- your portrait will be seen by over 200,000 people visiting the exhibition in London.
- your CV will be very much enhanced by selection for this prestigious exhibition. This then helps your career when trying to interest art galleries in your work
- your website will get enquiries for portrait commissions - (so make sure you have one and it provides decent information about commissions and how to contact you!)
- you get photographed with your painting for this blog post!
Lots of photos and lots of profile info about each artist - differentiating between those who are first time exhibitors and those who are have been selected for the Portrait Award in more than one occasion.
What my photographs help you to do - which the online gallery does NOT - is to see the size of the painting relative to the artist who painted it
The selection of the artists photographed for this post is not scientific - and is certainly not complete. Essentially they are
Wendy Barratt is a first time exhibitor who has risen to prominence in the last 18 months. Her self portrait which got her into Series 10 of Sky Arts Portrait Artist iof the Year - which she won - also got her selected for this exhibition too! Her preliminary drawing was straight to canvas. She uses a rigger brush to emphasise certain colours and tones.
Oliver Bedeman's painting is in oil on glass - which means he paints the entire portrait in reverse, starting with the eyelashes! The technique of back painting glass dates back to the Romans and is a method that was once described by Cennino Cennini who wrote the "how to" on late Medieval and early Renaissance painting. It's acquired various terms since then including Verre églomisé.
Education: Postgraduate Drawing Year, Royal Drawing School 2007-08 ; B.A (Hons) Fine Art Painting, University of Brighton 2004-07.
If you’re lucky when taking photos, you get the sitter too! In this instance in profile as in the painting. This is Jane Brodie with her best friend Phil - who was distracted and pensive at the time of the sitting - and the portrait is called “Breakfast with banana”
Jane Brodie is a figurative artist based in London and the Peak District.
Born in Leeds in 1977, he currently lives and works in Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire. He has exhibited regularly in both the UK and US. He also has been commissioned to do work for clients including The New York Times Magazine, The Sunday Times Magazine, Bloomberg Markets Magazine, Carlton Books, The Chronicle Review and Club Wembley.
Peter James Field (b.1976) has exhibited in this exhibition previously. He is an illustrator with an extensive range and number of prestigious clients. He also has a degree in world art history and anthropology, specializing in Japanese culture and taught for three years at state schools in the mountains of rural Japan.
This is where the painters in this post currently live.
EUROPE
EUROPE
- UK: England - Wendy Barrett, Oliver Bedeman, Tm Benson, Jane Brodie, Morag Caister, Laura Carey, Catherine Chambers, Alan Coulson, Peter Davis, Estelle day, Peter James Field, Ruth Fitton, Lewis Hazlewood-Horner, Emily Ponsonby, Carl Randall, Charlie Ratcliffe, Ray Richardson, Ilara Rosselli del Turco (originally Italian),Michael Slusakowicz (originally Polish), Antony Williams
- UK: Northern Ireland and Ireland - Comhghall Casey, Shane Keisuke Berkery, Daniel Nelis
- Germany: Dan Gaasch, Massimiliano Pironti
- Russia: Sasha Sokolova
AFRICA
- South Africa: Emily Stainer
ASIA
- Japan - Shinji Ahari
NORTH AMERICA
- USA: Kyle Hackett, Rebecca Orcutt, George Shapter
What the profiles help you with - If you've never entered the Portrait Award you can get a good sense of whether you're working at a similar level. The level of information varies with
- whether I remembered to photograph the label (not always - and the website very unhelpfully neglects to provide the information)
- how much an artist chooses to share (and sometimes overshare).
Artists with their Paintings
- those who were at Awards Ceremony or the Press View
- AND I managed to spot their "Artist" Blue Badge (Awards) or small red oblong sticker (Press View) declaring them to be an artist.
- AND they didn't leave before the end of the Press View!
The narrative below includes reasonably LARGE PICS - but you have to
- click the pic to see the LARGE VERSION
- click the link below the narrative - to go to the artist's website. Details of where you can see the exhibition are at the end of the post - together with the same post in previous years (2015-2018)
I'll also be posting these photos on Facebook in an album now I've completed this post. But given it's taken two days - I might have a break first!!
There are links to their websites or other social media sites embedded in their names.
UK - ENGLAND
Wendy Barrett
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Wendy Barrett - who is actually a lot more smiley than her self portrait Self (2022) Oil on stretched canvas 55cm x 40cm |
Wendy Barratt is a first time exhibitor who has risen to prominence in the last 18 months. Her self portrait which got her into Series 10 of Sky Arts Portrait Artist iof the Year - which she won - also got her selected for this exhibition too! Her preliminary drawing was straight to canvas. She uses a rigger brush to emphasise certain colours and tones.
In recent years, the winning of a portrait competition with a high profile has typically paid off in a major way for the winners - and I now keep seeing Wendy's artwork being exhibited everywhere, from her commission hanging in the NPG to a basement in Brixton where she was exhibiting as a brand new member of the Contemporary British Portrait Painters.
