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DAIMLER FINANCIAL SERVICES PRESENTS EMERGING ARTIST AWARD 2009

Posted 27th May, 2009 in Daimler | Leave a comment

Daimler Financial Services has presented its annual Emerging Artist Award for the fourth time. This year the award went to the young U.S. artist Zachary Ostrowski, a graduate of the Cranbrook Academy of Art.

Zachary Ostrowski received the award for 2009 in the category 2D Design in recognition of his work entitled “B FRE$H.” Ostrowski’s work is innovative in a number of ways. His final project consists of an installation that is made of various materials such as wood, posters, wig hair, sticks, tape, and lamps and is accompanied by a live performance.
“The Academy graduates who were nominated for the award are on the cutting edge of the art of tomorrow,” said Jürgen Walker, CEO of Daimler Financial Services. “We’re delighted to be able to support these young artists’ visions of the future.”
Being engaged with art can help an international company like DFS to strengthen relationships, Walker said. “I hope that the Emerging Artist Award also helps the talented young artists from the United States to build a bridge to Europe,” said the DFS Chairman. Through this award, DFS aims to advance the careers of young artists by helping them to establish contacts in the international worlds of art, business, and media.
The work of the winning artist was in competition against nine other works that reached the final round of the graduates’ exhibition. There was one finalist from each of the ten areas of instruction at Cranbrook Academy. The winner was chosen by a jury consisting of leading members of the Academy, managers from DFS, and art experts.
Ostrowski’s work of art, which addresses the themes of myth and ritual, looks similar to an altar. The artist’s intention is to present the idea of permanence and draw attention to the different forms of myth and ritual. In the associated live performance, Ostrowski has set several new world records for entry in the famous Guinness World Records. During his performance he involves the spectators in ways that create the feeling that they are witnesses of history in the making. The records are not set through great adventures, involving as they do the number of eggs Ostrowski can break on his head per minute, or the highest tower of hip-hop cassettes he can create in two minutes, etc. The resulting stories and reports about the event are the most important strategic element in Ostrowski’s work of art. The idea of a living myth becomes a reality, because the event is permanently preserved through the ancient art of storytelling.
The Daimler Financial Services Emerging Artist Award is presented annually in recognition of a particularly innovative work by a graduate of the Cranbrook Academy of Art. This internationally acclaimed academy of art, architecture, and design has a long-standing partnership with Daimler Financial Services.

[Source: Daimler]