VAO22 JUDGES

Matthew Burrows MBE (born 1971) is a contemporary British painter and founder of Artist Support Pledge, a global movement in support of artists and makers. Matthew lives and works in the UK and is represented by Vigo Gallery London. Burrows speaks of painting as a form connection and subsistence, dependent on and arising from the ground at his feet. Through the layering of colour and line, Burrows creates images that invite mediation and a slow unraveling of space and experience. He speaks of his work as ‘one of dwelling and ritual, a process of mythologizing, of drawing meaning from the particularities of the environment and his movement in and through it’. His work explores the conditions by which we thrive and connect - individually, communally and cosmologically. Solo exhibitions include Beyond the Garden Wall Vigo Gallery London, London, 2017; Para-Dice Vigo Gallery, London, 2014; Cultic Twister Alexia Goethe Gallery, London, 2009; Anyone Here? Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham, 2003; A Divine Comedy Gloucester Cathedral, touring to Gloucester City Art Gallery, Huddersfield City Art Gallery, 2000-2001. Group exhibitions include Towards Night Towner Art Gallery Eastbourne 2017; Permeable Edge Otter Gallery Chichester 2016 WET AND DRY painting to the edges Observer Building, Hastings, with Gerard Hemsworth and Rose Wylie, 2015; London Twelve Prague City Museum 2012; Selektionseffekte Blain|Southern, Berlin, with Anton Henning, Rachel Howard, 2011;Foolish Romantics Quay Arts Centre, Isle of Wight, 2010; Layers Seongnam Arts Centre, Korea, 2010;John Moores 24 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 2006. Awards and prizes include 20016-19 Artist Fellow University of Chichester, 1999-2000 Artist in Residence, Gloucester Cathedral, 1999-2000; 2006 John Moores 24, Prize Winner, 2006; Artist's Residency, National Gallery, London, 2000-2001

Manager, Curation and Art Advisory at Saatchi Art. She has a Masters in Modern Art History, Theory and Criticism, and a B.S. in Business Administration from Azusa Pacific University. She studied Art and Art History at American University of Paris, and has over a decade of experience in fine arts. Erin is motivated by exceptional art and working with collectors to select pieces that inspire and elevate their spaces. She believes that art has the ability to inform, inspire, educate, and change how we view the world around us.

Born in Caracas, Venezuela (1966), Juan Bolivar is a London based artist, curator and Lecturer in Painting at the University of  Arts London. Bolivar´s paintings employ cognitive games to set up dialectical oppositions between geometric abstraction and a second meaning; challenging and examining this genre´s currency today. His paintings often adopt tragi-comical visions, reinterpreting canons and seminal paintings from this modernist movement, interlaced with popular culture references. 

Solo exhibitions include, Powerage (JGM Gallery, 2021), High Voltage (JGM Gallery, 2017), Back in Black (Horatio Junior Gallery,  2015), I Heart New York (C&C Gallery , 2014), Law & Order (Tim Sheward Projects, 2013), Bat Out of Hell, (Jacobs Island Gallery,  2011), Geometry Wars (John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton, 2008) and Home Alone (Lucy Mackintosh Gallery, Switzerland, 2008). Selected group exhibitions include New British Painting (John Hansard Gallery, 2004) and East International (Norwich Gallery, Norwich School of Art and Design, 2007). Bolivar received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award in 2001 and 2009, and in 2014 he was a Prize Winner at the Nanjing International Art Exhibition, China. His work can be found in private collections in the U.K., U.S., Switzerland, Japan and South America, and public collections in the U.K., including the Government Art Collection, Goldsmiths College, University of London, and the University of the Arts London Collection. Recent residencies include Flow Art Residency, (FAR) Zug, Switzerland (2022), Macro Asilio Residency, Macro Museum Rome (2019), and Visiting Artist, Bauhaus Foundation, Dessau (2019)

As an independent curator Bolivar has curated over 50 exhibitions since 2001.

Karen is an Artist Manager, Fine Art Auctioneer and Consultant Expert with a Degree in Fine Art Evaluation, previously working as a Gallery Manager for Blue Dot Art & Whitewall Galleries – in addition to this was she was also a partner of White Rose Publishing. With a successful history working as an Art Broker, having sold pieces for the likes of Banksy, Karen found that she was representing and helping Artists on a regular basis achieve more sales and reaching their goals. Now she has joined forces with The VAA as our Artists Mentor.

David holds the current position of Director of Visual Arts in Cheshire at the prestigious Grange School. Also a practicing artist, David offers expertise in the technicalities of visual artwork creation.  

Senior Curator at Saatchi Art. She graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration (minor in Cinematic Arts) from The University of Southern California and also attended UCLA as part of their CIDA-accredited program in Architecture and Interior Design. Megan has over a decade of experience in sales and management. She was a founding partner of The Commons Showroom, a contemporary apparel showroom, and has also worked in entertainment and design for companies including CAA, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Waterworks. Megan is motivated by exceptional design and working with collectors to select artwork that elevates their spaces and defines their passions. Favorite artists include Andy Goldsworthy, James Casebere, Pat Steir and Njideka Akunyili Crosby.

Carne Griffith is renown for his intricate art incorporating calligraphy inks, graphite and liquids. Carne’s illustration work has seen him collaborate with the British photographer Rankin for a 6-page feature in Hunger magazine as well as featuring in publications worldwide, notably for several covers of the New York Observer and English Heritage magazine. Carne’s work has been used in brand and charity projects including Microsoft, M&S, Peroni, Lakes Distillery and Ibis Hotels. Since establishing his own studio in 2010, Carne has exhibited in the UK and overseas with work shown at the London Original Print Fair, the Royal Academy, Stroke Art Fair, Affordable Art Fair, the London Art Fair and with solo Exhibitions in Brighton, Hong Kong, Milan and Hamburg.

Davis is a passionate and dedicated art professional directing arts organisations and curatorial projects and was the Curator at Collyer Bristow Gallery (London 2016 -20) Davis has curated over 30 exhibitions to date, the latest was at The Factory Project produced by Thorp Stavri, an ambitious alternative art fair with over 17,000 visitors. 

Davis co-directed Zeitgeist Arts Projects (2012-15) at Bond House Gallery (ASC) and  Core Gallery 2010-12. In both of these organizations she ran a number of curatorial projects and an artists education programme as well as tutorials and art tours. 

Jeremy is Deputy Head of Art & Design and Programme Leader in Fine Art at the University of Chester. He holds a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Manchester Polytechnic, an MA Fine Art from Bretton Hall College and a PhD in sculpture by practice from the University of Leeds. Jeremy is a sculptor and Fine Art practitioner who has exhibited widely in the UK and Europe. He is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors and has sculptural works held in private collections.