She has also been an Art Tutor for over 25 years and set up the Drawing Room in Worthing to host weekly life drawing classes - which she kept going via Zoom during Covid! This is a story about how she got Back to Life.
She has also been an Art Tutor for over 25 years and set up the Drawing Room in Worthing to host weekly life drawing classes - which she kept going via Zoom during Covid! This is a story about how she got Back to Life.
Education: BA (Hons) in Design and Communication Media, Manchester Polytechnic
Recent achievements include:
- Winner of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2023 (see Wendy Barratt is Portrait Artist of the Year 2023 (Series 10)
- Her prize - a £10,000 commission painting of Dr Jane Goodall currently hangs in Room 33 of the National Portrait Gallery (see PAOTY 2023: Commission Painting of Dr Jane Goodall.
- 2023-2024: Exhibited in Royal Society of Portrait Painters annual exhibition
Oliver Bedeman
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Oliver Bedeman |
If you leave part of the glass without any paint, then you can see shadows from the paint on the rear wall - see below for an example. This catches people's attention and then amazes them when they realise the entire painting has been painted backwards!
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Note the shadows on the wall behind the arm and the head |
He has painted T'nia Miller who is an actress. He contacted her via Instagram and then arranged a sitting at her home where he took reference photographs and made drawings
Recent Achievements:
- 2022: Artist in Residence at Dumfries House, Scotland,
- 2021: First Prize, Bath Society of Artists, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
- 2020: Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy,
- 2019: Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize, Shortlisted
- Royal Drawing School Tutor - Young Artists Programme at the Ashmolean, Oxford
Tim Benson
Tim Benson RP PPROI is a first time exhibitor at the Portrait Award and an oil painter who specialises in figurative and landscape work. He also focuses very much on telling the story of people whose voices are less well heard.
His painting of Adam Pearson is the first of two portraits of this well known British actor, presenter and campaigner for neurofibramatosis.
I took this photo of them when they were posing for another photographer and rather liked the three quarter view.
Recent Achievements:
- 2018-2023: Former President of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters
- 2020: Portrait Prize - Discerning Eye Exhibition
- 2019: Elected member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters
2019: Elected member of the Contemporary British Portrait Painters - 2015-2017: Director, Diploma in Portraiture, Heatherley School of Fine Art
- Currently a Portraiture Tutor at the Royal Academy Schools and various other art schools in London.
- Exhibits regularly with national art societies
Jane Brodie
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Jane Brodie (left) with her sitter and best friend Phi (right) Breakfast with Banana (2023) oil on canvas 61 x 76cm |
She works as an Art Director and Graphic Designer for Films and creates Set Designs.
Education: graduated in Architecture in 2009
Morag Caister
Morag Caister's recent paintings include a series of nudes and/or figures posing on a bed. It's a very classic theme, much used by Lucian Freud. Her paintings are also now more painterly and include more colour although still retaining a strongly graphic draughtsmanship base. She always starts by drawing from live sittings. This is her first appearance in the Portrait Award although I suspect it might not be her last.
Education: Graduated from Brighton University with a BA Painting (2019)
Recent achievements:
- won Sky Art’s Portrait Artist of the Year 2022.
- Her commissioned painting of British icon Sir Lenny Henry hangs in Contemporary Portraiture Galleries at the National Portrait Gallery - see PAOTY Commission - Painting Sir Lenny Henry (aka Len)
Laura Carey
Laura Carey is a first time exhibitor who is currently developing a studio based practice in South Bermondsey. The painting is of her mother under a red blanket while she slept following chemotherapy treatment. The painting was a means of confronting the truth and the pain associated with the cancer and coming to terms with the prospect of the taboo topic of dying and death. In a way it treads the path, trodden by others before her such as Daphne Todd, BP Portrait Award First Prize Winner in 2010 who painted her mother after death.
Education:
- 2023 - MA Fine Art from City and Guilds of London Art School
- BA (Hons) Fine Art Loughborough University
Catherine Chambers THIRD PRIZE WINNER
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Catherine Chambers Lying oil on canvas, 765 x 1130mm (30 inches x 44inches) |
This portrait is derived from a series of sketches of a friend asleep at home in Lalibela, northern Ethiopia. It was subsequently developed when the sitter visited the artist visited Chamber's studio in England. He posed on a camp bed but the it was painted as if he was at home. It was particularly important to display the Arsenal Shirt - which was symbolic of the differences between being able to wear a shirt as a fan and enjoying the benefits associated with being an Arsenal player - or just being somebody who was a UK citizen.
