BP Portrait Award 2012 - The Shortlist

BP Portrait Award - Shortlisted artists and paintings

The four artists shortlisted for the BP Portrait Award 2012 at the National Portrait Gallery in London are:

• Aleah Chapin for Auntie 
• Alan Coulson for Richie Culver 
• Ignacio Estudillo for El abuelo (Agustín Estudillo) and 
• Jamie Routley for Tony Lewis

This year is (I think) the first time, since the age limit was lifted, that three of the artists whose work has been selected are under the age of 30.

I have the benefit of being able to accees the high res images - although these are not reproduced on this blog - I've only posted low res!

Having studied all four I think the winner will be Aleah Chapin.  Reasons being because of the nature of the subject and sheer "grab your eye and keep it" of its composition, its size plus the painterly quality of the brushwork and use of palette.  She paints older skin with bravado and huge skill.  Her porfolio of work from her series of nude portraits older women are stunning.

She's also a blogger! (see below)

International Garden Photographer of the Year 2011 at Kew Gardens

I visited the International Garden Photographer of the Year 2012 Exhibition while visiting Kew Gardens in March and I've just noticed it closes on Easter Monday.

International Garden Photographer of the Year Overall winner
Magdalena Wasiczek's Upside Down
(Trzebinia, Malopolska region, Poland)
click the link to see the original and discover exactly what is upside down!
Try looking at this and imagining a non-neutral mid-value background.
(prints available from Kew)

Although not a blog which focuses a lot of photography, I've previously featured a couple of photography exhibitions on my blogs:

• The Art of the Landscape - Landscape Photographer of the Year 2011
• Making A Mark - Review: Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2011

This one is very much a complement to my own personal interests - which very much include the visual images associated with plants, flowers, trees and gardens.

The reason I like looking at photography exhibitions is that I always find them very stimulating.  Photographers are all dealing with the same subject matter so to my mind they seem to work harder at 'what makes a good picture' and 'how to make my work look different from the rest'.

There's also something to do with how shots are framed - I learn a lot from the intelligent use of the four most important lines

The International Garden Photographer of the Year 2012

Tim Storrier wins the $75,000 Archibald Prize 2012

WINNER OF THE ARCHIBALD PRIZE 2012
The histrionic wayfarer (after Bosch)
by Tim Storrie

The judges reduced 839 entries down to 41 finalists and then one winner of The Archibald Prize 2012 - The histrionic wayfarer (after Bosch) by Tim Storrier.

I'd just like to highlight that my "pick a winner" gene seems to be in full working order and that I predicted this - I picked out just one painting to highlight as a potential winner in Finalists for The Archibald Prize 2012 + The Packing Room Prize and this was the one.

...looks like a potential winner to me except I'm left wondering about the portrait of a distinguished person aspect

Now I know that the painting is a pastiche self-portrait everything is explained (Storrie is a former winner of The Sulman Prize).


Here's the announcement of the Prize and an interview with Storrier in which he talks about the painting,

The self-portraits has no face - instead it records everything that is meaningful to the artist - including his dog Smudge.  The 'accoutrements' are those which belong to an artist.  Smudge also attended the prizegiving and received a fair bit of attention.

John Singer Sargent famously said that the portrait is a painting with something wrong with the mouth.  I thought I'd try and avoid that. 

Tim Storrie - in an interview on World News Australia

The Archibald Prize is for the Best Portrait Painting preferably of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters, Science or Politics. 

This year the prize money that Storrie won was $75,000 (up from $50,000 in 2011).  For non-Aussies this equates to £48,778 or US$77,900 - which means it's a very big prize.  However don't get too excited because it's only open to Australian artists.

