Different names, same commitment: Our involvement in supporting the arts community began in the early 2000s in the U.K. and Ireland with the Catlin Art Prize; later iterations included the XL Innovate Art Exhibition (in Ireland) and the XL Catlin Art Prize. Building on this legacy, the AXA Art Prize, launched in the U.S. in 2018, has since become known as an excellent platform for highlighting figurative art and the emerging young artists leading its resurgence.

The competition is open to undergraduate and graduate students majoring in studio art at U.S. colleges and universities; entries are limited to figurative paintings, drawings and original prints. This year, more than 400 submissions were received from students attending 125 different institutions. Forty finalists were selected by an Exhibition Jury, including curators from the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Noguchi Museum. The first and second prize winners, who will receive $10,000 and $5,000, respectively, will be chosen by a Prize Jury made up of four prominent artists — Julia Chang, Erik Parker, Laurie Simmons and Salmon Toor — and me. The winners will be announced on November 17th.

Necessity is the mother of invention

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, the competition and exhibition are taking a different form. Normally the Prize exhibition would travel from San Francisco to Chicago to New York, but this year the exhibitions in San Francisco and Chicago are canceled, and the in-person event at the New York Academy of Art planned for November currently is on hold. Instead, an interactive virtual gallery will showcase the finalists' works for a global audience. You can tour the virtual gallery here.