Recent achievements:
- Third Prize in this competition
- Shortlisted for the top prize for the RBA Rising Stars, Royal Over-Seas League, London
Education: BA (Hons) in drawing and applied arts University of the West of England
Alan Coulson
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Alan Coulson Yianni (2024) acrylic on wood |
Alan Coulson created his portrait of his friend Yianni from initial sketches and reference photographs and then thousands of finely painted brush strokes.
Previously selected on four occasions for the BP Portrait Award: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014
- In 2012 he was awarded third prize for his portrait of Richie Culver - which was then used to advertise the exhibition across London
Peter Davis
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Peter Davis Stereo (dpitych) (2023) acrylic on canvas |
Peter Davis is a first time exhibitor. The idea behind his portrait was to
"explore the viewer's unconscious bias to two juxtaposed portraits of the same Muslim woman"
He was intrigued about the impact different coloured hijabs might have on Fahima who was his sitter . She's not thought about it before. (I had! I'd noticed how much more approachable and friendlt Nadiya Hussein - of BakeOff fame - seemed to be when she stopped wearing a black hijab and started wearing ones in colour. The black seemed far too sombre for her personality).
I applaud him for tackling a topic which many might well have thought twice about. It's also interesting that a man chose to do this, rather than a woman. Like I said, I'd noticed the difference that impact of colour in a hijab makes - but wouldn't assume a man would think about this!!
I applaud him for tackling a topic which many might well have thought twice about. It's also interesting that a man chose to do this, rather than a woman. Like I said, I'd noticed the difference that impact of colour in a hijab makes - but wouldn't assume a man would think about this!!
His practice is to take hundreds of reference photographs in one sitting, paying close attention to the use of light and shade to inform the tonal contrasts of the finished painting. I'm not quite sure if that is what is intended by the notion that the portrait must be painted from life.
Education: graduated BA (Hons) from the Faculty of Art and Design of Manchester Polytechnic
Recent achievements: selected for the John Moores Painting Prize 2020
He is an elected member of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts (MAFA) and the Contemporary British Portrait Painters (CBPP) and exhibits widely and regularly across the North of England.
Estelle Day
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Estelle Day Self portrait in Studio V (2024) Oil on wooden board 30cm x 25cm |
Estelle Day works from her studio at home in south west London. It was lovely to meet her in the flesh having seen more than one of her self-portrait paintings, where she paints herself in her studio.
I am personally very "drawn" to inspecting the artistic paraphernalia of her surroundings - and I suspect she had the same impact on the Judges. Her studio is filled with eclectic treasures which she has been collecting since childhood, which she uses for her still life painting. Which I guess is, in part, because she also excels at painting still life.
Education:
- foundation diploma at Chelsea College of Art & Design;
- graduated in Fine Art and French from Oxford Brookes University.
Recent achievements:
- She became a full member of the Society of Women Artists in 2021.
- exhibited with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 2023 and 2024
- exhibited with the Royal Society of Oil Painters in 2022 and 2023.
Peter James Field
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Peter James Field Yeside (2023) oil on board |
Given this painting and his painting in 2018, I have a feeling he likes painting colourful fabric and black people with interesting faces (and stories maybe?). This sitter chose what she wanted to wear and how she wanted to sit. I particularly liked that he's made a feature of the hands - as not many do!
I also note that he has varied the size of paintings entered for the Portrait Award.
Education:
Lewis Hazelwood-Horner was born in the UK in 1992. He's been consistently winning awards and exhibiting since 2010.
Emily Ponsonby (b.1990) is a first time exhibitor at the Portrait Award and has a studio in Battersea. She is known for her beeswax work based upon the Ancient Egyptians’ Encaustic process; buffing, brushing and scraping pigment into layers of honeyed wax until forms gently emerge.
Education:
Carl is a British figurative painter whose work is based on images of modern Japan and London.
Charlie Ratcliffe - He is active as a musician and music producer in both the live-music and film worlds and his sitter is a fellow band member. You can see his portrait on Instagram. He makes drawings from life and takes reference photographs before starting a portrait.
Education: studied Print & Time-Based Media at Wimbledon College of Art (University of the Arts London).
Daniel Nelis is exhibiting in the Portrait Award for the second time, having previously been selected in 2019.
Daniel told me that he always loved the paintings by Michael Gaskell - who had a habit of winning BP Second Prizes - and also got some NPG commissions along the way.
I'm confident I can expect to meet Daniel again in the future.
Dan's Gassach's painting is of his partner Selina in a moment of quite repose
Sasha Sokolova was one of the artists I couldn't find when I was doing the list of selected artists. That's because she uses Sasha rather than Alexandra as her first name.
Emily Stainer was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1980; in 2015 returned to her home town Johannesburg, after eight years spent living in Jakarta, Indonesia.
- History of Art at the University of East Anglia
- BA Hons Degree in Illustration, University of Brighton
Recent achievements:
- He has exhibited with Royal Society of Portrait Painters (2019, 2020 and 2021).
