MAKING A MARK: Jackson's Painting Prize 2023 Exhibition at Bankside Gallery

Jackson’s Painting Prize is showcasing the 2023 competition winners and shortlisted artists at the Bankside Gallery in their first independent exhibition until Sunday 30th July.

View of the Jacksons Painting Prize 2023 exhibition at the Bankside Gallery

Now in its eighth year

it received over 11,000 entries (more than the double the number received in 2020)
from 96 countries,
AND the exhibition includes over 60 artworks from a selection of shortlisted artists.

(First of all, apologies for the lateness of this post - I saw the exhibition on Tuesday afternoon - but then Blogger decided to misbehave badly and after having a fit of pique (I kid you not) I had to completely redo the post)

BELOW you can:

find out about Jackson's Painting Prize
how to see the exhibition
view my photos of the exhibition
find out about the prizewinners. You can also see all the prizewinners on this page on the Jacksons Art Supplies website
PLUS see some of the artwork 'on the wall' in this post

The Judges for this year's competition were

Martin Gayford: Curator & author of titles such as ‘Spring Cannot be Cancelled’ co-written with David Hockney
Ell Pennick: Founder and CEO of Guts Gallery
Hugo Barclay: Director of Affordable Art Fair UK
Sahara Longe: Figurative painter, represented by Timothy Turner Gallery
Kayoon Anderson: Figurative painter, Sky Portrait Artist of the Year Semi Finalist 2020
Lorena Levi: Artist, winner of Jackson’s Painting Prize 2022

What is Jackson's Painting Prize?

Jackson’s Painting Prize is an annual competition run by Jackson's Art Supplies - a fine art materials supplier which ships to artists all over the world

It started in 2016 to spotlight talent in the Jackson’s Art Supplies’ community.
It is open to artists all over the world - of all ages, abilities, and stages in their careers.
It has an impressive expert judging panel made up of gallerists, curators, artists, commentators and critics AND I've judged it (in 2020).
It has DOUBLED the number of entries in the last three years. When I judged it in 2020, there were over 5k entries. This year there were over 11k entries.
This year it debuted the prizewinners at the Affordable Art Fair in Hampstead which is where I saw some of the paintings for the first time

How to see the Jackson's Painting Prize Exhibition

You can see the shortlisted artists on the competition website.

I'll also be uploading an album of my photos to my Facebook Page this afternoon.

If you want to see them in person you can see the artwork this week at the Bankside Gallery

Dates: Tuesday 25th – Sunday 30th July 2023
Hours: 11am – 6pm daily
Admission: Free public entry, pre-booking not required
Artwork availability: Selected artworks are for sale. Please enquire at the desk, or at gallery@jacksonsart.co.uk
Social Media: #JPP2023 @jacksons_painting_prize and @jacksons_art www.jacksonsart.com/paintingprize/

It's notable that the exhibition includes artworks which are very significantly bigger than those typically accepted by most open exhibitions.

The exhibition includes some very large paintings

Jackson’s Painting Prize 2023: The Prize Winners

You can view the 2023 Winners on the Jackson's Painting Prize website - and in my photos of the exhibition.

There are winners, however I'm going to highlight my personal favourites first.

My Personal Favourites

Of the winners. my personal favourites were both firmly rooted in figurative art based on real life!

The Portrait Award Winner: Chris Longridge for Venus and Cupid - which to me (and others) looked like every grandparent's experience of looking after the grandchildren!

Portrait Award Winner:
Chris Longridge for Venus and Cupid
(Oil on panel, 72 x 60 cm)

I can also well understand why Lucy Gable won the People's Choice Award with Menopausal Me. It really zaps you between the eyes and covers a topic which is not much touched upon by any painter let alone female painters!

People's Choice Award
Lucy Gable for Menopausal Me
Oil on board 40x40cm

“I’m particularly drawn to painting portraits in oil, often female, and I try to capture the over-riding emotion of a particular singular moment. I often find that those emotions are obscure but intense, and include exhaustion, fury, exasperation and joy.”

