From 18 Oct – 1 Dec, the Cartoon Museum in London are hosting a very special exhibition of work by Danny Noble, Esther McManus, Jess Taylor, and Zara Slattery the four finalists of the Arts Foundation Futures Awards for Comics Art. They were selected from a longlist of nominated comics artists as finalists for the first AFFA in Comics. The final judging panel was comprised of notable comic artists Woodrow Phoenix, comics laureate Hannah Berry and John Allison who said “The four finalists all draw from different schools of cartooning, but each exemplifies the greatest strength of good comics – the easy communication of complex ideas.”.
Comics are easily one of the most vibrant and inventive areas of the arts in the UK today, with both the breadth of work produced and the forums created around growing exponentially over the last fifteen years. Talking about the award, Hannah Berry, comics laureate and a judge for this year ‘s award noted;
‘The medium is still woefully underrepresented in terms of funding and support, and limited opportunities mean that very rarely can creators afford to get a foothold and take their work to the next level. The Arts Foundation Fellowship is a crucial lifeline, offering not only the financial support artists need but the motivation of having such a prestigious organisation in their corner.’
On 19 October the four finalists featured in an event chaired by Hannah Berry where they talked about their practices and individual approaches to the artform. The event was recorded and will be available on the “Panel Borders” show on Resonance 104.4 FM / DAB / streamed on their website https://www.resonancefm.com on November 6th at 5.30pm and repeated at 2.30am on Nov 8th. A longer version will be also available later in November on Alex Fitch’s Panel Borders.
This exhibition is running alongside ‘Comic Creators, the Famous and the Forgotten’, curated by Steve Marchant.
Opening times:
Tues-Sat 10.30-5.30, Sun 12-5.30 Closed on Mondays
New Cartoon Museum address:
63 Wells Street, Fitzrovia, London W1A 3AE
Nearest tube: Oxford Circus
The recipient of the £10,000 award will be announced at the Arts Foundation Futures Awards on the 27th January at the ICA where all runners-up will also receive £1,000 awards towards their practice.