The five paintings which made it to the final five are

• Adam Cullen - Nelson and Koko (former winner 2000)
• Juan Ford - Ultrapilgrim
• Nigel Milsom - Untitled (Kerry)
• Jenny Sages - After Jack
• Tim Storrier - The histrionic wayfarer (after Bosch) (former winner of Sulman Prize)

Regional tour of selected finalists

• 10 June 2012 – 8 July 2012   TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria
• 14 July 2012 – 26 August 2012   Newcastle Region Art Gallery
• 1 September 2012 – 14 October 2012   Cowra Regional Art Gallery
• 20 October 2012 – 2 December 2012   Western Plains Cultural Centre
• 7 December 2012 – 20 January 2013   Grafton Regional Gallery
• 25 January 2013 – 10 March 2013   Hawkesbury Regional Gallery
• 15 March 2013 – 28 April 2013   New England Regional Gallery

Bosch's painting - The wayfarer

Storrier took the idea of a traveller - of somebody going somewhere - and then made it himself.  He describes it as being about a pilgrim who has to decide between good and evil and highlights the Bosch painting.  He also references Robert Frost's poem The Road Less Taken.  (the title is actually 'The Road Not Taken')

This is the painting which prompted Storrier's paintings - The Wayfarer by Hieronymus Bosch painting. It is currently in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. This painting is round and is 71.5 cm in diameter. The original is an allegorical painting - the Web gallery of Art provides a detailed analysis of The Wayfarer. There's also an even earlier painting - around 1500 - of Triptych of Haywain. The Wayfarer

It's an excellent example of how good original art can be influenced by other art.  There's no religious copying, the figure faces the other way and lacks a background.

The Wayfarer by Hieronymus Bosch
Oil on panel, diameter 71,5 cmcourtesy of: Quistnix! - Museum Boijmans van Beuningen - De Marskramer, Jeroen Bosch, met lijst.jpg

Links to previous posts about The Archibald Prize

• Finalists for The Archibald Prize 2012 + The Packing Room Prize 20 Mar 2012
• Ben Quilty's portrait of Margaret Olley wins 2011 Archibald Prize 19 Apr 2011
• 15th March 2009 - Who's made a mark this week? 15 Mar 2009
  

POLL: Artists - Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

I've been thinking recently about introversion, extroversion and artists - and the poll this month asks whether, as an artist, you consider yourself to be an introvert, an extrovert or an ambivert (halfway between)

The reason I've been thinking about this is because I've been reading articles and watching videos by Susan Cain - the author of Quiet. (see Why the world needs introverts and her TED talk).

Our place on this continuum influences our choice of friends and mates, and how we make conversation, resolve differences, and show love. It affects the careers we choose and whether or not we succeed at them. It governs how likely we are to exercise (a habit found in extroverts), commit adultery (extroverts), function well without sleep (introverts), learn from our mistakes (introverts), place big bets in the stock market (extroverts), delay gratification (introverts), be a good leader (depends on the type of leadership called for), and ask "what if" (introverts).
Susan Cain - Why the world needs introverts

It seems to me that some of the characteristics of introverts - an enjoyment of solitude and a preference for working on their own - might be very supportive of artists.  After all artists often need to be able to work - and create - in the absence of others and in the presence of the subject that they are absorbed in.

There again, the characteristics of extroverts - the ability to socialise and thrive in the presence of others - might well support those artists who want to market and sell their art - or maybe teach art to others.

If you're not sure what you are why not try Susan Cain's quick quiz - the Quiet Quiz: Are You an Introvert or an Extrovert? - this helps you to find out whether you tend more towards introversion or extroversion - and you get some feedback at the end of it

Once you've got a view about which you lean, find the poll in the right hand column and tick the option which describes you best

• very extrovert
• extrovert
• ambivert
• introvert
• very introvert

Let me know what you think are the pros and cons of being an extrovert or an introvert when it comes to being an artist

(BTW I'm an Introvert who can socialise in small doses!)

I'll be reporting back at the end of the month on the results.

1st April 2012 - Who's made a mark this week?

Cold Spring
6" x 6" watercolor
© Jinghua Gao Dalia

I think this is the first time "who's made a mark this week" has happened on 1st April. I guess I should have planned and had a nice elaborate joke at the ready. However I'm not very good at pranks and jokes so you needn't bother looking for one because there isn't one!

I was also out for the day in the sunshine virtually every day last week (we've just had the third hottest March since records began!) so not a lot of time for reading - but I caught a few items of note.

Art Blogs and Artists