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UK &
International
Emerging Artist
Awards
PAST JUDGES
The Visual Art Open has welcomed distinguished figures from the contemporary art world as past judges – including practising artists, writers, critics, professors, collectors, and curators. Their diverse expertise and insight have helped shape a fair and inspiring selection process, upholding the highest standards of contemporary art.
VAO25 JUDGES
Sofía Ruiz
Sofia Ruiz is a Costa Rican visual artist with over 18 years of experience. She holds Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in Painting and Printmaking and a Master’s in Education. Her work has been exhibited internationally in more than 35 exhibitions, including venues such as the Palais de Tokyo in Paris and MEAM in Barcelona, as well as through residencies at the MOSAM Art Museum in South Korea and the EPI Experimental Printmaking Institute in Pennsylvania, USA. She has received multiple recognitions, including the Boynes Artist Award, the Women in Art Award, and was the Overall Winner of the Visual Art Open 2024 in London.
Elizabeth K. Garvey
Elizabeth K. Garvey is the Co-founder and Director of Garvey|Simon NYC (Previously she was President and Owner of EKG Art Advisory, (1999-2009), and Co-Director of Schmidt-Bingham Gallery (1989-1998). Liz is a member of ARTTable, a distinguished national network of leading women in the visual arts professions, and a founding member of the New York chapter of the Association of Women Art Dealers.
With over 30 years of experience in the fine art industry, Liz leverages her professional relationships with other galleries, auction houses, private dealers, and artists to offer boutique art advisory services and an exhibition program championing mid-career artists.
Liz received a B.A. in Art History from Indiana University, Bloomington (’88) and then moved to New York City in 1989 to attend Hunter College in Manhattan for a Masters in Art History. After completing her graduate coursework, Liz was appointed Co-Director of SBG where she remained for 10 years. Garvey started her own fine art advisory firm, EKG Art Advisory, in 1999. She assists collectors nationwide to establish and build art collections, and helps many individuals purchase their first piece of fine art. Her approach is down to earth, offering clients a relaxed entry into the New York art world.
Liz lives and works in New York City.
Adeche Atelier
Adwoa Botchey and Solomon Adebiyi are the creative duo behind Adeche Atelier, renowned storytellers and content creators with a special focus on African mythology and culture. They are dedicated to preserving and reimagining African mythology through contemporary art and digital storytelling.
Their work has been commissioned by institutions such as the National Gallery, BBC, the Royal Academy of Arts, and Electronic Arts (EA). Through their paintings, they explore African mythological deities, folklore, and history.
Beyond their visual art, Adwoa and Solomon are content creators, using digital platforms to share stories, spark conversations, and challenge misconceptions about African history and spirituality. Their work continues to educate, inspire, and reframe perceptions of African culture.
Gemma Rolls-Bentley
Gemma Rolls-Bentley has been at the forefront of contemporary art for almost two decades, working passionately to champion diversity in the field. Her debut book Queer Art; From Canvas to Club and the Spaces Between was published in Spring 2024 by Frances Lincoln and has been highlighted as a must-read by Them, Dazed, Timeout, The Guardian, Cultured and the FT. Her curatorial practice amplifies the work of female and queer artists and provides a platform for art that explores LGBTQIA+ identity.
Gemma has curated for a range of international galleries and institutions, most recently Carl Freedman Gallery, Leslie Lohman Museum of Art, Somerset House, the Tom of Finland Foundation, London Art Fair and Kkweer Arts. In 2022 she curated the Brighton Beacon Collection, the largest permanent display of queer art in the UK, for Soho House Brighton. Gemma has taught at numerous institutions including the Royal College of Art, the Glasgow School of Art, and Goldsmiths. She co-chairs the board of trustees for the charity Queercircle, sits on the Courtauld Association Committee and the Leslie Lohman Museum Acquisitions Committee.
Cas Campbell
Cas Campbell is an artist based in London and Brighton. Originally from New Zealand, she received a BA in Painting from the University of Brighton (2018) and an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art (2022). Campbell's art has been exhibited in the UK and internationally, shortlisted for the Chaiya Art Awards and the Visual Open Art Awards, and is in public and private collections, including the Soho House Brighton Beacon collection.
In 2021, Campbell received DYCP funding to explore natural ceramics and sensory processing disorders. This experience inspired her to begin supporting other disabled and neurodivergent artists and those with mental health challenges in applying for Arts Council funding and develop a second strand of her work focused on supporting artists working outside the mainstream.
Addi Aegisdottir
Addi is the Sales Director at Mall Galleries, home to the Federation of British Artists, the UK’s leading art societies, specialising in diverse artistic mediums, including oil, portrait, marine, wildlife, watercolour, pastel, printmaking and sculpture. As a visual arts charity founded in 1961, Mall Galleries is dedicated to empowering artists through a not-for-profit programme of exhibitions, events, prizes and awards with a strong focus on figurative art. Serving on the senior leadership team, Addi works closely with the CEO, Chair, and Board of Trustees to provide artists with exceptional learning and engagement opportunities. With a specialisation in the culture and heritage sector, sales development, e-commerce, marketing, and brand development, Addi possesses a genuine passion for empowering artists at all stages of their careers. Over the past three years, Addi has successfully launched Mall Galleries Art Consultancy, a bespoke service catering to private and corporate clients seeking to commission and curate art by both emerging and established artists.
In addition, Addi has extensive knowledge of the primary and secondary art market, having built collections for high-profile national and international private collectors and institutions featuring Nelson Makamo, El Anatsui, Joshua Reynolds, Edvard Munch, Eugéne Delacroix, Emil Nolde and Joseph Wright of Derby. Prior to working with Mall Galleries, Addi held positions with Everard Read, Africa’s oldest commercial art gallery representing over 60 contemporary artists from South Africa and Europe and the UK’s leading private Fine Art Dealers travelling extensively for clients and placements of artwork within leading art fairs, including Tefaf Maastricht, Frieze and The Armory Show.
Olivia Mason
Olivia is the Director of Artists Futures Fund (AFF), where she leads the charity’s strategic vision to support some of the UK’s most talented emerging visual artists. AFF’s focus is on supporting artists to overcome significant socio-economic, mental, and physical health barriers to developing their professional practice. Olivia oversees the Fund’s annual grant programmes, including the Breakthrough Artist Fellowship delivered in partnership with Higher Education Institutions and other cultural partner organisations across the UK.
Previously, Olivia was Senior Development Manager at TATE and Head of Development at the Holburne Museum, where her work supported innovative contemporary exhibition and education programmes. A passionate advocate for the arts and access to culture, Olivia is dedicated to driving initiatives that empower artists and broaden participation across the sector. She is delighted to be involved in this year’s VAO25 Prize.
Claudia Ross
Claudia Ross is a Los Angeles-based writer whose fiction and criticism have been featured in prominent publications such as The Paris Review, Frieze, ArtReview, The Baffler, VICE, and LA Review of Books.
She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California, Davis, and a background in Art History from Oberlin College.
In addition to her writing, Claudia serves as a Teaching Artist in Creative Writing at the Barnsdall Art Center under the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
Her work often explores the intersections of art, culture, and society, contributing to critical dialogues within the contemporary art scene.
Erin Remington
Erin Remington brings over a decade of expertise in the art world to her role as the Director of Sales and Curation at Saatchi Art. Holding a Masters in Modern Art History, Theory, and Criticism, alongside a B.S. in Business Administration from Azusa Pacific University, Erin furthered her studies in Art and Art History at the American University of Paris. She is also a member of the International Society of Appraisers focusing on 20th Century Fine Art.
With a profound passion for exceptional art, Erin is dedicated to collaborating with collectors in the selection of pieces that inspire and elevate their spaces. She firmly believes in the transformative power of art to inform, inspire, educate, and reshape our perspectives on the world. Erin's commitment to excellence has earned her recognition, with features in CNBC and Yahoo Finance.
David Reisman
David Reisman is an artist and writer who lives in New York City. He has exhibited his paintings and drawings in New York, Los Angeles, London, and Berlin, and has screened his videos at Millennium and the Museum of Modern Art. Reisman has written about art since the late 1980s, most recently for Texte zur Kunst and Frieze.
