BP Portrait Award shortlisted finalists 2007

[Thomasin Dewhurst]

Here are the 4 shortlisted finalists for the BP Portrait award 2007 . Perhaps you've already had a look.

Anyone impressed? Not impressed? Other comments? I would be interested to hear what people think.

[Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco]

Thomasin, obviously there has been a trend in the past couple of years toward photorealism and even last year I found the selection quite disppointing.
Up to last year it was specified on the rules of the competition that the portrait had to be painted from life...
There was an article recently by one of the judges. She admitted that the shortlisted pieces were maybe not the best, and that they all looked quite similar.
She blamed the selection process: when examining almost 2000 entries the big faces are what strikes more, and there is not much time to look carefully at each work submitted.
If this is where the british portraiture is heading I am not going !
Ilaria

[Carlos Ygoa]

Thomasin,

Looking at these works brought to mind the selected works of another big contest here in Spain--it would seem that this tendency towards photorealism of which Ilaria speaks also seems to be the trend here, at least in some circles, because the abstract and the experimental still seem to proliferate also.
Here is the link to that contest, if you are interested to have a look:

http://www.fundaciondelasartes.org/p...p?id=ES&pag=36

Although there are some worthy works among the selected, you will spot at once the ones that are similar to the BP works.

The trend seems to swing from one end of the pendulum to the other--hopefully it will soon stop in the middle.

[Mary Jane Ansell]

I read that judges article with interest too Ilaria... infact recently, for another fairly high profile UK painting award I was told a work of mine was rejected, despite being the favourite of one of the judges, because the others couldnt agree they instead selected a piece that didnt cause any polaritity of opinion at all - one in effect nobody "minded" - it's a shame to hear and see this averaging out of taste, aimed no doubt to please everyone all of the time - but clearly we are loosing the chance of seeing so much interesting and more diverse work as a result...

Also I wonder if you agree, but the repetition of head and shoulders only pieces is getting a little ridiculous, I'm wondering if I'll ever see arms or - heaven forbid - HANDS again!!! ;-)

On the other hand I am really hopeful that the BP will be a great show this year - the injection of all that extra talent from the now accepted over 40 age group surely won't fail to enrich the quality of the show no end. I await the opening in a couple of weeks with baited breath!!

MJ

[Lisa Gloria]

Originally Posted by Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco

She blamed the selection process: when examining almost 2000 entries the big faces are what strikes more, and there is not much time to look carefully at each work submitted.

That's disturbing. How seriously is the responsibility of ajudging being taken?

I liked the last one; thought it was a fine example of the genre.

[Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco]

Mary Jane, out of curiosity I wanted to know wether you enjoyed last year show if you saw it.
Peronally as I said I was quite disppointed, I didn't really see anything that astonished me for beauty and handling of the paint.
It seemed to me that many artists were more after looks (contemporary, provocative, etc), and very few works seemed motivated by a real and profound artistic interest.

The head and shoulder choice is BORING, makes me think: come on, a little more effort. Maybe it's difficult to have many details to copy from in a photo if you have to step back and put the hands in too ?! (couldn't find a devilish smiley for this sentence)

Lisa, I came to conclusion that the choice is made quite randomely, and I just consider these show as a portion that does not represent the whole!

Ilaria

[Tony Pro]

Don't get me started! ;-)

[Garth Herrick]

So to get noticed, paint a monstrously oversized head (even better if the face is fully 24 inches wide), and make sure it has a totally empty graphite toned background of nothingness. Yes, I'm unimpressed that all four finalists fit such a precise dull uniform formulation. None of it moves me; on the other hand, all who posted above do move me greatly.

Garth

[Mary Jane Ansell]

Ilaria, I was really glad to see Andrew Tift finally win, he's been such a consistant gem of the award for years it was high time... otherwise there were a few pieces that appealed for their technique, and a certain personal individuality (certainly Darvish Fakr showed a big chunk of bravura and panache as usual, plus we frequent the same open life drawing studio...) but generally I felt it was a bit of a flat year. Actually I am still unsure if 2nd and 3rd were of the same model;-)

[Thomasin Dewhurst]

Thank-you for all your replies. Yes, I think that selecting finalists from about 1500 entires in just 3 days (was it?) may be a way of avoiding pain and confusion on the part of the judges, poor things. I remember when I was younger I, and many other artists, carefully finished, framed and hand-delivered our paintings to be judged for a worthy competition and was told by one of those who witnessed the selection process that the judge came in in a rush, with obviously better things he wanted to do, and briskly walked by saying: "that one, that one, not that, one, that one etc." as fast as you can read the words. I am sure that must be how they judge the BP award initially (with the essential tea-and-chat breaks) as they quite clearly don't have time for more deliberate consideration. Obviously, though, I am speaking with the bitterness of rejection. It is a pity artists are generally not a lot richer or we could hire a venue to set up a "Salon des Refus