The Lawndale Art Center revealed the winners of its annual Big Show, anointing three new visual artists in what has become a sort of Hall of Fame for regional talent.
Perry Chandler, Avril Falgout and Bryan Forrester — a painter, sculptor and photographer/video artist, respectively — officially join the ranks of past champs like Texas Prize recipient Eileen Maxson and Whitney Biennial participant Robert Pruitt, who kicks off a solo exhibit at New York's Studio Museum Harlem this month.
Selected by guest juror Duncan Mackenzie, co-founder of Chicago's Bad at Sports art blog and podcast, the trio of inductees were culled from a group of 366 artists who collectively submitted nearly 1,000 works to the 2013 competition.
"I've been making images non-stop for the past decade — first as more of a commercial filmmaker and, in recent years, as an artist," Forrester told CultureMap after Friday night's announcement at the Big Show opening. His Imogene photo-print earned him one of the three $1,000 cash prizes.
"Getting recognition like this is exciting and feels hugely validating," Forrester says.
"Getting recognition like this is exciting and feels hugely validating."
Beaumont-area native Avril Falgout has only recently found herself in the art world . . . mainly because she's still in high school. Her life-sized papier-mâchéhomage to the Hollywood glam-punk band Black Veil Brides holds court at the center of the Lawndale's main gallery.
"I'm only 15, so I've just gotten into doing this. The Brides are actually the first large piece I've done," she laughed, still somewhat stunned from the award.
Chandler's painting Scene 74 - Fear through the Eyes of Madness finished up the winner's circle. The captivating image features two disembodied male heads staring each other down amidst a sea of smeared paint and carefully-crafted geometric shapes.
Other entries to this year's Big Show demonstrate a rather interesting preoccupation with animals, covering everything from household pets, as in Bradley Kerl'sFish Tank and Sarah Hamilton's cat portrait Waiting, to comically surreal human hybrids like Kari Breitigam'sHorn Head.
The Big Show is on view at the Lawndale Art Center (4912 Main) through Aug. 10.
Perry Chandler, Scene 74 - Fear through the Eyes of Madness, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 36" x 48".
