OREANDA-NEWS. July 23, 2015. New York based artist Eleana Antonaki, 25, is the winner of the BP Young Artist Award for a portrait of her friend and emerging artist Julie Laenkhom whose practice is installation-based and deals with the idea of the “object as a living thing.” She was fascinated by the connection Julie develops with her sculptural objects and the almost ritualistic and obsessive way she treats objects of “low value” like plastic bags and balls of clay. In the portrait Julie is shown meditating with her sculptural objects on her working table. Eleana wanted to compose a very austere environment that reveals little about the space in which the sitter exists. She wanted to place her sitter in a precarious position where the narration takes place somewhere outside of the image either before or after the depicted moment. ‘Using painting as my medium,’ Eleana says, ‘I am constantly aware of the history the medium comes with and the dialogue it is generating with its huge tradition. In my portrait, I am referring to the archetypical image of a sitting figure and at the same time to construct an image that exists in a dialogue with the traditional painting space’.

Judges’ comments – J.: ‘The judges were intrigued by the enigmatic, futuristic narrative of this painting, which was quite unlike any other in the competition.  They felt that this portrait successfully explores the isolation of contemporary life.’

BP TRAVEL AWARD 2015 AND 2014

The winner of the BP Travel Award 2015, an annual prize to enable artists to work in a different environment on a project related to portraiture, was also announced last night. The prize of ?6,000 is open to applications from any of the BP Portrait Award-exhibited artists.

This year the BP Travel Award has been awarded to French artist Magali Cazo for her proposal to travel to a community of bronze-smelters in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, West Africa. There she will live with and represent the artists, apprentices and labourers whose lives revolve around the foundry. Magali was inspired by the vivid colours of the landscape, the architecture and the clothes on a previous visit to Bobo-Dioulasso and will use the sketches made on that trip to develop a series of portraits on wood. Magali’s resulting work will be displayed in the BP Portrait Award 2016 exhibition.

The work of BP Travel Award 2014 winner Edward Sutcliffe, based in London and Dubai, is on display at this year’s exhibition. Edward won for his proposal to document the Compton Cricket Club which was formed as an initiative to help encourage and empower the disaffected youth of an area of Los Angeles synonymous with poverty and crime. By spending as much time with the team as possible (either on the pitch or in their everyday lives) and seeing the impact cricket has had on people from some of the city’s toughest streets, Sutcliffe drew and painted the players, producing portraits that show a fusion of two very different cultures and how the game of cricket with its ethos of fair play and honestly has been embraced by this community. 

The BP Portrait Award 2015 received 2,748 entries from 92 countries, (up from 2,377 entries from 71 countries in 2014).  Judged anonymously, 55 portraits have been selected for the exhibition (National Portrait Gallery, London, 18 June-20 September 2015, Admission free). In 2014 the BP Portrait Award received 281,717 visitors.

The Portrait Award, now in its 36th year at the National Portrait Gallery and 26th year of sponsorship by BP, is a highly successful annual event aimed at encouraging artists to focus upon, and develop, the theme of painted portraiture within their work. The BP Portrait Award, one of the world’s most prestigious art competitions, has a First Prize of ?30,000, making it one of the largest for any global arts competition.

Ms Pim Baxter, Chair of Judges and Deputy Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, says: ‘The judges were extremely impressed by the range and style of work entered in this year’s BP Portrait Award, which saw a record number not only of entries but also of international artists, and our thanks go to all of them for taking part and sharing their work with us. We were all drawn to the winning portrait by Matan Ben-Cnaan at a very early stage, the quality of light is extraordinary, together with the intensity of the gaze of the subjects. All three of our shortlisted artists and the BP Young Artist demonstrate the amazing talent of those who are selected for the exhibition each year, many congratulations to them all and renewed thanks to BP for 26 years of invaluable support.’

Ms Des Violaris, Director, UK Arts and Culture, BP, says: ‘Congratulations go not just to the prize-winning artists for their beautiful and striking portraits but to all those selected for display in BP Portrait Award 2015. I hope visitors will come to the Gallery to experience the range and quality of these paintings drawn from an unprecedented 92 countries in the competition’s biggest-ever entry and our first year of digital submissions.’

For further press information please contact: Neil Evans, Media Relations Manager, National Portrait Gallery, London, Tel 020 7 312 2452 (not for publication) Email nevans@npg.org.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS

The BP Portrait Award 2015 competition was judged from original paintings by: Pim Baxter, Deputy Director (Acting Director at the time of judging), National Portrait Gallery, London (Chair); Sarah Howgate, Contemporary Curator, National Portrait Gallery, London; Kim Mawhinney, Head of Art, National Museums Northern Ireland; Peter Monkman, Artist and First-Prize winner of BP Portrait Award 2009; Simon Schama, Historian; and Des Violaris, Director, UK Arts & Culture, BP.

The BP Travel Award 2015 was judged by Sarah Howgate, Contemporary Curator, National Portrait Gallery, Peter Monkman, artist and First-Prize winner of BP Portrait Award 2009, and Des Violaris, Director, UK Arts and Culture, BP.

The BP Travel Award 2014 was judged by Sarah Howgate, Contemporary Curator, National Portrait Gallery, Susanne du Toit, artist and BP Portrait Award First Prize winner 2013, and Des Violaris, Director, UK Arts and Culture, BP.

TOUR: The exhibition will tour to Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh (10 Oct 2015 – 28 Feb 2016) Ulster Museum, Belfast (11 Mar –12 Jun 2016.) 

PUBLICATION: A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition and features an essay by Neil Gaiman. The BP Portrait Award 2015 is published 18 June 2015, and includes over 55 colour illustrations, price ?9.99 (pbk).

FAMILY TRAIL: The National Portrait Gallery will be working with award-winning children's picture book illustrator Yasmeen Ismail to produce drawings for a free family trail and a number of special exhibition labels that will offer a range of creative activities throughout the duration of the BP Portrait Award 2015.  yasmeenismail.co.uk

BP PORTRAIT AWARD: NEXT GENERATION is an exciting project offering free opportunities for 14-19 year-olds to creatively engage with painted portraiture through the BP Portrait Award. For the sixth year, young people will be able to connect with past BP Portrait Award-winning artists, meet other young people interested in portraiture and create their own portraits through a series of programmes including Taster Sessions, Drop-in Drawing, three-day Summer Schools, the third after-hours Young People’s Private View, an onsite display showcasing the project, and youth-generated digital content including video interviews with artists and participants. BP Portrait Award: Next Generation has so far engaged over one thousand young people, onsite and regionally. npg.org.uk/bpnextgeneration      

BP PORTRAIT AWARD 2015 – OVERALL FIGURES Total entrants 2,748 (UK Entries 1,390, International Entries 1,358)

BP PORTRAIT AWARD 2015 – EXHIBITION FIGURES (55 selected from total entry): England (21), Australia (1), Belgium (1), Canada (1), Czech Republic (1), France (2), Ireland (3), Israel (2), Italy (1), Netherlands (1), Northern Ireland (1), Romania (1), Scotland (1), Spain (8), Turkey (1), United States (9)

BP support for UK Arts & Culture:  In the UK, BP is a major supporter of the arts with a programme that spans over 35 years. BP’s investment in long term partnerships with the British Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Opera House, and Tate Britain  represent one of the most significant long-term corporate investments in UK arts and culture bp.com