Christie's Award: Artist inspired by London housing crisis wins prestigious prize

The prize has been given out for the first time by the Royal Drawing School, set up by the King more than 20 years ago
Artist Louis Pohl Koseda
Gregory De Wode

An artist inspired by London's housing crisis has won a prestigious £15,000 prize organised by the Royal Drawing School.

Louis Pohl Koseda, from east London, won the first Christie's Award after graduating from the school's scholarship course.

Among his work is Peak Interest: London’s Housing Cycle and its Social Effect which shows figures floating around an overcrowded city which he said "developed from my lived experience of the tragedy of London’s housing market, and my understanding of housing cycles from economic theory".

Other work includes paintings of journeys made on night buses and sketches of bankers in the City of London during recent financial downturns.

The Shoreditch-based school was set up by King Charles and artist Catherine Goodman in 2000 to offer free or low-cost tuition for artists.

Koseda said: "What I've learned most being at the Royal Drawing School is that when you draw something, you are also understanding how it is made.

"That might be how the anatomy works, how clothes flow and move around the body, how spaces and the city is built. That’s what separates it from other artforms.

"The Christie’s Award will really change things for me as a practicing artist. I can now work in my own studio and I can begin to develop my practice further. I'm so grateful to the Royal Drawing School for giving me the opportunity to both express myself and understand myself better through drawing, I understand the world through making now.”

His work and that of another 27 students is on show in a new exhibition called The Drawing Year 2023 which runs from Thursday December 7 to Tuesday December 19.

All the works are available to buy with prices between £70 to £4,000.

Visit the exhibition online at www.royaldrawingschoolexhibits.org

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