Review - Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize 2019 - and pricing issues
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| the bottom half of the prizewinning painting by Jennifer McRae |
- the prizewinners
- the nature of the artwork selected
- the artwork I liked
- pricing of artwork
You can still see all the artwork in the virtual exhibition on the website - except you don't get a sense of size - and some were very big and some were very small.
Prizewinners
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| The wall of Lynn Painter-Stainers Prizewinners 2019 |
First Prize (£20,000 and a Gold Medal):
Jennifer McRae, Past, present, future: tracing the female line (2018), £16,000
I was fairly cockahoop having said in my blog post about selected artists last week
Terrific contemporary figurative painting! This is who I'd give the LPS Award too. Jennifer McRae never ever disappoints.Seeing it in the exhibition, I was even more impressed with it.
The concept behind it - of three generations in one painting - and the utter clutter of the artist's working surface (see top of post) were both a joy to behold. What I like about Jennifer mcRae's portraits - and I've admired a few in the past few years - is that she's never averse to the subject who looks straight out of the canvas - right at you!
Plus everything always feels quite natural - as if you've just walked through a door in her home (or the home of her sitters). There are very few portrait artists who can pull that off and I can only imagine it's something to do with the mindset of how she approaches her portrait painting.
Second Prize (£4,000)
Lara Cobden, The Winterkeeper's Cabin (2018), £2,500
UPDATE: Many apologies to Lara Cobden - as I omitted commenting of her painting by mistake before publishing!
I kept getting a feeling before I saw it that is was somewhere heading into Peter Doig territory in terms of enigma and mystery - but not quite in terms of painterliness - although it's very well painted. The painting certainly did not disappoint on viewing and I can well imagine that it was one of those which stuck in the brains of judges - which is what I always think a prizewinning painting should do.
Young Artist Award (£4,000) - For an artist who is 25 years of age or under:
Ewan White, No.7 (2018)
It's really good to see young artists tackling scenes involving a group of figures - a subject which is ignored by very many portrait artists. This domestic subject has a curious perspective but reminded me of some of the narrative paintings of the past.
Brian Botting Prize (£5,000) - for an outstanding representation of the human figure
Charlie Schaffer, Preston (2018), NFS
I was extremely impressed with this portrait painting - and particularly liked the technique in relation to to the mark-making which you can see in the crop of detail below. To me it's the type of portrait I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised to see in the BP Portrait Award.
The Daphne Todd Prize: £2,000
James Lloyd - in my room
James Lloyd has a habit of winning prizes with self-portraits of painting in his studio! (See James Lloyd wins The Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture 2008)
Selected artwork
I thought it a better exhibition than last year - and I LOVED the hang on the end wall - particularly the three central paintings.READ MORE......>>
