Winner of the Threadneedle Prize 2010

‘My role was to capture the “experience of the moment” of building work in progress. The focus is not the finished building but an investigation of the beauty of construction.’

£25,000 prize-winner Patricia Cain trained as a lawyer before becoming a full- time artist in 2004, going on to complete her PhD at Glasgow School of Art. She lives and works in Glasgow, and her work is focused largely on regeneration of the city. Building the Riverside Museum explores the physical construction of the Glasgow Riverside Museum of Transport, designed by architect Zaha Hadid. Cain uses pastel, often considered a difficult medium, to create large-scale industrial drawings, where broad and confident lines of colour build a structure into the work that replicates its subject matter. Earlier this year, Cain won the Aspect Prize 2009/10.

Cain takes a linear approach to her work, using repeated lines of colour to build the form of the piece. By manipulating the interior space that she represents, Cain draws attention to the architectural frame of the building. She creates a heightened sense of perspective that situates the viewer at the centre of these mechanical and overbearing interior spaces.

'Although representational in appearance,' explains Patricia, 'the drawing process was driven by an initial spatial awareness involving all of the senses.'