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Montreal artist, Dil Hildebrand named national winner of
the eighth annual RBC Canadian Painting Competition
Vancouver artist Matthew Brown and Niagara Falls artist
Adam Brickell named honourable mentions with a total of $55,000
awarded among the winners
TORONTO, September 20, 2006 — RBC Financial Group,
with the support of the Canadian Art Foundation, has named
Montreal artist Dil Hildebrand the national winner of this
year's RBC Canadian Painting Competition. Hildebrand was awarded
a $25,000 cash prize for his original work entitled, Curtains.
Two honourable mentions were given to Matthew Brown of Vancouver
for his work entitled, Judy and Adam Brickell of Niagara
Falls for his work entitled, Stuck. Brown and Brickell
were each awarded $15,000 for their work. The RBC Canadian
Painting Competition award is the largest award disbursement
for painting in Canada.
The national winner and honourable mentions were selected
from 15 semi-finalist works painted by talented artists from
all across Canada. The paintings were judged by some of Canada's
finest artists, curators and gallery directors. For visuals
and descriptions of the winning works, please visit www.rbc.com/paintingcompetition.
"One of the advantages the RBC Canadian Painting Competition
offers the artists is a forum for them to display their work,"
said Gay Mitchell, executive vice-president, RBC. "This
year more than 600 artists submitted work to the competition
- more than any other year - so being selected as a semi-finalist
is a commendable and difficult achievement. RBC is honoured
to play a role in this celebration of Canadian art."
"To build successful careers, artists need financial
support as well as institutions to help present their work
to the public," said Melony Ward, executive director,
Canadian Art Foundation. "The RBC Canadian Painting Competition
opens doors for talented artists by providing them with the
chance to have their artwork seen in prominent galleries all
across Canada. In addition, the finalists who are awarded
cash prizes can use that money to invest in their career so
they can continue to produce art."
The national winner and two honorable mentions were named
at a gala event held last night at the Museum of Contemporary
Canadian Art in Toronto. Their works, along with the works
of the 12 semi-finalists, are on display until September 24.
The museum is located at 952 Queen Street West. It is open
Tuesday - Sunday from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm and admission is
free. The exhibition will then tour prominent galleries across
Canada including:
- Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery in Kitchener, Ontario from
September 28 to October 1, 2006.
- Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal in
Montréal, Quebec from October 10 to 22, 2006.
- Art Gallery of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta from November
1 to 11, 2006.
- Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia
from November 14 to 19, 2006.
All semi-finalists will be featured in Canadian Art magazine
and on the web at: www.rbc.com/paintingcompetition.
Additional details on the RBC Canadian Painting Competition
can be found at: www.rbc.com/paintingcompetition.
About the RBC Canadian Painting Competition
Established in 1999, the RBC Canadian Painting Competition
is a tribute to Canada's artistic talent. The goal of the
competition is to support and nurture Canadian visual artists
early in their career by providing them with a forum to display
their artistic talent to the country and hopefully open doors
to future opportunity. An investment in Canadian culture and
the visual arts community, the competition will award one
national prize of $25,000 and two honourable mentions will
receive $15,000 each. Along with past winners, the winning
paintings of 2006 will become part of RBC Financial Group's
Canadian art collection comprised of more than 4,000 works
of distinguished art collected over the past hundred years.
Various paintings from the RBC collection have been exhibited
in museums, enabling more Canadians to enjoy these wonderful
works. Presently, "Irish Point" and "Self Portrait:
Who is this Sir Mummings" by Christopher Pratt are currently
on loan to the National Gallery of Canada to mark Pratt's
70th birthday in 2005. The Christopher Pratt exhibition is
touring to Halifax, St. John's, Winnipeg and Quebec City through
the National Gallery of Canada's Travelling Exhibitions Program.
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For more information, please contact:
Suzanne Willers, RBC, 416-974-2727, suzanne.willers@rbc.com
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