reality.
Winner Geo Wyeth
Chairman Nathanja van Dijk named Geo Wyeth the big winner on behalf of the jury. Wyeth captivated the jury with “a transformative installation in which the work, the visitor and the building merge into a collective performance. Through their subtle but powerful spatial interventions, they draw our attention to what lies beneath the surface of supposed civilization and how it must be liberated like air from a bottle.”
9th edition of the Dolf Henkes Prize
Dolf Henkes (Rotterdam, 1903–1989) was a Rotterdam painter who lived and worked in Katendrecht. His oeuvre tells the story of the world around him: people and the port, still lifes, landscapes, the devastation of the war, portraits and nude studies. At the end of 1945 he got on the boat to Curaçao. Everything on the island would make a deep impression on him after the dark years of the war at home - the colors, the light, everyday life. He processed his impressions in his own visual language and Curaçao had a lasting influence on his work. After the death of Henkes and after the death of Jan and Marie Henkes, the Dolf Henkes Foundation was formed from the estate of the brother and sister. The board of this fund decided in 20o4 to establish the Dolf Henkes Prize and has since been awarded every two years to visual artists from Rotterdam or Curaçao. Previous, now internationally known winners are: Evelyn Taocheng Wang, Katarina Zdjelar, Gyz La Rivière, Lara Almarcegui, Erik van Lieshout, Melvin Moti, Lidwien van de Ven and Jeroen Eisinga.
The Henkes Prize is made possible in part by a contribution from the Henkes fund, which is held by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands.