Organized by students of the Bachelor in Art Expertise and Trade, the Juvenars-IESA Prize rewards a young visual artist under 30 not represented by a gallery. For this first edition, the jury chose to award it to Loup Lejeune, a 24-year-old French artist studying at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels (ENSAV) de La Cambre in Brussels.

This year, the first-year students of the Bachelor in Art Expertise and Trade chose to support young contemporary creation by creating the Juvenars-IESA Prize. From about thirty applications, they selected seven finalists who each presented a work during the IESA Gala day at La Bellevilloise.

The prize jury met the artists from 15:00 to 17:00 to award the prize, which was officially presented at 20:00 after the auction that financed it. An original idea: the students had asked established artists to donate a work to financially support the prize. Led by Me Pierre Missika, surrounded by the students who had prepared the sale with him, the auction reached its goal and raised the planned €5000 endowment.

In addition to this endowment, the young winner is invited to exhibit at 8th Avenue, the contemporary section of the Art Elysée Fair, by the fair’s director and jury member, Isabelle Keit Parinaud, next October. Great visibility to find collectors and galleries who can help him fully enter the art market.

This project was a real immersion in the professional world for IESA students. It allowed them, with the support of major names in the art market, to take on creating a prize, putting together two exhibitions, and holding an auction.

IESA art&culture particularly thanks Sylvana Lorenz and the Metacritikopéra team who supported them in this project, Me Pierre Missika who led the sale, all the donor artists, and the collectors who answered the call. It congratulates the seven artists who were selected and, of course, the happy winner Loup Lejeune.

Juvenars-IESA Prize 2016 Jury:

Boris Grebille, Director of IESA art&culture

Sylvana Lorenz, Internship and Partnership Manager (IESA art&culture)

Isabelle Keit Parinaud, Director of Art Elysée

Mehdi-Georges Lahlou, artist

Denis Rivière, artist

Lan Sidobre, student representative

Charlotte Waligora, Professor of Contemporary Art History (IESA art&culture)

List of finalist artists for the Prize:

Amin Bidar, Alex Cheng, Liang Fu, Clara Imbert, Ambroise Lebrun, Loup Lejeune, Wei Xing

List of donor artists for the auction:

Ryan Arbilo, Christophe Beauregard, Catherine Blais, Sophie Boursat, Demosthenes Davvetas, Iris della Roca, Benjamin Didier, Joël Ducorroy, Dominique Fury, Anya Belyat-Giunta, Shen Hu, Cédric Lollia, Yvon Kergal, Erwan Keruzoré, Kou Kou, Sangeun Oh, Johann Perathoner, Catherine Porentru, Sandrine Rondard, Dominique Seban, Christophe Fouquet Sparta, Niki Stylianou, Yuzhi Zhou, Qixiang Zhou