- 2020: Sky Portrait Artist of the Year contestant 2020
Previously exhibited in the BP Portrait Award: 2018 and 2020
Ruth Fitton
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjys3l2Xp8g7zt-TcMbKly7RfcTm5rFCz9ipa9bqHeg-PJ3YMMehwadbhONG4ExE88Yxd-PZ93GeGNCQMQqpNBnXyfRg_caJ4Oi1ATHMR7rXIqir0FnB9eHFnQ3IbgmcytTZvqoaOFrKN2bRW2YgyxkKrmz8JNqSxr13ik-f1IWdfZBfZbXNa88/s16000/Ruth%20Fitton%202024.jpg)
Ruth FittonOnward (Self Portrait) ‐ Oil ‐ Linen ‐ 39" x 25.5"in the dress she painted her self-portrait!
Ruth Fitton is a first time exhibitor in the Portrait Award - but I'm confident I'll be seeing her again in future. She lives in London and produced a self portrait of herself in her studio - with her palette at her feet. On the night of the awards, she offered to come in to the press view the next morning wearing the dress she painted herself in. Which is why we have the above - which is very much a first for me! (I loved the comfy painting boots!)
Her solo exhibition "Otherwhile" opens tomorrow at Panter and Hall at the Pall Mall Gallery (10 minutes from the NPG)
Education: Ruth taught herself to paint in oils while also studying for a BA in Music, and on graduating began painting full-time.Recent achievements / awards include:
- 2023: Ruth was elected a
- Member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters - prior to which she was regularly selected to exhibit, and
- awarded Signature Status by the Portrait Society of America.
- received the the People's Choice Award in the Portrait Society of America International Competition
- Purchase Award from the Art Renewal Center (2021)
- 1st Place Young Artist award with the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (2020).
PS Do note the efficient, effective and sophisticated options she gives those who view her paintings on her website. Just click "More info" to see what I mean.
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Ruth Fitton Onward (Self Portrait) ‐ Oil ‐ Linen ‐ 39" x 25.5" in the dress she painted her self-portrait! |
Ruth Fitton is a first time exhibitor in the Portrait Award - but I'm confident I'll be seeing her again in future. She lives in London and produced a self portrait of herself in her studio - with her palette at her feet. On the night of the awards, she offered to come in to the press view the next morning wearing the dress she painted herself in. Which is why we have the above - which is very much a first for me! (I loved the comfy painting boots!)
Her solo exhibition "Otherwhile" opens tomorrow at Panter and Hall at the Pall Mall Gallery (10 minutes from the NPG)
Education: Ruth taught herself to paint in oils while also studying for a BA in Music, and on graduating began painting full-time.
Recent achievements / awards include:- 2023: Ruth was elected a
- Member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters - prior to which she was regularly selected to exhibit, and
- awarded Signature Status by the Portrait Society of America.
- received the the People's Choice Award in the Portrait Society of America International Competition
- Purchase Award from the Art Renewal Center (2021)
- 1st Place Young Artist award with the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (2020).
PS Do note the efficient, effective and sophisticated options she gives those who view her paintings on her website. Just click "More info" to see what I mean.
Lewis Hazelwood-Horner
Lewis Hazelwood-Horner
The Brambles (2024)
His portrait is about two generations of working ceramicists Freya and her father Chris. The way it's painted suggests the way the ceramics are created with a focus on creating the right shapes with the tension of moulding clay within the context of its tendency to warp and bend. It's also interesting to have a portrait where the sitters face away from one another and yet one gets a strong sense of their close working relationship, although I didn't appreciate they were father and daughter when I first looked at it
I like Lewis's portraits because he's in no way averse to painting people in a working context or in painting groups of people.
Education:
- 2012 London Atelier of Representational Art
- 2010 Byam Shaw School of Art
Recent Achievements: He exhibits widely and has won various awards.
- He's a regular exhibitor at the Royal Society of British Artists and became a member in 2017
- In 2016 won the Columbia Threadneedle Prize & Visitors Choice Award - see Lewis Hazelwood-Horner wins £20,000 Threadneedle Prize 2016
Emily Ponsonby
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Emily Ponsonby Chewing the Cud (2023) Beeswax and oil on panel 156cm x 122cm |
Emily Ponsonby (b.1990) is a first time exhibitor at the Portrait Award and has a studio in Battersea. She is known for her beeswax work based upon the Ancient Egyptians’ Encaustic process; buffing, brushing and scraping pigment into layers of honeyed wax until forms gently emerge.
I particularly liked the fact she's tackled a group portrait and it reminded me somewhat of some artwork by David Hockney, where angles are odd but somehow work.
Education:
- 2011-2013 - Leith School of Art
- Royal Drawing School
She has exhibited with galleries in the UK and South Africa. She has also exhibited with The Royal Society of Portrait Painters, The ING Discerning Eye and The Society of Women Artists.
