LONDON.- The 2008 Sovereign European Art Prize exhibition opens at the Embankment Galleries, Somerset House, London, on 1st October.

The 2008 Sovereign European Art Prize exhibition presents works by 30 contemporary artists from across Europe selected by a panel of judges including Sir Peter Blake, Tim Marlow, Rachel Campbell-Johnston, Philly Adams, Alan Yentob and Jarvis Cocker.

The winner will receive a £25,000 prize and the other works will be auctioned in a Gala Charity Auction, with the proceeds divided equally between the artists and the London-based charity, Kids Company.

Amongst the artists featured in this year’s shortlist are the Russian collective, AES+F, stars of the 2007 Venice Biennale. Also featured are two identical twins, Rachel and Laura Lancaster. The artists were selected separately by the judges from over 600 entries. It was only through announcing the shortlist that it was discovered they were so closely related.

The exhibition also features two donated works. Intricate Requiem II is by Nasser Azam, a painter and sculptor who has rapidly become established as a leading contemporary artist. Since October 2007 Azam has been Artist in Residence at the County Hall Gallery where his latest exhibition Anatomica is currently on display. Azam broke new ground recently in July when he became the first artist to complete a series of paintings in zero gravity conditions, as part of the Life in Space project, and his pieces are included in leading international contemporary art collections.

The second donated work, Sweetspots, is from the series ‘Art Grand Slam’ created by tennis star Martina Navratilova as she hits paint-saturated tennis balls onto the canvas, under the direction of Slovak artist Juraj Kralik.