Maleonn wins prestigious worldwide Photograph of the Year Award in UK

Those of you following Maleonn's career since the gallery introduced him in his first solo show outside Asia (May 2006) and following this blog over the past several months will know that Maleonn is an extraordinary artist who is taking his "star turn" on the world art stage. The latest news is that he has just won one of the most coveted and prestigious worldwide photography prizes, the Spider Awards' Black and White Photograph of the Year.

This meticulously-juried awards competition includes 13 categories, and Maleonn won in the Fine Art Category and then in the overall category for Best Photograph of the Year by a professional photographer. Amongst the features that make this one of the most prestigious awards to win is the jury, which this year included the Head of Photography for the Tate Galleries in the UK, the Program Director of Sotheby's Institute of Art, the Director of Fratelli Alinari Photography Museum in Florence (the oldest photography-focused art museum in the world), the former President of British Institute of Professional Photography, the founder of Galerie Baudoin Lebon in Paris (one of the world's most respected photography galleries). The Canadian dimension of the jury included David Heffel of Heffel Fine Arts, now the leading art auction house across Canada, and Anita Damner, Editor in Chief of PhotoLife Magazine.

The winning photograph was Chinese Story No 2 (above), which Craig Scott Gallery exhibited along with six other Chinese Story series images in Maleonn's Transfigurations exhibition in May 2006. Craig Scott Gallery has the only remaining works in this series, a special format 40 x 60 cm print within the edition of 15 (#2/15) for some of the series images. Chinese Story No 2 itself has not been available for some time.

Maleonn and Craig Scott Gallery highlighted at photoMIAMI

The Press Release for photoMIAMI has highlighted the gallery and Maleonn as amongst a half-dozen features at the upcoming photoMIAMI art fair (Dec 2 - 7). Below are extracts from the press release. If interested to know what works will be at photoMIAMI, including recently released and not-yet-released works and also including a number of works for which only one or two prints remain, please contact the gallery at craigscottgallery@gmail.com.

"New York, NY (September 18, 2008) – photo MIAMI, the leading international contemporary art fair for photo-based art, video and new media returns to the Wynwood Art District in Miami, Florida, home of the 3rd annual photo MIAMI contemporary art fair. photo MIAMI 2008 will showcase works by over 200 contemporary artists at the 40,000 sq. ft. marquee structure located at NW 31st Street and North Miami Avenue, steps away from the Rubell Family Collection and the developing Midtown Miami district. Over 60 new and established galleries will present highly anticipated works- many that will be seen in the U.S. for the first time.

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Galleries represented at photo MIAMI 2008 include: Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain, (Montreal) showcasing four contemporary Canadian artists, including Taiwan born Chih-Chien Wang, Galerie Kashya Hildebrand (Zurich) presenting the US premier of “Borderland” the new series by American photographer Jeffrey Aaronson, Craig Scott Gallery (Toronto), showcasing the U.S premiere of brand new works from Chinese artist Maleonn (Ma Liang); Crown Gallery, (Brussels) presenting Paul Graham’s new series “A Shimmer of Possibility” and U.S. based gallery Lisa Sette Gallery (Scottsdale), presenting new photographs by Julianne Swartz."

Craig Scott Gallery at photo MIAMI 2008 with Maleonn

Some super news just in today. The gallery has been admitted to one of the premier photo-based art fairs in the world, photo MIAMI, for the December 3-7, 2008 fair. photo MIAMI takes place at the same time as the Basel/Miami Beach and Art Miami fairs (as well as the ten or so other satellite fairs). We are looking forward to presenting Maleonn to a new audience during what is widely recognized as the most important single art-fair weekend in North America in the annual fair calendar.

The Craig Scott Gallery proposal for a Maleonn solo exhibition was received with great enthusiasm by photo MIAMI, which is first and foremost a contemporary art fair (versus a 'straight' photography fair like some of the other leading photo-based fairs). This makes it a perfect venue for showcasing Maleonn's extraordinary work.

Look for more in future blogs with respect to the works that we plan to highlight at photo MIAMI (both work from Maleonn's first four years of production and new work being released this fall).