Carl Randall
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Carl Randall Alain at Kew (oil on canvas 2022) |
Carl Randall's painting is called Alain at Kew and was commissioned by the family in the background of the painting. Alain is pictured in front of the Palm House in Kew Gardens. He used the Old Master "Verdacchio" technique of applying semi-translucent layers of skin tones on too of a green underpainting. It highlights the contrast between the blemishes and wrinkles in the sitter's skin with the blossoming flora. You can see how he works in his videos
Education: Graduate of
- The Slade School of Fine Art,
- The Royal Drawing School London, and
- Tokyo University of Arts Japan (Masters and then Doctorate in Fine Art - Painting).
Achievements:
- He's won The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, The Nomura Art Prize Japan, as well as several other awards.
Previously been selected:
- BP Portrait Award Exhibitions in 2012 and 2013
- won the BP Travel Award 2012. See also Carl Randall's Japan - the best BP Travel Award Exhibition ever!
Charlie Ratcliffe
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Charlie Ratcliffe Callum (2024) oil on canvas 61 x 51cm |
Charlie Ratcliffe - He is active as a musician and music producer in both the live-music and film worlds and his sitter is a fellow band member. You can see his portrait on Instagram. He makes drawings from life and takes reference photographs before starting a portrait.
(Contemporary artworks that include video, film, slide, audio, or computer technologies are referred to as time-based media works because they have duration as a dimension and unfold to the viewer over time.)
Ray Richardson has lived and worked in Paris, Brussels, Chicago and Connecticut. He currently lives and works in Woolwich, S.E.London where was born in 1964. His work has been described as having a filmic quality where every frame is well considered. There's certainly a strong sense of an unsaid narrative. He's been described as "the Martin Scorsese of figurative painting" for his choice of subject matter. My East End mates would refer to him as a "geezer" (as in the UK not US definition). I found him to be very refreshingly straightforward and straight speaking.
Antony Williams is an "old stager" when it comes to this Portrait Award!
He has also been exhibiting his artwork - largely portraits, figurative and still life - for the last 30 years and has been exhibiting with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters since 1995 - where he was elected a member in 1996.
PS Comhghall is pronounced as "Cole" as in Porter.
Ray Richardson
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Ray Richardson Estuary English (2023) oil on linen |
Ray Richardson has lived and worked in Paris, Brussels, Chicago and Connecticut. He currently lives and works in Woolwich, S.E.London where was born in 1964. His work has been described as having a filmic quality where every frame is well considered. There's certainly a strong sense of an unsaid narrative. He's been described as "the Martin Scorsese of figurative painting" for his choice of subject matter. My East End mates would refer to him as a "geezer" (as in the UK not US definition). I found him to be very refreshingly straightforward and straight speaking.
The sitter for his portrait is a young actor who Ray met by chance and had an instant rapport with - with both having working class backgrounds but not working in conventional working class occupations. The title of the portrait refers to a particular accent used to describe an English accent and way of speaking commonly found in areas either side of the River Thames between London and the North Sea - where both of them live.
Education: Graduated with a degree in Fine Art from Goldsmiths in 1987. He's previously studied at St Martins School of Art.
Ilaria Roselli del Turco
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Ilaria Rosselli del Turco Vanessa (2022) oil on panel 27x 20cm |
This is a portrait painted in under one hour. The sitter is one who is very familiar to her and she has painted for the last decade. This helped to achieve a likeness quickly and enabled her to focus on achieving a warm image.
"Struck by the peculiar artificial lighting while teaching a painting class, the artist was inspired to paint Vanessa before returning to her class"
Ilaria Rosselli del Turco has Italian heritage but has lived in London since 1999. Born in Genova, Italy, in 1967. Her ancestors were a family of Florentine Renaissance painters, the Rossellis. She followed classical studies in Rome and subsequently trained as an illustrator before turning to oil painting and printmaking, taking classes and teaching herself through the study of Old Masters.
Recent achievements: her work is regularly included in the
- Royal Society of Portrait Painters,
- the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
- the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair
- periodically in a variety of other exhibitions in the UK and Internationally
Previously selected for BP Portrait Award 2010
Michael Slusakowicz
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Michael Slusakowicz Double Portrait of Clara (2021) oil on canvas |
Michael Slusakowicz was born in Poland but now lives in London. His works are predominantly in painting, drawing, performance and video. He also works as a handpainting artist at Mira Mikati.
His portrait is two perspectives on his friend Clara who is in the midst of trying to decide between two university courses. He says it's symbolic of how we need to hang on to ourselves ("get a grip"?) when makinhg significant decisions.
His work uses a technique which is based on first creating a digital collage of the image and using colours which tend to suggest an other worldly quality.