The List of Prizewinners

Jackson's Painting Prize Winner 2023

Jackson's Painting Prize 2023
Melissa Ling with her painting "Out of Now"
acrylic on canvas, 36 x 24 inches

There is a narrative by the winner Melissa Ling on the website about the painting

“Out of Now is part of my painting series that explores identity and belonging, often showing figures in transitional spaces. My parents were born in China during the Cultural Revolution and I was born and raised in the United States. I’m interested in painting as a way of creating a permeability between past and present.

However, there is no explanation from the Judges as to why they gave it the top prize. Which I didn't find very helpful.

I have to say this one did NOT wow me. For me personally, it is very definitely NOT "look at me" painting and I thought it rather too subdued - it sank into the wall somewhat when viewed in the gallery next to other artworks (see below). Normally with prizewinners, you can tell which artwork won when you walk in - or see it on the wall. Not so with this one.

Here it is - hung on the long wall with other paintings.

The Jackson's Painting Prize winner - with other shortlisted paintings

The other prizewinners are listed below - and included images of some of them hanging on the wall and commented on some of them.

SUBJECT PRIZES

Amateur Award: Kuangyi Liu, Interior No.5 Oil on canvas, 54 x 46 cm

People’s Choice Award: (SEE ABOVE) Lucy Gable, Menopausal Me Oil on panel, 40 x 40 cm

Student Award Ginny Elston, The Burden of Being Acrylic on paper, 120 x 168 cm

This was certainly very impactful in terms of size and degree of clutter!

“‘The Burden of Being’ is an uncomfortable confrontation of our ceaseless habits of consuming and discarding materials that will long outlive us on the planet. We spend our lives accumulating ‘stuff’, and I wanted to make a painting that speaks of the overwhelming and overbearing nature of this stuff.”

Portrait Award Winner: Chris Longridge, Venus and Cupid Oil on panel, 72 x 60 cm

Here's another view of the 'Venus and Cupid' painting - on the wall - with others. A painting does not have to be big to capture attention.

Landscape Award Winner: David Stewart, Tower Shadow Oil on canvas, 137 x 182 cm

Animal Award Winner: Rosie Phillips, Babs Oil on canvas, 61 x 61 cm

Non-Representational Award: Petra Schott, And Then She Decided To Take A Bath Oil on canvas, 140 x 140 cm

This one is hung on the right wall as you enter the gallery. You can see the Student Award behind it on the left.

Still Life Award: Li Ning, A Room of One’s Own Oil on canvas, 70 x 50 cm

Scenes of Everyday Life Award: Robbie Bushe, Night Visitor Oil on panel, 40 x 50 cm

I was greatly puzzled as to why the painting was so light in its palette if the title was 'Night Visitor'. For me, at one level it was charming and at another it didn't quite deliver for me. I was left with the feeling of a painting which might have been so much better. I don't consider it representative of what he can do. That's because I've seen Robbie's paintings before and I generally like them - however they're often much bigger and more complex. He's also had some interesting exhibitions in some prestigious galleries

I think when he submits next time he should "go big"!

Mind’s Eye Award: Iain Andrews, Double Portion Acrylic on canvas, 122 x 91 cm

Botanical Award: Julia Asenbaum, Cibotium Glaucum Watercolour on paper, 56 x 76 cm

This was an ambitious painting. There were certain aspects of it that niggled me (and I'm a long time viewer of botanical art paintings) but I applaud Julia for taking her artwork outside conventional botanical art exhibitions and submitting to this competition. For me it was very nearly 'very impressive' - and I'm saying that in the context of having seen some very impressive paintings by Julia in previous exhibitions.

MEDIA

Oil Award: Anna Kurkova, Three Magi Oil on paper, 152 x 101 cm

The technique used for this one was unusual - certainly not one I see a lot in exhibitions. I ended up photographing one corner to remind myself of how the oil paint sat on the paper.

The top right hand corner of the above painting

MAKING A MARK

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Friday, July 28, 2023

Jackson's Painting Prize 2023 Exhibition at Bankside Gallery