An artist who creates artwork from light tubes and laces, has been awarded the Gold Medal for Fine Art at the Blaenau Gwent & Heads of the Valleys 2010 National Eisteddfod of Wales. Simon Fenoulhet of Cardiff won the accolade along with £3,000 for his light installations Vivid Seam and Line upon Line.
Hitherto, the artist had not exhibited at the National Eisteddfod of Wales.
“Light, with all its enchanting and beguiling properties, is an underlying characteristic at the root of this artist’s practice,” said Chris Coppock on behalf of the selectors. “Simon Fenoulhet delights in literally illuminating and re-presenting banal every day objects and materials, set in new and unworldly contexts.”
Fittingly, this year’s Visual Arts Exhibition is accommodated in the Stack Annealer Basement – one of subterranean spaces on the site of the former Ebbw Vale Steel Works, where the National Eisteddfod of Wales is being held.
“I use light as my primary means of presenting and changing the objects I employ.” said Simon Fenoulhet. “Glowing tubes or straws can be transformed by the simple act of making the light come from within rather than reflecting off the surface. They stand in isolation from their surroundings as the only source of illumination and take on a beauty and iridescence that is not normally associated with household objects.“
Another Eisteddfod newcomer, Rhondda based artist, Nerea Martinez de Lecea has been awarded £2,000 in the Fine Art section. Her still and moving images astonished the selecting panel.
“The untitled video piece from Nerea Martinez de Lecea stunned us all, and stayed with me in a way few other pieces could achieve,” said selector Pamela Rawnsley, “And seen together with her suite of digital prints with their breath-taking otherworldliness it was clear she was a strong contender.”
It is the “universality” of the artist’s work that drew fellow selector, John Selway’s attention.
“Her video has such power,” he said, “whether with intent or not, the reference to the Holocaust seems to me inescapable.”
Having predominantly worked in dance and performance Nerea Martinez de Lecea recently turned the camera on herself and became performer and film maker. “Drawing on personal experience, my work has always been concerned with exploring issues of social and cultural displacement,” she said. “My current practice is a combination of video, photography, print and 3D.”
The Blaenau Gwent & Heads of the Valleys National Eisteddfod of Wales’ Visual Arts Exhibition was selected by Chris Coppock, Pamela Rawnsley and John Selway. The Gold Medal for Fine Art along with £5,000 is awarded at the discretion of the selectors.
Simon Fenoulhet studied Fine Art at both Newport and Cardiff Colleges of Art, gaining a Masters Degree in 1987. Since then, he has worked throughout Wales as an artist, exhibition organiser and public art consultant before his appointment in 1991 as Deputy Director of Cywaith Cymru : Artworks Wales, the national organisation for public art. In 2002 he resigned hid post to develop his own practice as an artist and now works from his studio at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff. He is currently a visiting lecturer at the University of Wales Newport and continues to work as a public art consultant.
Nerea Martinez de Lecea graduated from Brighton University in 2001 with a BAHons in Performance with Visual Practice. Her work has been exhibited or screened internationally in galleries and cinemas including Arnolfini (Bristol), The Place (London), Maison Heinrich Heine (Paris) and The Unified Field (Yogyakarta), and at festivals including Edinburgh, Toronto, Brighton, Monaco and Taipei. With fellow artist Julia Winckler, she co-produced the photographic book, ‘A Country I Always Carry With Me’. She is also co-founder and director of Platform Arts, artists’ studios at Pontypridd Railway Station.
