Art Museum of West Virginia University Purchase Award
Zorawar Sidhu (born 1985, Ludhiana, India; lives New York, NY) has a BA in the History of Art from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, a Certificate in Painting from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA and an MFA in Studio Art from Hunter College, New York, NY. He has exhibited work at Five Myles, Brooklyn, NY; Field Projects, New York, NY; Marginal Utility and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, both Philadelphia; and the Museum of the Town of Vestal, NY.
Rob Swainston (born PA; lives New York, NY) has an MFA from Columbia University, New York, NY. Selected exhibitions include: Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington, VA; Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY; Bronx Museum, NY; Bravin Lee Programs, Canada Gallery, David Krut Projects and Print Center of New York, all New York, NY; Marginal Utility, Philadelphia, PA; Princeton Art Museum, NJ; Provincetown Art Association and Museum, MA; Queens Museum and Socrates Sculpture Park, both Queens, NY; and Staateliche Museen zu Berlin. Swainston has numerous residencies including Skowhegan, ME; Marie Walsh Sharpe, Colorado Springs, CO; and the Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA. He is an Associate Professor of Printmaking, Purchase College, NY and co-founder and Master Printer for the fine art print shop, Prints of Darkness.
Together Sidhu and Swainston have exhibited their project Doomscrolling at Field Projects Gallery, Petzel Gallery, Scully Tomasko Foundation and 601 ArtSpace, all New York, NY; and Princeton University Art Museum, NJ. Their work is held in collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Syracuse University Art Museum, NY; National Gallery of Art and U.S. Department of State, both Washington, DC; Kupferstichkabinett Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany; Hall Foundation; and Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. Their work has been featured in The Coastal Post, The Great Fires, The Guardian, Hyperallergic, Musée Magazine, The New York Times, Surface Magazine and The Washington Post.