The winners of Jackson’s Open Painting Prize 2017 have been selected!
First of all, a huge congratulations to the winners, our expert judging panel had such a difficult time choosing between the shortlisted entries as the standard was so high.
The winners of Jackson’s Open Painting Prize have been selected from over 2,000 submission entered by artists from all over the world.
The mix of work submitted showed a real diversity of mediums and subject matters. The shortlisted entries did feature portraiture quite heavily, which as you can see from the winners of last years competition, was a completely different outcome as there were no portraits within the Top 3.
The judges on the panel had the unenviable task of choosing three winners from the shortlist of 25 outstanding entries. All of them commented on how much they enjoyed the judging process and were as eager to see the winners as all of you!
We will be interviewing this year’s winners and runners-up over the next few months, keep checking our blog for updates.
1st Prize – Winner of £5,000
‘Eniola Sokalu’ by Mark Roscoe
Oil on Linen
26″ x 36″ inches.
Nick Archer: ‘Powerful portrait’
Catharine Davison: ‘Successful photorealistic portrait. Lovely silky finish in the muted colour amongst the- darks, browns, blues and lilacs yet it is filled with colour. I like the domestic setting.’
2nd Prize – Winner of £500 Cash & £500 worth of Jackson’s Art Gift Vouchers
‘Grey Drift 3’ by Graham Crowley
Oil on canvas
H 91cm x W 121cm
Illusion and reflection.
Catharine Davison: I really enjoy Graham Crowley’s work. At first sight the simplicity in the graphic nature and pop colours mean you do not see the beautiful mark making in the reflections. There is a playfulness in the imagery and how the shapes and forms work together – both on the surface and creating depth.
3rd Prize – Winner of £500 Cash & £500 worth of Jackson’s Art Gift Vouchers
‘Gather’ by Angela Bell
Oil on gesso panel
11×14″
‘The current body of work consists of small scale oils, exploring the themes of origins and belonging. My work is developed from the source material of found photographs, which I obtain from a variety of sources. The selection process when choosing images to use as a starting point is based on composition, character and nostalgic recognition. In my work I look not to dictate a specific meaning but rather to prompt either some form of recognition or inspire curiosity and for the viewer to determine their individual narrative. When painting I create a detailed study in oil then through a process of working back in to the surface and exploring marking making techniques, I distort, eliminate and manipulate the image to create a visual balance. These personal depictions of people’s lives have been retrieved and revived in the form of intimate oils. A rare group piece, this image uses negative space as a technique to create a focal point and lead the viewer in their engagement with the image.’
Catharine Davison: I find this artists work intriguing. I have looked at her instagram account and this is a good example of the work. Her description of the process is interesting and i like her use of found photographs which she brings to life through the painting process- both additive and reductive. A stand out entry. The flecks of colour- although I do not know what they are seem to add something.
Runners up
As the standard of entries was so high, the first half of the shortlist was so closely judged that the difference between the scores was minimal. We thought to share with you six of the runners up, again here you can see the breadth and diversity of the entries we received. There will be a series of interviews and articles with some of the artists on our blog throughout the next few months.
The winners of our four category prizes were selected by our Category Judges, with the winner each receiving £1,000. The winning entries are as follows:
Winner of Dry Media Category, judged by Ann Oram
‘Oranges’ by Anna Roberts
Pastel on Saunders Waterford 300g cotton paper.
28.5 x 38 cm
Comments from Ann: It’s a simple subject in some ways, but it is full of quiet observation and lovely colour. For me, it stood out. Technically very assured but also has an interesting eye for composition.
Winner of Acrylic Painting Category, judged by Scott Naismith
‘A Meticulous Disorder’ by Simon Hennessey
Acrylic on wooden panel
96 x 65 cm
‘A displacement of reality with the journey and the working out of the puzzle still in an unsolved and incompleted state, waiting to be made sense of. We can all plan out the context of our lives with some kind of formula and structure but fate may intervene and disruptions can and do happen.’
Comments from Scott: Love the fusion of 2 very different painting genres. Beautifully painted. Love the theme of construction/destruction and paradox.
Winner of Watercolour Painting Category, judged by Jean Haines
‘Welcome to my personal bar’ by Giovanni Balzarani
Watercolour on paper
38×38 cm
‘Group of alcoholic bottles and glass jars with candies, in hyperrealism style; on Arches 640gr/mq paper and Daniel Smith, Schmincke and Sennelier colours.’
Comments from Jean: It was so difficult to choose a winner, the standard of entries was so high however this watercolour is technically very accomplished, the subject matter is intriguing and the artist uses light very effectively within the work.
Winner of Oil Painting Category, judged by Richard Pikesley
‘Mrs Damon and Mrs Healey (2nd version)’ by Teri Anne Scoble
Oil on canvas
50x70cm
‘Mrs Damon and Mrs Healey (2nd version) was painted a couple of years after the first version, which was exhibited in the BP Portrait Award in the National Portrait Gallery 2013. It is more detailed and the two ladies are in a different pose under the hairdryers.’
It would seem photo realism rules. Is abstraction
unacceptable or too challenging?