Education: graduated from Camberwell College of Arts (2008-2011) with a First Class degree in BA Painting
Antony Williams - Winner of HSF Portrait Award 2024
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Antony Williams Jacqueline with Still Life - Portrait Award Winner 2024 Egg Tempera on wooden board; 1222cm x 668cm (48 inches x 26 inches) |
Antony Williams is an "old stager" when it comes to this Portrait Award!
Antony is an artist who has previously had his artwork selected to hang in the Portrait Award Exhibition on 10 previous occasions (in 1995, 1998, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2020) and, notably, won Third Prize in 2017.
After Ben Sullivan finally won the BP Portrait Award in 2017 (after being selected 12 times!), Antony became the last of "the regulars" who had not yet won this Award.
He has also been exhibiting his artwork - largely portraits, figurative and still life - for the last 30 years and has been exhibiting with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters since 1995 - where he was elected a member in 1996.
His portrait is of one of his regular sitters and includes some of his still life objects which sit in the studio they work in as still life is Antony's other main preoccupation. Indeed I recognise some of the still life objects from paintings which have other awards for other organisations in previous years!
Antony is simply one of the best when it comes to egg tempera painting and you really must see the painting up close to appreciate how it is painted.
See also:
Antony is simply one of the best when it comes to egg tempera painting and you really must see the painting up close to appreciate how it is painted.
See also:
UK - Northern Ireland and Ireland
Comhghall Casey
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Comhghall Casey Self Portrait (2022) oil on canvas |
Comhghall Casey ARUA is a regular Portrait Award exhibitor in 2002, 2013 and 2015. Indeed I'd go so far as to say I've watched his hairline recede while admiring his self portraits in this exhibition! I know I'll be seeing him again in future.
Comhghall is from Omagh in Northern Ireland but has lived and worked in Dublin since 2000. Essentially he is a still life painter - with regular exhibitions of his work. However, he has been making a series of self-portraits every year since he was a teenager and the series now numbers over 50. The series records the physical and mental processes of aging and maturity. He uses a mirror to paint them from life. What I found fascinating is how he has improved enromously over time in both his technical abilities and his confidence as an artist. His compositions get more and more interesting - and then go back to a straight "dead on" view.
Education: Graduated with BA Hons Fine Art from Belfast Art School (1998)
Recent achievements:
- 2019: shortlisted for 2019 Zurich Portrait Prize at the National Gallery in Dublin
- In 2017 he was elected an Associate Member of the Royal Ulster Academy.
- Also a regular exhibitor at the Annual Exhibitions of the Royal Academy, Royal Hibernian Academy and the Royal Ulster Academy
Previously exhibited in BP Portrait Award in 2000, 2013, 2015
Shane Keisuke Berkery
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Shane Keisuke Berkery A Self-Portrait (2024) oil on canvas |
Shane Keisuke Berkeley (b.1992 in Tokyo) has a Japanese Irish heritage and lived in lived in Tokyo and the USA until his teens, when his family moved to Ireland.
He is a first time exhibitor who knows how to catch a Judges's eye! This is one of the largest portrait paintings in the exhibition. Above you can see Shane in the flesh next to a larger than life stylised Shane painting a more realistic conventional head and shoulders of Shane - after a traumatic event to his dog Milo. I love the fact his dog is the feature image on his website.
He is a first time exhibitor who knows how to catch a Judges's eye! This is one of the largest portrait paintings in the exhibition. Above you can see Shane in the flesh next to a larger than life stylised Shane painting a more realistic conventional head and shoulders of Shane - after a traumatic event to his dog Milo. I love the fact his dog is the feature image on his website.
He painted his self-portrait painting his self-portrait in a staircase at the Royal College of Art, while completing his MA in Painting. We've just missed more of his paintings in the Postgraduate Exhibition which was in June.
Education:
- BA in history of art and fine art at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin.
- 2024: MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art in London
Recent achievements:
- 2019: Shortlisted for 2019 Zurich Portrait Award, National Gallery of Ireland
- 2017: Shortlisted for biennial Hennessy Portrait Award at the Royal Hibernian Academy
- 2016: Winner of the Hennessy Craig Award and the Whytes Award at the RHA annual exhibition
- artwork included in the Irish state collection.
Daniel Nelis
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Daniel Nelis Man with Closed Eyes (2020) oil on panel |
Daniel Nelis is exhibiting in the Portrait Award for the second time, having previously been selected in 2019.
His highly realistic portrait for this exhibition is of his father with closed eyes. It has previously exhibited at the RSA, RHA, and RUA annual exhibitions. He painted his father at home - in his childhood home - while asleep. It's an absolutely meticulous painting and the texture of the leather chair is as impressive as the texture and colouration of his face and the sweater he is wearing. His painting is proof that a totally meticulous painting is still loved by the jury for the Portrait Award.....
Daniel told me that he always loved the paintings by Michael Gaskell - who had a habit of winning BP Second Prizes - and also got some NPG commissions along the way.
I'm confident I can expect to meet Daniel again in the future.
