John Moores Painting Prize 2016 - shortlist announced

Over 2,500 artists entered the £25,000 John Moores Painting Prize 2016. This is an an open competition for artists working with paint held every two years. It is regarded as one of the premier art prizes in the UK and is open to artists who live or are professionally based (e.g. have a studio) in the UK.

Past winners have included Patrick Heron (1959) Roger Hilton (1963) David Hockney (1967), Richard Hamilton and Mary Martin (1969), Euan Uglow (1972) Peter Doig (1993), and Rose Wylie (2014)
I always think of it as being a prize where those selected and shortlisted have typically been to an art school and very often have pursued postgraduate studies as well. (see the brief bios below to see what I mean).

The exhibition is always held at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. This year the exhibition will be part of the Liverpool Biennial’s 8th international festival which launches on 9 July 2016.

The shortlisted prizewinners were announced yesterday.

Five #jm2016 prizewinners announced! After viewing more than 2,500 entries, our jury chose: https://t.co/2l6xpYFWzx pic.twitter.com/1YGYllTRCS

— JM Painting Prize (@JMPaintingPrize) 20 June 2016

Details of the jury which selected the artists and drew up the shortlist are given at the end.

John Moores Painting Prize 2016 - Shortlist

Each of the artists named on the shortlist will win at least £2,500 - however one of them will win £25,000.

• Talar Aghbashian 
• Gabriella Boyd
• Bejamin Jamie
• Selma Parlour
• Michael Simpson

You'll find details about them below - each of the artist's names is prefaced by SHORTLISTED.

John Moores Painting Prize 2016 - Selected artists

Selected paintings and their artists were announced earlier in June.

Director of Art Galleries at National Museums Liverpool, Sandra Penketh, said there is an "especially vibrant use of colour" in this year's selection. "We also see many artists addressing the topical issues facing our world today, touching on subjects such as migration."
BBC News | Artists selected for John Moore Painting Prize

All paintings by the selected artists are eligible for the Visitors’ Choice prize of £2,016. This is voted for by visitors to the exhibition at the Walker and awarded towards the end of the exhibition period. All works featured in the exhibition will also be available to purchase.

Links in the artists name is to their website Aspiring artists might want to note that

• virtually every artist has an informative website - and that they're very interesting in terms of different approaches to presenting their work. 
• I found more than a few artists who were being somewhat "creative" with their bios. It's really not worth it when simple facts can be easily checked online eg there's a world of difference between being selected, being shortlisted and actually winning a prize. 
• Quite a few artists need to update their websites on a more regular basis and particularly after they've been selected for an art prize exhibition!

Links in the titles are to an image of the painting - either to the John Moores website or wherever the painting can be found online.  (Artists might want to note that if an image doesn't have a URL nobody can link to it! It's a matter of individual choice - however it's always very difficult to reference paintings without an online ID)

As always if I've got any of the links wrong please do contact me via the comments or by emailing me (see side column)

The selected artists are

• SHORTLISTED Talar Aghbashian - 'Untitled' A Lebanese Armenian painter who did his Master of Fine Art (MFA), Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and lives and works in London. More details about painting and artist in Shortlisted page - click link in title

Untitled (2015) by Talar Aghbashian
Oil on canvas, 75 x 60 cm

• Tristan Barlow - 'Truck Stop Swamp' - born in Jackson Mississippi. Lives and works in London. In 2015 he graduated with a 2015 MFA in Painting (Distinction), Slade School of Fine Art; London
• Karl Bielik - 'Sunday' - lives and works in London and works exclusively in oil work exclusively in oil paint on thirty or so paintings and drawings at once
• SHORTLISTED Gabriella Boyd - 'Birthyard' -  A young London-based artist who graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 2011 and is currently a student at the Royal Academy Schools (2014-17). More details about painting and artist in Shortlisted page - click link in title

I’m really interested in how we distinguish between a painting of an intimate scene and a painting that’s voyeuristic. Interview - Gabriella Boyd: Inside the Studio

