Happy New Year from Art UK!
And what better way to start the year than with the news that numerous artists and people from the world of arts have been recognised in the New Year’s Honours list.
Bob and Roberta Smith, a trustee of Art UK, has received an OBE for his services to art, and Turner Prize winner Chris Ofili has similarly been awarded a CBE. Ofili was one of the few British artists of African descent to form part of the Young British Artists movement in the 1990s, and this is reflected by a year where the honours are the most diverse they’ve ever been: 9.3% of the successful candidates have come from a BAME background.
Other honours recipients for services to the arts include:
- Jenny Waldman, the Director of 14–18 NOW, the collection of arts experiences commemorating the First World War
- Performance artist Ryan Gander, for Services to Contemporary Art
- Nicholas Logsdail, the founder and Director of the Lisson Gallery
They join the ranks of eminent artists who have already received honours, notably:
- David Hockney, CH, OM (the former meaning Order of the Companions Honour, and the latter meaning Order of Merit)
- Frank Bowling, OBE LG (Order of the Garter)
- Tracey Emin, CBE
- Michael Craig-Martin, CBE
- Sonia Boyce, MBE
- Yinka Shonibare, MBE
- Tacita Dean, OBE
- Barbara Rae, CBE
- David Remfry, MBE
- Gillian Wearing, OBE
- Gillian Ayres, CBE
- Ken Howard, OBE
- Albert Irvin, OBE
- Elizabeth Blackadder, DBE
- Victor Pasmore, CH CBE
- Bridget Riley, CH CBE
- Richard Hamilton, CH
- Sir Howard Hodgkin, CH CBE
Interestingly, a Freedom of Information request from the BBC led to the government publishing a list of those who had been
It’s great to see the work of those in the art world recognised in the New Year’s Honours list, and
Molly Tresadern, Art UK
