
2024
JURY PRIZE
Jury Prize
Untitled, Ref: A20113
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Year:
2024
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Size:
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Material/Technique:
Susan Te Kahurangi King, born in Te Aroha, New Zealand, 1951, began drawing prolifically, skilfully and with real flair as a young child in the mid 1950s.Unable to read, write or speak and in the absence of using sign language, King expresses her thoughts, feelings, understandings, observations, fears, confusions and fascinations through her wonderfully varied and unique drawings. Her works range from simple to complex compositions, reflecting the richness of her inner world. This piece, drawn in her late teens on the back of a text galley, features multiple overlapping and intertwined figures, including the FANTA clown, created with a ballpoint pen without initial sketching or erasing. The work captivates viewers with her skill and profound imagination.

Christian Berst
This artwork reminds me of the work of a great Japanese art brut artist, Yuichiro Ukaï. In both their aesthetic, there is a very impressive boiling of figures that nonetheless seem carefully ordained, linked on what seems to be a rhythmic level even if they don’t share a scene. It is as if creation was to be used by both of them as a way of tidying interior chaos, without betraying its nature when expressing it. In this particular artwork as much as in Ukaï’s, the influence of the commercial world is palpable, showing itself for what it can also be, especially to young people: fantastic, dream-like, almost magical. I would then like to express my sincere congratulations to Susan Te Kahurangi King, and to deeply thank her for putting her inner world in such beautiful forms. I also thank her family for sharing her creation with us on her behalf.
Susan Te Kahurangi King
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Nationality:
New Zealand