Birthyard (2015) by Gabriella Boyd
Oil on canvas, 167.8 x 152.4 cm

• Julian Brown - 'A Fairytale of Gdansk' - Born in 1974 from Dorset now works and lives in London. Trained at The Royal Academy Schools, Liverpool John Moores University & Bournemouth & Poole college of Art & Design
• Nici Bungey - 'The Expiring Frog' - Born in Germany, Lives and works in the UK
• Bernard Charnley - 'When the stars threw down their spears' - info about exhibitions on website
• Julie Cockburn - 'The Playground' - a one page website; no information about the artist on website or Facebook Page; 
• James Collins - 'Floyd' - a one image website
• Gemma Cossey - 'Halves II (Continuum)' - Active exhibitor. Studied at De Montfort University (BA and MA) and PGCE from Plymouth University
• Ben Cove - 'Freeloader' - (Ben Cove died on 16 March after a short illness.) Active exhibitor. Graduated from Goldsmiths College, University of London with an MFA in 2008; Previously graduated in Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University in 2001 and Architecture at The University of Nottingham in 1995. Informative well constructed website! 
• Graham Crowley - 'Blue Drift 4'  - Lives in Wickham Market in Suffolk. Born in Romford in 1950. Studied at St. Martin’s School of Art London (1968-72) and the Royal College of Art London (1972-75). A teacher who used to be Professor of Painting at the RCA. Selected for seven previous John Moores exhibitions and won joint second prize in 1987. He has an interesting website.
• William Dick - 'Oldall II' - Scottish painter. Born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1950. Studied at Glasgow School of Art, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and St Martin's School of Art, London. He has exhibited extensively in the United Kingdom and internationally. He has won a number of prizes.
• Sarah Dwyer - 'Potrero' - Studied Wimbledon College of Art. She has a Masters in Fine Art from Staffordshire University and Masters in Painting, The Royal College of Art, London (2002-2004) - where she won Most Promising Painter Award. Active exhibitor.
• Bella Easton - 'Passageways' - Born 1971. Lives and works in London. BA from Winchester School of Art (1990-93) . MA Fine Art, Royal Academy Schools, London (1997-2000). Active exhibitor

I make large architectural paintings and installations formed from small-scale drawings of real places, reconfigured into immersive fabrications made from a geometric framework of hundreds of panels. Bella Easton website

• Róisín Fogarty - 'Goofy Foot' - BA Joint Hons Fine Art/ History of Art & Design, (1993-97); De Montfort University, Leicester. Painters’ Studio Programme (2014-16) Turps Art School, London SE19
• Michael Ginsborg - 'From Package to Picture' - Born 1943. Studied at Ealing, the Central, and Chelsea Schools of Art, graduating in 1969. Worked in Education and played a key part at Wimbledon School of Art in starting the MA in Drawing, and the Centre for Drawing. Exhibited widely. Work included in many His work is included in many public, private and corporate collections - see ArtUK website
• Juliet Goodden - 'Kedleston Road' - She lives in the East Midlands and London. Studied BA fine art painting at Central School of Art and design (1975-78); MA fine art at Nottingham Trent University (2011-13). Teaches art and gives workshops. Her work is informed by the current social fabric of UK towns and cities.
• Steph Goodger - 'Les Non-Réclamés (The Unclaimed)' - MA in Fine Art (1999) Brighton University; BA (Hons) Fine Art, Painting, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham. 1995
• Christopher Hanlon - 'Untitled' - Graduated from Royal College of Art in 2008. Visiting Tutor, BA Fine Art (Painting), The School of Art and Design, University of Ulster, Belfast since 2012. Bio from the Timothy Taylor Gallery
• Linda Hemmersbach - 'January' -  b. 1984 in Cologne, Germany. Lives and works in Manchester. Studied for an MA in Fine Art (2009-2010) at Wimbledon College of Art. Longlisted for the Marmite Prize for Painting in 2016
• Thom Trojanowski Hobson - 'It’s a Circus Out There' - b. 1988, Kidderminster. Lives and works in London. BA Fine Art: Painting - Wimbledon College of Arts, London, UK (2012 - 2015)
• Ira Hoffecker - 'Camp Moschendorf II'- Acrylic and resin on birch wood panel, 76 cm x 102 cm, 30 by 40 inches - Born and raised in Bavaria, Germany. First degrees in French and Economic (Munich). Former professional in film publicity and marketing (1987-2004). Studied art in Canada. Graduated with a First Class Honours degree in Fine Art (2015) from the University of Gloucestershire. One of 20 UK graduates whose work was chosen for the Graduate Art Prize 2015 in London. Currently undertaking MFA studies at Transart Institute through Plymouth University