Personally speaking, as I have recommended very many times before now, if you've got a painting selected for a prestigious exhibition, it's an ABSOLUTE PRIORITY to get a website up and running properly before it opens!
Recent achievements:
- 2023: elected an Associate Academician of the Royal Ulster Academy and won the Ireland-U.S. CouncilAward for Outstanding Portraiture.
- Recent awards include:
- RUA Tyrone Guthrie Directors Award 23
- RSA Guthrie Award 23
- IAR Portrait Prize 24
- 2019: selected for BP Portrait Award 2019
- His self-portrait won the Royal Ulster Academy Portrait Prize in 2015.
Germany
Dan Gaasch
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Dan Gaasch - with his partner Selina who is the sitter Selina, 2022, oil on canvas, 660 x 546mm |
Dan's Gassach's painting is of his partner Selina in a moment of quite repose
Education: Trained as a Painting Conservator:
- graduated with a BA in Art History at Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat-Freiberg and
- MA in Conservation at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Kunste Stuttgart.
Recent achievements:
- work has been featured on a book cover
- Participated in a Joint Exhibition in Luxembourg
Massimiliano Pironti
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Massimiliano Pironti Agnese (2023) oil on aluminium |
Massimiliano Pironti is a previous BP Portrait Award winner (Third Prize in 2019). Born in Italy in 1981 - in Colleferro, an industrial town south of Rome - he now lives in Germany.
His works are almost exclusively portraits painted oil on aluminium and characterized by very great attention to detail and delivering an immaculate finish.
The painting challenges conventional concepts of beauty. His painting is of a dancer called Agnese. The date on her back, which she highlights with her hand, is the day on which she accepted she had alopecia and shaved off all her hair. The painting also serves to highlight her bravery in facing up to her condition and enabling her to move on.
Fior me the quality of the painting reinforces Massimiliano as a painter who can
Education: largely self taught - he values and studies his Italian heritage in terms of artwork of the Italian Old Masters (Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael).
Recent achievements:
- 2023: his painting “Quo vadis?” was acquired by the Kunstmuseum in Stuttgart and has become part of its permanent collection.
- 2021: commissioned by HM King Charles III (when he was Prince of Wales) to paint the portrait of the Holocaust survivor Arek Hersh, as part of the project-exhibition “Seven Portraits: Surviving the Holocaust” which were exhibited at the Queen's Gallery and Holyrood Palace. This is now part of the Royal Collection. He also took part in the BBC2 documentary about the project and the paintings.
- 2020: Invited to exhibit at The Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ Annual Exhibition + significant commissions.
- 2019: "Quo Vadis?", his painting of his grandmother, won Third Prize in BP Portrait Award
Previously selected for the BP Portrait Award in 2018 and 2019
We've started a new tradition of being photographed together - to repeat the photo taken in 2019.
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Massimiliano and me (2024) |
Russia
Sasha Sokolova
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Sasha Sokolova The Last Portrait (2020) oil on canvas |
Sasha Sokolova was one of the artists I couldn't find when I was doing the list of selected artists. That's because she uses Sasha rather than Alexandra as her first name.
The portrait is of her grandfather Aleksandra Sokolova who was also an artist as well as a WW2 veteran. He was a frequent model for her and would offer guidance as an art mentor during the sittings. Her gradfather died, age 94, while she was finishing this "Last Portrait".
She exhibits regularly in Russia and has also exhibited in Poland, Spain and Germany - and now the UK.
Education:
- graduated with honours from the Sergey Andriyaki School of Watercolour and Fine Arts in Moscow
- Masters of Fine Arts at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography.
AFRICA - South Africa
Emily Stainer
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Emily Stainer Frederick (2023) oil on canvas |
This portrait is of her son Frederick and she chose to paint him in the round to connect him to a historic painting tradition. I liked the Holbein blue green background which really makes young skin pop. I'm not surprised this caught the Judges eyes.
She likes to paint small and intimate - and she also likes to paint children. She also paints despite three energetic children - one of whom was a baby when she also attended the 2017 preview! It was lovely meeting her again, this time with a different child!
Education: Both degrees were obtained with distinction
- MA in Fine Arts, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (2003);
- MA in History of Art, Courtauld Institute of Art, London (2006).
Previously selected for the BP Portrait Award in 2006 and 2017.
ASIA - Japan
Shinji Ihara
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Shinji Ihara 1111 (2023) oil on canvas |
Shinji Ihara was born in Fukuoka, Japan. He had an interpetetor with him so I was able to find out more about the subject of the painting.
The ethos of the painting appears to be enigmatic. However, I was told that the painting is about the death of the cat after he had reached a great age - I think he was 22 when he died. Shinji's partner is is cradling the deceased cat in their home, which is as homes often are. The bunk beds are not made, the coffee cups are sat on the table. He found that painting the portrait meant he re-experienced all the emotions he felt at the time, every time he started to do more work on the portrait - which took over 90 sittings.
