The shortlist for BP Portrait Award 2020 has been announced. Selected from 1,981 entries by artists from 69 countries around the world, the BP Portrait Award 2020 represents the very best in contemporary portrait painting.
The Portrait Award is an annual event aimed at encouraging artists to focus on and develop the theme of portraiture in their work. The competition is open to everyone aged eighteen and over, in recognition of the outstanding and innovative work currently being produced by artists of all ages.
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This year the BP Portrait Award 2020 exhibition will be displayed online, available to view from 5th May 2020, on which date the winner will be announced, along with the recipient of the BP Young Artist Award.
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Shortlist
Shortlisted for this year’s BP Portrait Award are Jiab Prachakul for Night Talk, Sergey Svetlakov for Portrait of Denis and Michael Youds for Labour of Love.
Night Talk portrays Jial Prachakul’s close friends Jeonga Choi, a designer from Korea, and Makoto Sakamoto, a music composer from Japan, who are pictured in a Berlin bar on an autumn evening.
Sergey Svetlakov finds many of his sitters on the internet, including Denis, an aspiring actor who had recently arrived in St Petersburg.
The subject of Michael Youds’ entry is Tommy Robertson, the owner of an independent music store in Edinburgh.
All 48 works selected for this year’s Award will be shown in a virtual gallery space that replicates the rooms of the National Portrait Gallery, enabling online visitors to view the portraits collectively, read the labels and get insights from the artists, as well as exploring each individual work in more detail.
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