Hi Marion,
Thank you for your comment regarding Jackson’s Open Painting Prize. It would seem that this year our panel of judges have selected artworks which lean towards realism, however this certainly does not mean that we did not encourage or support artworks that were more abstract, as you can see by the longlist which was chosen by Jackson’s internal judging panel. A couple of our judges were in fact primarily abstract landscape painters so it was interesting to see that there were more portraits/realist artworks chosen. As you can see by our inclusion of all different types of media within this years competition, it is not our aim just to promote a certain type of artwork or artists. It just so happens that the judges this year have selected those particular artworks to make the shortlist. We can’t doctor or change the judges votes once they have been cast to make sure that a certain type of work is included, otherwise there would be no point having a competition at all. If you have a look at last years competition, the top three artworks were not portraits/photorealist: https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2016/05/13/jacksons-open-art-prize-winners-announced/ It just so happens that this year those types of artworks have scored highly with the judges. I hope this helps 🙂
So lots of people made paintings from photographs?
Great!
Perhaps you could run a competition for painting from
life without photos, iPad or other things. Just an idea
Hi David,
Thank you for your comment in relation to Jackson’s Open Painting Prize. Unfortunately, your idea of running a competition painting from life sounds like a great idea, however would be difficult to execute as the entire process is done online it would be hard to say whether an artwork has been painted from a photograph or not. There are abstract painters that paint from photographs as a reference, equally there are portrait painters that paint directly from life. Each form or technique within art is as valid as any other and this shouldn’t be taken away from the winning entries which showed a high level of skill, technique and emotion. Landscape or plein air painters can use viewfinders or grid composition tools to help with perspective and positioning of a landscape, so is there much difference between that and using a photograph as a reference? It is true that there were many photorealist portrait entries within this years competition, a couple of our judges were in fact abstract landscape painters so it was interesting to see their choices. As you can see from the longlist chosen by Jackson’s judging panel, there were a wealth of different mediums, techniques and subject matters included, it just so happens that the shortlist and winning entries did feature photorealism/portraiture heavily. The winning entries in last year’s competition did not feature portraiture or photorealist artworks, but this year there is – we can’t doctor or change the judges votes once they have been cast to make sure that a certain type of work is included, otherwise there would be no point having a competition at all.
Hope this helps,
Christine
Well how about you ask the
shortlisted artists to attend a live
session.
Far be it from me to say what makes
art but when I see artists painting
from their iPads and ignoring the
model it doesn’t fill me with joy. By
all means use different reference
material, change it up, but it
appears that currently artists can
only work from the screen not from life.
Also I’m not against realism in any
way, far from it and wasn’t promoting
abstract paintings.
If you think painting entirely from a
photograph or PC is the same as
painting plein air or from a live
model then I do disagree. If you are
then running a competition for
finding the “best” artists then I’d
like to think they can wrestle with
the challenges of live situations *as
well as* working from reference.
To quote Bill Schneider “There are
four components to rendering an
object, namely shape, value, color
temperature and edge. If you can
master these four you will become a
great artist. But in a photograph
three out of four are always wrong.
The values are wrong, the edges are
equally wrong; the temperatures are
limited … The fourth element,
shape, may or may not be wrong.”
Hmm….cant say Im too impressed with any one of the
winning entries, though Grey Drift 3 is better than the rest
…as a previous comment stated, its all too realistic…nothing
left to the imagination…if you’re going to aim for such hyper-
realism, might as well take a photograph: much quicker. and
it seems to be all oils or acrylics imitating oils…is
watercolour not invited to the party?
Hi there,
Thank you for your comment regarding Jackson’s Open Painting Prize. It’s a shame that you are unimpressed with the winning entries as chosen by the judges as we feel that although the majority of entries in the shortlist were figurative, they showed immense skill, technique and emotion and the winning artists should feel proud of their entries as the standard was so high. In terms of watercolour painting in this year’s competition, as you can see by the longlist – Jackson’s judging panel chose 51 entries that were watercolour out of the 220 entries in the longlist. As you can see by our inclusion of all different types of media within this years competition, it is not our aim just to promote a certain type of artwork or artists. It just so happens that the judges this year have selected those particular artworks to make the shortlist. A couple of the judges are in fact abstract/mixed media landscape painters and so it’s interesting to see the choices that our judges have made as a collective. We can’t doctor or change the judges votes once they have been cast to make sure that a certain type of work is included, otherwise there would be no point having a competition at all. If you have a look at last years competition, the top three artworks were not portraits/photorealist: https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2016/05/13/jacksons-open-art-prize-winners-announced/ – it just so happens that this year there are. Each form of art is as valid as any other and we hope that by allowing as many different mediums to be entered as possible, this is reflected within the competition. Hope this helps, Christine
I think this comment was very well stated.
Making an accurate copy of a photograph using
paint is a craft, albeit a very skilled one.
Photography, when well composed produces
virtually the same result. If you want to add some
texture to a photograph, just paint a transparent
medium on top of the photograph. Also why not
allow photogpraphy as a medium? It produces
exactly the same result but it is a lot quicker.
Painting has the potential to be so much more:
interesting design, beautiful color harmony,
expressive brushwork, and much more. By
copying a photograph you are limiting your
expression far too much, and mostly
demonstrating your skill, not your art.
AArtist, experience in pastel magic markers and oils. Mostly
ooils. ( landscapes ) Strong, bold colors and texture.
They were all wonderful and creative as a beginner I
love to see all of the possibilities but In my
appreciation Dora steps out was amazing. So many
different textures and the hues. I am so enthusiastic
about the years to come.
Well I for one am now encouraged to enter next year!
There is a place for photorealism as there is a place for all
genres and I am pleased to see that the winning entries
include this and representational art. As regards whether
technology has a place in painting, for example using
ipads to grid up, artist have been using optical
instruments since the 14th century and I would suggest
that the same masters would have invested in an ipad if
they had the opportunity. Congratulations on an
Inspirational competition Jackson’s!