Shortlist announced for the coveted international Young Masters Art Prize

An exhibition of their work will be held at Gallery 8 in the heart of London’s St James’s from 19 to 24 June. The winner will be announced on 21 June.

Those in the running include Ghanaian-British multi-media artist Amartey Golding whose film Chainmail throws light over cultural behaviours towards race, gender and sexuality, while channelling the darkness of El Greco and Goya; Dutch fine art photographer Isabelle van Zeijl who blends the techniques and idioms of the Old Masters with present-day aesthetics to create striking self-portraits; British print-maker John Phillips whose eerie still lifes are created from over 1,000 separate photographs; and American painter Lucy Beecher Nelson who reinvents 15th century Italian marriage portraits.

Ten artists have also been shortlisted for the Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize, a strand of the Young Masters Art Prize that was launched in 2014 to give a separate platform for ceramics and highlight the creative and innovative potential of this artistic medium.

The shortlist includes British artist Katie Spragg who creates miniature worlds modelled in porcelain, and Danish artist Malene Hartmann Rasmussen, whose figurative and narrative pieces have been influenced by the 15th century potter Bernard Palissy.

The Young Masters Art Prize was established in 2009 by gallerist Cynthia Corbett. 2017 marks the fourth edition of the prize. For the first time, a new strand of the Prize will be launched to profile and reward the work of an emerging female artist.

The winner of the Young Masters Emerging Woman Art Prize will be selected from all the Young Masters Art Prize and Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize entries. Find out more at young-masters.co.uk. In the meantime, here's a selection of work from some of the shortlisted artists and makers.

Main image: Malene Hartmann Rasmussen