Hope Bartley Shortlisted for Young Generation Art Award 2027

Hope Bartley, a 1993-born artist from Kingston, Jamaica, has been shortlisted for the third Young Generation Art Award, presented by Monopol magazine and Degussa Goldhandel. Bartley, who also works full-time as an architect in Munich, studied at the Caribbean School of Architecture and Bauhaus Dessau, earning a master's in architecture in 2018. His large-scale oil paintings explore biophilia—the innate human connection to nature—through pointillist techniques that depict human bodies merging with natural environments. Bartley avoids stereotypical tropical imagery, instead using Canadian or Northern European forests to challenge expectations. He initially painted small self-portraits exploring masculinity but shifted to more abstract representations after finding that German audiences focused primarily on his race. The award, open to international artists under 35, received over 600 submissions. The shortlist includes Joanna Chia-yu Lin, Pierre-Yves Delannoy, Joana Loewis, and Louisa Pieper. Their works will be exhibited at the Degussa branch on Berlin's Gendarmenmarkt starting November 27. A jury comprising Yilmaz Dziewior (director of Museum Ludwig, Cologne), curator Maya Heckelmann, and Monopol editor-in-chief Elke Buhr will select the winner, to be announced in February 2027. The main prize is 10,000 euros, and each shortlisted artist receives 3,000 euros. Monopol is profiling each shortlisted artist in turn.