Brenda Draney, of Vancouver, B.C., named winner of the eleventh annual RBC
Canadian Painting Competition

$55,000 awarded to emerging Canadian artists

MONTREAL , Oct. 7 /CNW/ - RBC, with the support of the Canadian Art Foundation, today announced Brenda Draney of Vancouver as the national winner of the 11th annual RBC Canadian Painting Competition for her work entitled Aim is Important.

"The RBC Canadian Painting Competition has served as a springboard for Canada's emerging artists for more than a decade," said Anne-Marie David, regional vice-president, RBC. "The high calibre of artists in this year's collection speaks volumes about the extraordinary level of talent in Canada ."

The winners were chosen from more than 1,200 works, submitted by more than 600 artists across the country. The national winner, Brenda Draney , received a $25,000 prize with honourable mentions given to Martin Golland of Toronto for his Residential Night Vulture and Sasha Pierce of Toronto for Brown. A $15,000 prize was awarded to honourable mention recipients.

"The annual competition provides artists with an opportunity to showcase their work to the community at large and gives the public a view of what is current in contemporary painting across the country," said Ann Webb , executive director, Canadian Art Foundation.

Submissions were accepted from professional, practicing visual Canadian artists who are in the early stages (within the first five years) of their careers. The RBC Canadian Painting Competition was judged by some of the most respected artists, gallery directors and curators in Canada . The list of finalists and their submitted works can be found at www.rbc.com/sponsorship/paintingcompetition/pc-semi-finalists-2009.html.

All 15 paintings will be on exhibit at the Musée d'art contemporain in Montreal . The three winning paintings will travel to Toronto where they will be displayed at the Toronto International Art Fair October 22 - 26 followed by an exhibition of all 15 paintings at the Power Plant in Toronto from November 21 -29.

All finalists will be featured in Canadian Art magazine and on the web at www.rbc.com/paintingcompetition and www.canadianart.ca.

About the RBC Canadian Painting Competition

Established in 1999, the RBC Canadian Painting Competition is a tribute to Canada's artistic talent. The goal of the competition is to support and nurture Canadian visual artists early in their career by providing them with a forum to display their artistic talent to the country and hopefully open doors to future opportunity. An investment in Canadian culture and the visual arts community, the competition will award one national prize of $25,000 and two honourable mentions will receive $15,000 each. Along with past winners, the winning paintings of 2006 will become part of RBC's Canadian art collection comprised of more than 4,000 works of distinguished art collected over the past hundred years. Various paintings from the RBC collection have been exhibited in museums, enabling more Canadians to enjoy these wonderful works.

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For further information: Media Contacts: Matt Gierasimczuk, RBC Media Relations, [phone]; Raymond Chouinard, RBC Media Relations, [phone]