Reisman has a doctorate in education from Teachers College Columbia University, an MFA in painting from the University of Illinois, and a BFA from the University of Kansas. His dissertation examined questions related to the sociology of art, particularly the educational experiences and intentions of six practicing social activist artists. He also studied the history of art at Reading University in England during a junior year abroad, where one of his favorite professors was Neil MacGregor.
Emma Crichton-Miller
Emma Crichton-Miller is a freelance journalist, critic, and author writing on fine art, design, ceramics, collecting, textiles, books, and a further wide range of subjects, for the Financial Times, The Sunday Telegraph, ArtReview, RA Magazine, Prospect Magazine, Crafts, and other publications. She writes a monthly column on the art market for art magazine, Apollo, and has been since 2018 the founding Editor in Chief of The Design Edit, an online magazine dedicated to collectable design.
Emma has also worked in television for the BBC and for a range of independent production companies, including Rosetta Pictures where she was a company director. She produced films about Balthus, Norman Foster, Tricky and Alfred Brendel for the BBC, a six part series, Mind Traveller, about neuropsychology with neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks for the BBC and other factual programmes about neuroscience for the BBC, Channel Four and Arte.
In 2014, Emma authored the celebrated monograph of potter/writer Edmund de Waal published by Phaidon. She also provided text for the book "London Secrets: A Draughtsman's Guide" (20,000 words) about the architecture of London, working with the designer Tim Gosling and published in 2012. In 2022 Lund Humphries published her book, “The Pottery of John Ward”, and she is the co-author, with James Fox, of the monograph “Force of Nature: The Art of Kate Malone”, which was published by Skira Editore in May 2024.
Sylwia Krasoń
CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Lynx, an international online magazine founded in 2013. Since 2024, she has been the sole owner of Contemporary Lynx, an arts organization she co-founded. Under her leadership, the organization transitioned from simultaneous online and print editions (2015–2023) to fully embracing the digital era with an online magazine.
Beyond publishing weekly articles, Contemporary Lynx offers a rich educational and artistic program, including Lynx Academy, panel discussions, events, and art prizes, in collaboration with partners across Europe and beyond. She also serves as President of the Contemporary Lynx Foundation in Warsaw, which she co-founded in 2017.
Sylwia holds an MA in Arts Policy & Management (specializing in curating contemporary art) from Birkbeck, University of London (2012) and an MA in History of Art from Jagiellonian University in Kraków (2008).
With 15 years of experience in the art field, she has held roles at Philips de Pury, Saatchi Gallery, Barbican Art Gallery, and Zderzak Gallery. She also co-founded a pop-up art gallery in London (2012).
She is the author of workshop programs “Storytelling for Creatives” and “How to Make a Magazine”, supported by Arts Council England. A seasoned conference speaker, workshop facilitator, and jury panel member, Sylwia writes on art and culture.
She is currently based in Paris.
Miranda Lopatkin
London born, Miranda, is a practicing artist and has an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins. She also holds a BA hons in Theatre and Performance from the University of Warwick. Miranda has exhibited widely, including inclusion in exhibitions at Tate Modern, National Portrait Gallery and Royal Academy of Arts. She was also a finalist in the 2023 and 2024 Art Gemini Prize. She was included in the Aesthetica Magazine ‘Future Now’ anthology of contemporary artists and won first prize in the Artsdepot Open.
Passionate about museums and galleries, Miranda has also focused on partnering with several professionally. She works with the National Portrait Gallery as an artist. Her work there includes representing the gallery as a working artist for press and publicity including working alongside HRH Princess of Wales at the official re-opening of the gallery.
Previously Miranda has been on the judging panel for a University of the Arts and Deutsche Bank collaborative arts award.
Miranda’s current artistic practice focuses on 35mm and medium format slide projections, analogue photography and creates final images that appear to resemble cross fades in a film. Her work is in private and public collections in the UK.
Rosalind Davis
Rosalind Davis is a Curator, Artist, art consultant, teacher/mentor, writer and designer. Davis has curated over 30 exhibitions including an ambitious group show at Arthouse Jersey 2023 and was the Curator at Collyer Bristow Gallery in London 2016 -20. Independent curatorial projects have been curated Trace Elements | 1971 at The Factory Project produced by Thorp Stavri, London (2021) Athens Art Fair- Platforms, Athens (2023), and Standpoint Gallery, Arthouse1 and Geddes Gallery, London. Davis co-directed Art Organisations Zeitgeist Arts Projects (2012-15) at Bond House Gallery (ASC) and Core Gallery 2010-12.
