Rachel Winter

The finalists for the Hopper Prize stand out for their clear conceptual underpinning and their exceptional technical execution—both of which are integral to their outstanding success at achieving their artistic visions. The works I found most compelling and thought provoking were those that mastered the complex task of translating a concept into visual form in ways that not only fulfill the artist’s intentions, but also invite us as viewers to add our own insights and experiences to the conversations prompted by the artist. Their perspectives are rich and unwavering, their approach striking and innovative, and the subject stops us, demanding that we look closely.

Each of the artists who submitted to the Hopper Prize meaningfully interprets the most pressing issues of our time, be that climate change, family relationships, patriarchy, racism, body positivity, consumerism, identity, migrant experiences, history, and more. Additionally, many of the artists are carefully, sometimes humorously, toying with imperative paradoxes that shape contemporary life: the individual and the institutional; personal and social; past and present, or present and future; self and other; memory and contemporaneity, and many more. The myriad methods employed throughout the process of realizing their work reflects the ways these artists are thinking expansively and imaginatively about the media available to them, and their capacity to propel contemporary practice into a new era.

In sum, we are reminded that neither art, history, nor our present moment are singular, but in its multiplicity and polysemy we find meaning and understanding as it is conveyed through artistic practices. I admire and applaud these artists for not only expanding the parameters of contemporary art, but for putting their full selves in their work in ways that prompt us to continue reimagining the future of curatorial and art historical praxis.