It's an immaculate painting in terms of both story and the quality of the painting.
I immediately identified with the story, their relationship with their cat and what it feels like when they're gone. I drew my cat when he died - and was so very glad I did.
Education
- 2010 - BFA in Oil Painting of Hiroshima City University;
- 2012 - MFA in Oil Painting Materials and Techniques of Tokyo University of the Arts
Receent achievements
- a close association with the Drawing Lab at Hiroshima has led to a number of opportunities
- he has also exhibited with other organisations
NORTH AMERICA - USA
Kyle Hackett
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Kyle Hackett After Image (2022) Oil on Panel 31 x 35inches |
Kyle Hackett (b.1989) is an American and is both an artist and an Art Professor. He's also a first time exhibitor.
His paintings explore race, class, and social standing through approaches to self-representation and the constructed image. I took a look at the portraits in his website and noted that many were monochromatic.
This is a portrait about being a black man in a white centred world. It's a self portrait and he is dressed in academic robes. He's referencing the concept of "double consciousness" which, according to WEB Du Bois refers to the experience of seeing the world both through your own eyes and through the white gaze.
To be honest, when I met him, I just wondered if he felt a little unsettled being an American in the UK apotheosis of portraiture in the UK.
Education
- 2013: MFA (LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA);
- 2011: BFA in Fine Arts as a McNair Scholar (University of Delaware).
Recent achievements
George Shapter is a product designer, currently based in Brooklyn, New York, but originally from London.
He works at Instagram, exploring new ways to help creators have fun and succeed on the platform. Previously he led on the digital product strategy and design for a paper products firm. He's got some great recommendations on LinkedIn!
- he has had a number of solo exhibitions and received numerous honors and awards over the years.
- He also participates in some 5-6 group shows each year.
- in 2020, he received the
- DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Individual Artist Fellowship Award, Washington, DC
- DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Art Bank Collection Grant, Washington, DC
Rebecca Orcutt - HSF Portrait Award Young Artist of the Year
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The Young Artist of the Year Award was won by Rebecca Orcutt for Before It’s Ruined (or an Unrealized Mean Side) (oil on canvas, 610 x 455mm) |
Rebecca Orcutt was a very young exhibitor in the BP Portrait Award 2015 - see
Selected Artists - BP Portrait Award 2015. Nine years later and she's come back to win the £9,000 Young Artist Award for her self-portrait Before It’s Ruined (or an Unrealized Mean Side).
Rebecca Orcutt is an American artist. Her work has appeared in shows around New York and the United States and internationally in exhibitions in Copenhagen, Denmark; Leipzig, Germany; at the National Portrait Gallery in London; the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland; and the Ulster Museum in Belfast, Ireland.
Selected Artists - BP Portrait Award 2015. Nine years later and she's come back to win the £9,000 Young Artist Award for her self-portrait Before It’s Ruined (or an Unrealized Mean Side).
Rebecca Orcutt is an American artist. Her work has appeared in shows around New York and the United States and internationally in exhibitions in Copenhagen, Denmark; Leipzig, Germany; at the National Portrait Gallery in London; the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland; and the Ulster Museum in Belfast, Ireland.
Education:
- bachelor’s degree in painting from Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts
- MFA from the New York Academy of Art in New York City where she was a President’s Scholar and was also awarded the Leipzig International Art Programme Residency in Germany.
Recent achievements:
- 2024 - Young Artist Award, HSF Portrait Award
- 2021 - finalist in the $25,000 Bennett Prize 2.0 for Women Figurative Realist Painters
- 2019 - honourable mention in the Bennett Prize 2.0 for Women Figurative Realist Painters
George Shapter
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George Shapter Will and Kenji at Home (2020) oil on board |
George Shapter is a product designer, currently based in Brooklyn, New York, but originally from London.
He works at Instagram, exploring new ways to help creators have fun and succeed on the platform. Previously he led on the digital product strategy and design for a paper products firm. He's got some great recommendations on LinkedIn!
So is he the first completely amateur artist to get to the exhibition of the Portrait Award? It's entirely possible. He completes one or two large portraits each year, while pursuing his work as a product designer full time.
His portrait is of two friends at home - surrounded if not engulfed by their houseplants. It came about as a wedding gift to the two of them. The NPG Panel comments on how it reminds one of the great Hockney double portrait of Christopher Isherwood with Don Bachardy - where one looks at the other who looks straight out at the artist.
Judges like echoes of great art!
Judges like echoes of great art!
Education: BA in Art History at Trinity College, Cambridge University
Do please let me know if there's anything I've got wrong so I can correct it.
Artists with their Paintings in Previous Years
Prior to this photos of artists with their paintings was combined with a review of the exhibition.
REFERENCE: HSF Portrait Award 2024
Previous blog posts include
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