Davis is co-author of ‘What they didn’t teach you at art school’ and lectures at universities, galleries and organisations across the world including the RCA, ICA, Camden Arts Centre, UAL and is a mentor for Artquest, Plop Residences, previously with a-n and works as a private mentor.
As an artist Davis has exhibited nationally and internationally and work is held in a number of private and public collections including Soho House.
Curtis Holder
Curtis Holder (born Leicester, 1968) is a London-based artist who works in graphite and coloured pencil to create large-scale portraits and figurative works on paper.
Holder gained widespread recognition in 2020 after winning the prestigious Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year competition. Since then, he has continued to garner critical acclaim through solo and group exhibitions, artist residencies, and commissions, earning numerous accolades, including The John Ruskin Prize in 2024.
In 2023, Holder was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery and the Terrence Higgins Trust to create a posthumous portrait of Terry Higgins, one of the first people in the UK to die of an AIDS-related illness. He also presented Curtis Holder: Portraits of Brotherhood at Guildford House Gallery in 2024, exploring themes of identity and masculinity through intimate portraits of Black and Brown men.
Holder is a member of Contemporary British Portrait Painters (CBPP), The Society of Graphic Fine Art (SGFA), and The Pastel Society (PS), and his work is held in prominent public collections, including the National Portrait Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and Soho House.
In addition to his artistic practice, Holder has been a judge for several major international art competitions, including The Cass Art Prize (2024), The Derwent Art Prize (2023), and the Jackson’s Painting Prize (2022).
Sophie Clark
Sophie Clark has over twenty five years' experience developing and delivering programmes in a range of museums and galleries including Tate, Imperial War Museums and the National Portrait Gallery.
She was part of the small team responsible for the launch displays at Tate Modern and was awarded a Clore Fellowship in 2006.
Sophie has led Exhibition departments at a number of organisations including the National Gallery, Wellcome Collection, the Design Museum, Somerset House and Whitechapel Art Gallery. She currently works as a Freelance Consultant and Project Manager.
Hannah Woods
Hannah Woods is Assistant Curator at Whitechapel Gallery where she has worked on a number of projects including Zineb Sedira: Dreams Have No Titles, Sonia Boyce: An Awkward Relation and Peter Kennard: Archive of Dissent. She is currently working on a survey exhibition of Hamad Butt, as well as sitting on the panel for the London Open Live.
Prior to this role, Hannah worked at Barbican Art Gallery on exhibitions including Noguchi, Carolee Schneemann: Body Politics and RE/SISTERS: A Lens on Gender and Ecology. Hannah is founding editor of motor dance journal, a print publication dedicated to dance and performance practices, and recently co-curated STAGE/PAGE/SPACE at San Mei Gallery, London.
VAO JUDGES FROM
PREVIOUS YEARS
Explore the slideshow to discover the distinguished judges who have shaped the Visual Art Open over the years. From acclaimed artists and celebrated writers to respected art critics, professors, collectors, and curators, each judge brings a wealth of expertise and insight, contributing to the VAO’s reputation for excellence and thoughtful curation.
Maeve Doyle
Maeve Doyle is an internationally renowned art critic, broadcaster, and Global Artistic Director of the Maddox Gallery group. Studying at the Emily Carr University of Art & Design in Vancouver, Canada, Doyle previously founded London gallery, Doyle Devere, and was a Director at Mayfair’s infamous Bankrobber gallery, an institution best known for its sale of the Banksy mural ‘Slave Labour’ and ‘Girl with Balloon’.
Currently working at Maddox Gallery, a globally celebrated contemporary art gallery based in Mayfair, Doyle provides the team with unique insights and a wealth of industry knowledge, helping the gallery situate itself in the ever-changing landscape of the art world. She is both a BBC Arts correspondent, as well as the host of her own podcast, ‘A Private View with Maeve Doyle’ on Soho radio’s culture channel.
An esteemed thought-leader within the industry, Doyle has led panel discussions at many art fairs, including Wimbledon Art Fair, London Art Fair, The Other Art Fair & Art on a Postcard.
