Rethinking the Image

The 20th anniversary of the Aesthetica Art Prize is currently being marked by an ambitious multi-site exhibition, bringing fifty international artists to four galleries across North Yorkshire.^[1] Details of all the artists can be found on the Aesthetica Art Prize website, linked at the bottom of this article; here, I will focus on a few key highlights from the Mercer Art Gallery in Harrogate, where the broad thematic focus is on our varied perceptions of the rapidly changing world around us.^[1]

Four works from Kristina Varaksina’s Self-Reflection series (figure 1; 2019-present), discreet yet arresting, serve as an intriguing starting point. In these photographic self-portraits, the artist obscures her naked body with objects and materials that express her vulnerabilities – in one image, a network of wires appears to bind her to the table; in the adjacent portrait, she appears suffocated by an ensemble of air pouches, typically used for packaging large, fragile items.

See more: https://kristinavaraksina.com/self-portraits/ (Accessed: 24 May 2026).

Alongside these works, a triptych of collages by K Young (figure 2) – Arm with Hair (2020), Legs with Torso (2020), and Red Sofa (2019) – convey a mood which is both irreverent and sinister. Taken from second-hand books and magazines,^[2] the human figures in these works have been chopped up, rearranged, and interspliced with other imagery to form new and unsettling configurations.

See more: https://www.kyoungcollage.com/selected-work (Accessed: 24 May 2026).

Meanwhile, a pair of works from Alexej Sachov’s Chronicles of an Emerging Diversity series (figure 3; 2023) – Neptune’s Steed and The Ballerina – display a stark beauty. Merging photography and painting to create his stunning prints, the artist and diver takes photographs of aquatic waste and transforms them into glistening, delicate organisms;^[2] the offspring of man’s apathy towards the natural environment. These are the most inventive and thought-provoking works in the display.

See more: https://sachov-art.com/chronicles-of-an-emerging-diversity (Accessed: 24 May 2026).

At the far end of the gallery’s main space, two prints from Bart Nelissen’s Datascapes series (figure 4; 2023) address the search for meaning in both the natural world and the digital world.^[2] Here, images of cloudscapes are distilled into minimalist configurations of overlapping, translucent squares, evoking complex yet tenuous networks of data.^[2]

The results are reminiscent of both the hard-edged abstraction of Ben Nicholson^[3] and the geometric experimentation of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham.^[4] They can easily be understood to visualise, however, the technological anxiety that permeates our increasingly automated world.

See more: https://bartnelissenphotographics.nl/datascapes (Accessed: 24 May 2026).

After circling the gallery, I arrive at Stephen Johnston’s Flowers in a Jar no. 11 (2024; figure 5) – a breathtaking example of the artist’s hugely impressive, hyper-realistic oil paintings, which serve as subtle meditations on the relentless passage of time.^[2] Johnston draws attention to the finest nuances of light and reflection; here, the rendering of the lettering on the glass jar is particularly striking. If technical skill is your primary measure of great art, then look no further.

See more: https://www.stephen-johnston.co.uk/blank (Accessed: 24 May 2026).

[1] Aesthetica Art Prize (no date) 20 Years of the Aesthetica Art Prize. Available at: https://artprize.aestheticamagazine.com/northyorkshire/ (Accessed: 24 May 2026).

[2] Aesthetica Art Prize 20: Defining the Future of Contemporary – Part II: Perception (2026). [Exhibition]. Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate. 2 May-6 September.

[3] See: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/194043-two-forms-116880 (Accessed: 24 May 2026).

[4] Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust (no date) Theme: Things of a Kind in Order & Disorder. Available at: https://wbg.emuseum.com/view/objects/asimages/9400?t:state:flow=5140672c-e654-4fe7-b940-28fe4ac86976 (Accessed: 24 May 2026).