I am interested in how different societies transform and change city spaces over the course of the centuries.

• SHORTLISTED Benjamin Jamie - 'Dissolver' - Born in Nottingham and based in London. Studied at the University of Gloucestershire (1999-2002) and on the Turps Art School Painters Studio Programme (2014-16). More details about painting and artist in Shortlisted page - click link in title

Dissolver (2015) by Benjamin Jamie
Oil, distemper, wax and charcoal on canvas, 150.2 x 130.2 cm

My paintings explore the boundaries between the grotesque and the saccharine and seek to turn the mundane into the unusual.

• Benjamin Jenner - 'Flicker 3' - b. 1981 in Dover. Studied BA Fine Art (2001-2004) at Wimbledon and MFA Fine Art (2007-2009) at Slade School of Art. Currently works from studio in East London. 
• Gareth Kemp - 'This Could be Eastern Europe' - Born in the Wirral and lives in Liverpool. BA (Hons) History of Design and the Visual Arts (1995) Staffordshire University. MA Art History (1997) Liverpool University. Currently in the second year of the Turps Banana Correspondence Course.

I see my paintings as fictional landscapes.

• Nicholas Kulkarni - 'Untitled' (a one page website with no info other than email)
• George Lloyd-Jones - 'Round Tables (2)' - University of Brighton- BA fine art Painting
• Enzo Marra - 'Invigilator (John Virtue)' - BA at the University of Reading and and an MA at the University of Brighton
• Lee Marshall - 'Midnight I' - Born 1986, Cambridge, UK, Lives and works in London, UK.  BA Hons Fine Art (2005-2008) Norwich School of Art and Design, Norwich. Active exhibitor.
• Sneh Mehta - 'Him & Her' - Born Kenya, lives and works in London. MA in 20th Century Art History (2003) Goldsmiths College, University of London; Post Graduate Diploma Fine Art (1999) City & Guilds of London Art School; Certificate in Fine Art (1992) Brighton University
• Nicholas Middleton - 'Figures in an Arch' born in London in 1975. Studied at London Guildhall University (1993-94) and Winchester School of Art (1994-97). He has exhibited in the John Moores Painting Prize four times, and 
• won the Visitors Choice Prize in ‘John Moores 24’ 2006, and 
• was a prizewinner and again won the Visitors Choice Prize in the John Moores 2010.
• Nancy Milner - 'Untitled' - Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art (2013) Royal Academy Schools; BA (Hons) Fine Art (2009) Reading University. Abbey Scholar in Painting (2014-15) The British School at Rome. It's difficult to tell which "Untitled" it might be since all the ones I looked at online were "untitled". So why not just number them?
• Frank Minoprio - 'Field Myth' - Studied at Wimbledon College of Art and lives in Hackney. No website but on Saatchi
• Steve Moberly - 'If I called this painting ‘List’ would you read it as such?' - born in 1972 in keynsham, near Bristol. First Class BA Honours Degree (2011) The Arts University Bournemouth. Website does not indicate titles for any paintings.
• Donal Moloney - 'Cave Floor' - born in Cork and lives and works in Manchester. He studied at the Crawford College of Art (BA), the Slade School of Fine Art (MFA) and University of the Arts London (PhD). Regular exhibitor. Works in watercolour or acrylic.
• David Murphy - 'Long Ending (Green)' - born 1983 in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Studied at Newcastle College and the Glasgow School of Art. He lives and works in London
• Ewan Murray - 'Couple' - Born in Falkirk, 1991. Currently lives in Glasgow. BA (Hons) Fine Art: Painting and Printmaking (2009-13), Glasgow School of Art
• Laurence Owen - 'Ritual to the Westfield' - b. Gloucester 1984 Lives and works in London. Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art, London (2012-15) Royal Academy Schools,  Fine Art Painting, BA (Hons) (2002-05), Falmouth College of Art.
• SHORTLISTED Selma Parlour - 'One, The Side-ness of In-Out' Born 1976 in Johannesburg, South Africa-born. Based in London. PhD Art (2008-2014) Goldsmiths, University of London; MFA (1999-2002), University of Reading; BA (Hons) Art, 1st Class, (1995-1998), De Montfort University, Leicester.  Active exhibitor - currently exhibiting in The Marmite Prize for Painting V (2016) at Drogheda, Ireland

