University Honours Contemporary Artist

University Honours Contemporary Artist

A rising star in the art world is to receive an award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the arts. Artist Simon Denny has been named as the 2013 Young Alumnus of the Year by The University of Auckland and will be honoured at a dinner to be held on Friday 1 March.

Denny graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2005 from Elam School of Fine Arts at The University of Auckland and with a Meisterschule from the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste (Städelschule) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 2009. His diverse artistic practice employs a variety of mediums including sculpture, photography and video and often investigates the production, distribution, and consumption of media in an age of rapid technological change. Denny has already established an international career as an artist, an impressive achievement for the Auckland-born 30 year-old.

Examples of his work are included in major collections nationally and internationally and he exhibits widely. Recent solo exhibitions include All You Need Is Data: The DLD 2012 Conference REDUX, Kunstverein Munich, Munich; Full Participation, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen (2012); Corporate Video Decisions, Michael Lett, Auckland, and Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York (2011); and Negative Headroom: The Broadcast Signal Intrusion Incident, Halle für Kunst, Lüneburg, Germany, and Contemporary Art Museum, St Louis (2010).

Denny has recently been awarded the Ars Viva-Preis für Bildende Kunst from Der Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtshcaft im BDI eV. He has been named by an eminent jury as a winner of the Baloise Art Prize at the 43rd Art Basel. As a result he will mount a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Vienna later this year. He was a finalist in the 2012 Walters Prize, this country’s most significant contemporary art award. He is also one of four nominees for Germany's most significant contemporary art award, the Preis der Nationalgalarie für junge Kunst which will be judged in September.

"Simon is one of Elam's most successful graduates to emerge during the last decade and we take great pride in all his achievements," says Head of Elam Derrick Cherrie. "His Young Alumnus of the Year award is well deserved in light of his significant accomplishments."
Denny is due to present at Petzel Gallery, New York and will participate in many group shows in Germany, England, Ireland, Italy, the USA and France this year. He currently lives and works in Berlin.

The University of Auckland’s National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries comprises the School of Architecture and Planning, Elam School of Fine Arts, the Centre for Art Studies, the School of Music and the Dance Studies Programme.

Image caption: Simon Denny
Photo credit: Derek Henderson

ENDS

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