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articles: BP Portrait Award - Who will it be? Down to the last four
Four artists have been shortlisted for the prestigious art prize
Savina CarluccioOther versions of this article: Italiano
Down to the last four finalists for the prestigious BP Portrait Award 2012, shortlisted among 2,187 entries from 74 different countries.
The four artists shortlisted for the 2012 award are:
Aleah Chapin for Auntie
Alan Coulson for Richie Culver
Ignacio Estudillo for El abuelo (Agustín Estudillo)
Jamie Routley for Tony Lewis.
Brooklyn-based Aleah Chapin has just completed a MFA in painting at the New York Academy of Art. She gained her BFA at Cornish College of the Arts in her native Seattle and attended a residency at the Leipzig International Art Programme in Germany in 2011. A recipient of several awards including the Posey Foundation Scholarship, Judith Kindler and Kyle Johnson Scholarship for Innovation in the Arts, and nominated for the Joan Mitchell MFA Grant, Chapin’s work has been included in solo and group shows in the US and Europe. Her portrait is of a close friend of the family and is part of a series of nude portraits of women Aleah has known all of her life. She says, ‘the fact that she has known me since birth is extremely important. Her body is a map of her journey through life. In her, I see the personification of strength through an unguarded and accepting presence.’
London-based artist Alan Coulson completed Foundation Studies in Art and Design at Harrogate College of Art and Design after leaving school but has no further formal art education and is self-taught. His work was previously exhibited in the BP portrait Award 2010 and 2011 as well as at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ annual exhibition in 2010, 2011 and 2012. His shortlisted portrait is of Richie Culver, a fellow artist and friend. Coulson visited Culver at his home in west London where he took informal reference photographs before producing preparatory sketches and completing the painting in his studio. He says, ‘My aim was to produce a direct and honest painting that would capture Richie’s unique appearance alongside his easygoing nature’.
Ignacio Estudillo lives and works in Córdoba, Spain and studied at the School of Arts and Crafts in Jerez de la Frontera, and the Real Academia de Bellas Artes of Seville. His work has been exhibited at ArtMadrid 2011 and is in the collection of Museu Europeu D’Art Modern, MEAM. His shortlisted portrait is of his paternal grandfather. He says, ‘I worked with artificial light and with a chromatic scale, mainly within the black and white spectrum. I painted the portrait larger than life size but the model was in a natural position. I made this painting because of my grandfather and his life experiences attracted me. It’s not a purely analytical portrait but it’s a way of showing a part of the human condition to which he belongs. At the same time I transmit his own nature and my idea of him as a conflicted, unstable, passionate human. I’m not only creating a portrait of my grandfather but also revealing a part of myself.’
Jamie Routley was born in Newport, Wales and currently lives and works in London. After completing a BA in Illustration at Swindon College he left the UK in 2004 to study under the American painter Charles H. Cecil in Florence, Italy where he stayed for four years. His work has been included in several exhibitions including the Royal Society of Portrait Painters exhibition in 2011 and 2012 and at Flowers East Gallery. His portrait is of Tony Lewis who has a newspaper stand at Baron’s Court Tube Station and works in ‘The Four Vintners’ wine shop. Routley says, 'I didn't set out to paint a triptych, but I found after each painting there was more to say. A past had been hinted at during the sittings for the first painting that I couldn't leave alone. Tony told me that for the first time in decades he'd found an environment that was both stimulating an allowed for quiet reflection. So we continued... It was an intense and profound experience for both of us. '
The award and the winners of the various money prizes will be announced on the evening of Tuesday 19 June 2012.
Who will it be? Tell us who's your favourite.
Web source: www.npg.org.uk
Photos courtesy of the portraits' authors
The four artists shortlisted for the 2012 award are:
Aleah Chapin for Auntie
Alan Coulson for Richie Culver
Ignacio Estudillo for El abuelo (Agustín Estudillo)
Jamie Routley for Tony Lewis.
Brooklyn-based Aleah Chapin has just completed a MFA in painting at the New York Academy of Art. She gained her BFA at Cornish College of the Arts in her native Seattle and attended a residency at the Leipzig International Art Programme in Germany in 2011. A recipient of several awards including the Posey Foundation Scholarship, Judith Kindler and Kyle Johnson Scholarship for Innovation in the Arts, and nominated for the Joan Mitchell MFA Grant, Chapin’s work has been included in solo and group shows in the US and Europe. Her portrait is of a close friend of the family and is part of a series of nude portraits of women Aleah has known all of her life. She says, ‘the fact that she has known me since birth is extremely important. Her body is a map of her journey through life. In her, I see the personification of strength through an unguarded and accepting presence.’
London-based artist Alan Coulson completed Foundation Studies in Art and Design at Harrogate College of Art and Design after leaving school but has no further formal art education and is self-taught. His work was previously exhibited in the BP portrait Award 2010 and 2011 as well as at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ annual exhibition in 2010, 2011 and 2012. His shortlisted portrait is of Richie Culver, a fellow artist and friend. Coulson visited Culver at his home in west London where he took informal reference photographs before producing preparatory sketches and completing the painting in his studio. He says, ‘My aim was to produce a direct and honest painting that would capture Richie’s unique appearance alongside his easygoing nature’.
Ignacio Estudillo lives and works in Córdoba, Spain and studied at the School of Arts and Crafts in Jerez de la Frontera, and the Real Academia de Bellas Artes of Seville. His work has been exhibited at ArtMadrid 2011 and is in the collection of Museu Europeu D’Art Modern, MEAM. His shortlisted portrait is of his paternal grandfather. He says, ‘I worked with artificial light and with a chromatic scale, mainly within the black and white spectrum. I painted the portrait larger than life size but the model was in a natural position. I made this painting because of my grandfather and his life experiences attracted me. It’s not a purely analytical portrait but it’s a way of showing a part of the human condition to which he belongs. At the same time I transmit his own nature and my idea of him as a conflicted, unstable, passionate human. I’m not only creating a portrait of my grandfather but also revealing a part of myself.’
Jamie Routley was born in Newport, Wales and currently lives and works in London. After completing a BA in Illustration at Swindon College he left the UK in 2004 to study under the American painter Charles H. Cecil in Florence, Italy where he stayed for four years. His work has been included in several exhibitions including the Royal Society of Portrait Painters exhibition in 2011 and 2012 and at Flowers East Gallery. His portrait is of Tony Lewis who has a newspaper stand at Baron’s Court Tube Station and works in ‘The Four Vintners’ wine shop. Routley says, 'I didn't set out to paint a triptych, but I found after each painting there was more to say. A past had been hinted at during the sittings for the first painting that I couldn't leave alone. Tony told me that for the first time in decades he'd found an environment that was both stimulating an allowed for quiet reflection. So we continued... It was an intense and profound experience for both of us. '
The award and the winners of the various money prizes will be announced on the evening of Tuesday 19 June 2012.
Who will it be? Tell us who's your favourite.
Web source: www.npg.org.uk
Photos courtesy of the portraits' authors
Savina Carluccio - April 16, 2012
comments
Pete Bringhurst April 17, 2012 04:59 AM
I totally want the old lady to win. It is so cool, I would love to hear her life story and know about all the things that she gone through, and I'm pretty sure she was pretty hot when she was younger.
Eleanor Sharpe April 18, 2012 12:34 AM
I vote for the Spanish guy, his grandpa's portrait is so intense that it gives me goose bumps.
It has to be the naked lady for me