'One, The Side-ness of In-Out (2015) by Selma Parlour
Oil on linen, 61 x 51 cm

The paintings are meticulously rendered through soft films of oil on linen. My delicate surfaces reveal no visible traces of painterly technique, instead they appear as though drawn or printed. The method of colour application involves the extraction of the oil binder so that colour-texture is parched like chalk pastel.

• Mandy Payne - 'No Ball Games Here'  - originally trained as a dentist and spent 25 years working in the NHS. BA (Hons) Fine Art (First Class), (2013) University of Nottingham. Prizewinner in John Moores Painting Prize 2014. Also see BIG Draw interview
• playpaint - 'Double Science Fiction' -  a collaboration between two artists, Damian Nelson and Michael Gittings. They are based in London and began producing paintings together in 2008
• Alex Rennie - 'Totem' - born in London in 1977. Studied at Wimbledon School of Art from 1996 to 1997, and Cheltenham & Gloucester CHE (1997-2000). His paintings have been exhibited widely
• Tim Renshaw - 'Notebook Architecture' - Lecturer in Art at Reading University. No website.
• Lizi Sánchez - 'I I I I I' - MFA in Fine Art (2005-2007), Goldsmiths College, London; BA in Fine Art (1994-1999) Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, Lima, Peru
• Shaan Syed - 'Foster' - b. Toronto. Lives in London. MFA Goldsmiths College, London
• SHORTLISTED Michael Simpson - 'Squint (19)' - Born Dorset, 1940 of Anglo Russian parents. Lives and works in Wiltshire. 1958-60 Bournemouth College of Art; 1960-63 Royal College of Art, London. Exhibited in 'John Moores Painting Prize' 1989, 1991 (prizewinner), 1993, 2010.

Squint 19 (2015) by Michael Simpson
Oil on canvas, 228.5 x 130 cm

• John Stark - 'Beasts of England II' - No bio
• Duncan Swann - 'I choose the child' - 2002-2004 Royal College of Art, London, MA in Fine Art (Painting)
• Emma Talbot - 'You Come To Me In A Dream' - 1993-1995 Royal College of Art, M.A. Painting; 1988-1991 Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, B.A. Fine Art (First Class)
• Julia Warr - '“Where do we come from? Where are we going?”' - b. 1959 in San Jose, California. Lives and works in London, UK. 1999 B.A. Fine Art, Goldsmiths College, London
• Richard Kenton Webb - 'The Landscape as Discourse' - B.A., The Slade School of Fine Art, London (1978-82); M.A., The Royal College of Art, London (1983-86) 
• Simon Williams - 'A bout portant' - b. 1965. Lives in Cornwall. 1981-1990 Trained in Fine Art. 1990-1993 Trained with “Spitting Image” as an Animatronic Design Engineer. 1993-1996 Lecturer at “Central School of Speech and Drama”, London, designed and ran the first UK course in Theatrical Prop Making
• Mary Wood - 'Series 15 Cerulean 2' - no website

The exhibition