Camilo Ontiveros wins ARCOmadrid prize
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Camilo Ontiveros has won the 2010 Illy Prize at ARCOmadrid, the contemporary art fair that closes Sunday in Spain. Designed for artists under 35 participating in the special section ‘Panorama: Los Angeles,’ the prize includes an award of 15,000 euros (about $20,000).
As at ARCO, Ontiveros’ solo debut last summer at Steve Turner Contemporary featured salvaged washing machines that had been carefully restored and painted in pristine hues at a local auto-body shop. The work mixes a variety of sculpture and painting traditions, as well as functional and conceptual value systems.
Jurors Kris Kuramitsu and Christopher Miles, independent curators from L.A., and Carlo Bach, artistic director of the Italian coffee company Illycaffe, told the audience at Friday’s announcement:
For this award, we chose ... an artist whose practice we believe embodies the experimental spirit that often has driven some of the most compelling work to have come out of Los Angeles, and that has defined the era in which Los Angeles has come of age as a cultural capital. [Ontiveros’] work touches upon a complex range of genres and concerns, from immigration and urban economies to process art, Minimalism and finish fetish.
Seventeen artists from 12 galleries participating in ARCO’s special section were considered for the prize. My review of Ontiveros’ summer debut show in Los Angeles, ‘I Want Your Washing Machine,’ is here.
-- Christopher Knight
Follow Times art critic Christopher Knight at KnightLAT on Twitter.
