Try making a list of 10 outstanding young artists, all based in Europe, and whose work already announces their original talent but also bears the promise of longevity. Where would you start?
I suppose you might pencil in some personal favourites, artists who have already caught your imagination and whose careers you’ve decided to follow. Or would you start with the market, and put down the bright young things, such as Oscar Murillo, whose art already commands vast prices at auction?
Perhaps you’d want to divide the 10 into categories: how many performance artists should go on the list? How many should be working in video or other digital media? And what about artists who work in a fine arts tradition – should they be a type of protected species in the face of so much installation art?
Then there are other types of quota you might need to consider. Should there be five men and five women, given that – probably for the first time in history – there are now more or less equal opportunities for male and female artists? And should you look for a geographical spread, or accept that certain cities, such as London and Berlin, are likely to have drawn the most precocious young stars (and their gallerists)?
These are some of the questions that the judges of the Apollo 40 Under 40 have faced in selecting the artists who’ll be included in this new publication. But before we launch the list at the start of September, we want to hear your thoughts. Which artists do you think should make the Apollo 40 Under 40? Who has done enough to warrant their place, and who’s just a flash – among so many – in the artistic pan?
Who would you choose for the Apollo 40 Under 40? Let us know in the comments…
