BP Award shortlist revealed NEWS
The National Portrait Gallery's annual art prize shortlist has been announced and contenders for the BP Portrait Award demonstrate 'an energetic and telling force'.
Deciding this year's recipient of the BP Portrait Award is sure to be a tough call as the incredibly talented finalists Louis Smith, Ian Cumberland, Wim Heldens and Sertan Saltan compete for the prize.
Smith's portrait is an eight-foot high piece of a naked woman handcuffed to a rock titled Holly. Smith said the portrait was inspired by Greek mythology and called it 'a message of composure in the face of adversity'.
Turkish artist Saltan's portrait, titled Mrs Cerna, is of a young woman with rollers in her hair, knife in gloved-hand and a sinister look on her face.
'The contrast of knife, gloves and rollers brought both humour and horror to mind,' Saltan said.
Helden's portrait, Distracted, depicts his friend Jeroen, a philosophy student who has sat for him countless times.
More than 50 portraits have been chosen for the annual exhibition at the gallery in London, including Daphne Todd's portrait of Lord Julian Fellowes.
The winner of £25,000 award will also receive a commission worth £4,000.
A further prize of £5,000 will be awarded to a finalisit aged between 18-30, which both Cumberland and Saltan qualify for.
Gallery director Sandy Nairne said: The diversity of styles in the shortlisted portraits and the skill of the works selected from this record entry to the BP Portrait Award show how contemporary portraiture remains an energetic and telling force.
The BP Portrait Award winner will be announced on 14 June.
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