University of Northampton graduate in the running for title of region’s finest artist

A talented graduate from the University of Northampton is in the running for a prestigious award which aims to find the finest artist from universities in the south east.

Work by Fine Art graduate Him Ming Chan caught the eye of the producer of public programmes at MK Gallery in Milton Keynes, Roisin Callaghan.

The gallery nominated Him for the Platform Graduate Award, which supports emerging graduate artistic talent to further their practice following graduation.

Devised in 2012 in collaboration with CVAN South East, the award is a partnership between four galleries, with the others being in Portsmouth, Brighton and Oxford. Fifteen graduates have been chosen from across 14 universities in the south east, with just five nominated for the award.

Him’s work has been exhibited at MK Gallery and he will find out whether he has won the award when it’s announced at an online ceremony on Saturday 4 December.

If he wins, Him will receive a cash award plus a bespoke programme of professional development.

Him’s nominated work, titled Me, the Body, and Them, is a collective body of work dedicated to and in celebration of those who desire intimacy and harbour a sense of unfulfillment.

His work explores the relationship between male figures, both individually and interactively, the self and others through the use of monoprints and the overlaying of interacting bodies that exposes the rawest form of human nature. Through fluid, quick depictions of sex, identity and homoeroticism, he hopes for viewers to engage with the narrative within the pieces.

Roisin Callaghan, from MK Gallery, said: “We’re so pleased to have selected Him to be nominated for the Platform Award this year. I found his work visually really powerful when I was able to see it at the University of Northampton earlier this year, and again when we showed it at MK Gallery in October. Technically I believe Him’s approach to mono-printing shows real potential, and the scale of the pieces demand time to be spent viewing them.

“From meeting Him, and from conversations with his tutors, it was clear that he is dedicated to his practice and I believe would benefit from the prize and the opportunity to develop his work further. I look forward to seeing more from Him in the future.”