Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2013 - Show 3 Dublin - The Guinness episode...

I've titled this post 'the Guinness episode' because I think I would have needed several pints of it after drawing the challenging sitters on this weeks Sky Arts Portrait competition episode.

I thought that actress Pauline McLynn was particularly brave to take on a classical pose: reclining semi naked in front of the mirror. Pauline is more well known for her portrayal of house keeper, Mrs. Doyle, in the classic situation comedy Father Ted (Channel 4). Pauline apparently researched her pose for some time, and I think she did a fantastic job. Her pose reminds us of paintings such as the Rokeby Venus by Velazquez - currently held in the National Gallery, London.

Moone Boy star  David Rawle,demonstrated great maturity by his ability to sit still for such long periods of time, and Rap Artist Lethal Bizzle took up a commanding pose for his painters. However, I choose to write again about the power of the gaze as I did in the Glagow post from my own experience. 

Pauline, by laying in front of  her large mirror, actually reflected the gaze back at the artists working on the pose - creating yet further implications of watching and being watched. This process, I feel, was actually too much for one artist, whose lively impasto brush strokes of Pauline appeared to reflect back the piercing gaze of not only the sitter, but of all the other artists, the camera, the judges, the interviewers, the audience and himself. The pressures of scrutiny compounded by time, expectation and performance were quite a cruel experience for some.

Nonetheless, the standards under such pressure were again, amazing. The sheer variety of talent was revealed through the developing narrative of the show.The format from episode to episode is well established and makes for easy viewing, so now the viewer can focus on observing the progression of work.

I think everyone is doing a fantastic job on the show - and I am inspired and in awe of some of the sitters and artists alike. 

So, I look forward to the next one... and just think how amazing it was to be part of such an experience...

By the way you can currently see all the episodes from scratch for free at the moment (not sure how long for) at this link:
http://go.sky.com/vod/content/Catch_Up/content/seriesId/1752ac9475402410VgnVCM1000000b43150a________/content/default/promoPage.do

Sky Arts 1 Portrait Artist of the year 2013 -Show 2 Glasgow - the chicken sandwich episode...

Wel,l the Art show from Glasgow was finally aired. Again it was nicely done, and I was surprised that I featured in it as much as I did! Thanks StoryVault Films!

So here's my brief experience of the day.

Filming started really early - we had to arrive at the Kelvingrove Museum for around 7am. We were filmed arriving at the venue - and were then taken onto the set. The set was very impressive and took up much of the space in the main hall near the entrance. There were crew outside doing crane shots of the building, and on set there were several crews manning each part of the construction - which was called 'The Cheese' - and were were all allocated a space in our section of The Cheese. Each piece of The Cheese had a runner and a floor manager who looked after us. The organisation was very good and very cleverly thought out.

Drawing and painting started at around 10.30am... and quite frankly I was terrified. The other artists were very friendly - but there was a competitive edge - so we all got to it straight away. Being part of the process whilst understanding and appreciating how the filming is completed was interesting. As a lecturer in Media Studies at Portsmouth University enabled me to see how the production company were going to produce the narrative, and from what TV shows they had developed their format. It was very much like the Antiques Road Show and the British Bake-off, as I mentioned in my earlier blog post. So I felt prepared for the questions, the positioning of myself in relation to the work, continuity and narrative. Joan Bakewell, was very sweet, she was supportive and appeared to be genuinely interested in everyone's work and technique. Frank Skinner, on the other hand asked more antagonistic questions - much of which was not included in the final cut.

We were all told to standby when our sitter arrived. Of course we didn't know who it was going to be.. but it was a nice surprise to see the Scottish Actor, John Hanna. I  had said to the production team that part of my creative process was to hug my portrait sitters.. so I  did actually get a very nice big hug from John!! (thanks John!) 

However, what I had not anticipated was the sheer strength of different layers of 'the gaze' (Lacan, Berger, Mulvey) in this experience. For a start, we - as artists - were gazing and observing our sitter. Then we were being looked at and observed by the cameras; we were then observed by whom I can only describe as the' art police' - two very tall, (I'm only 4ft 11ins) women. Unfortunately I didn't know who they were, and I could only assume that one was the arbiter of trend, and the other the arbiter of taste. Then we were observed by practising artist Tai Shan Shierenberg. On top of all that looking - we were all finally observed by the general public who appeared in their droves with all their own personal recording media. It was rather like being in a zoo. Whilst all this was going on we also had to produce a painting or drawing - preferably a likeness of our sitter. The layers of looking and being seen were the most I had ever experienced. It was bonkers! 

So, I started my work and, using compressed and soft charcoals, blue tak and Fabriano paper, I tried to do my best - under truly surreal circumstances. Once I got going I actually enjoyed it. I decided to have fun and just do my bit. I was amazed that I had even been short listed!

Here's a video clip from Sky Arts of John Hanna talking about his experience of sitting for us.

http://www.sky.com/tv/show/portrait/video/john-hannah

BUT...

Having Tai come and give a constructive critique of my work made it all worth while. 

The pressure on set was very intense and completely exhausting, and I was certainly relieved when I had finished!

The judging was a pretty intense procedure too. we all had to leave the building and were interviewed outside about our expectations. I do believe that someone was so nervous that they actually threw-up outside. The other sitters were amazing - Sophie Turner and Michael Kerr - and the artists did some fantastic work. I think our winner was well deserved - his work reminded me of Rembrandt. 

Overall, I think I will be remembered most for scribbling all over the paper, and recollecting when I first heard I had been short listed.. I choked on my chicken sandwich I was eating whilst getting the phone call from StoryVault Films.... 

Special Thanks

I would like to say a very big thank you to everyone who has supported me during this competition - especially (the lovely) Ed, Chris Wood, The Southsea Gallery, colleagues at the School of Creative Arts Film and Media, University of Portsmouth, White Elephant,  Ellie for friendship and lovely photos of the day used on this blog, and Scott (DJ Loveless) for providing such an entertaining end to the weekend.

I am available for private commissions, and often run simple drawing classes during the spring and summer months in and around Portsmouth and Hampshire. If you would like to get in touch please do leave a comment, or you can find my contact details via the University of Portsmouth web site. 

Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the year 2013 - show 1. London.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the programme. I think StoryVault Films did a spectacular job. The set design was very clever, and the three sets for each sitter were carefully considered and executed. It was a shame that we didn't see more of it! I was lucky enough to have a brief chat with one of the designers over a bacon sandwich - and he was worried whether each set they had designed married with the theme/identity of each sitter. The lighting rig was also amazing - but the only problem with that as you may see in the next program, is that the natural lighting kept changing - giving the artists quite a challenge during the day.

It was impressive seeing the quality of the work, and also the narratives that were played out by individuals as the show progressed. I was also interested in the sensitivity of the editing and the way the artists were treated - I was worried about the nature of  the 'competition' itself  and how it could be portrayed as a reality TV show - but I was wrong on that assumption. It was a little bit like Antiques Road Show meets Master Chef (or the Great British Bake Off) - Nonetheless it was great to see that figurative work can still get some attention and still has critical value.

Marketing was also clever - see the overarching portrait of the Mona Lisa made up of all our self portraits! See some of the press release below..

PORTRAIT IN THE PARK…

GIANT MONA LISA TOWERS OVER CLAPHAM COMMON

Largest art easel and portrait ever displayed in Europe

•     Towering 14 metre high easel displays a 5 by 7 metre canvas

•     Leonardo da Vinci’s painting voted nation’s favourite portrait of all time

Created to celebrate Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year

A giant canvas of the Mona Lisa has been installed on Clapham Common in central London following a national poll which named the Leonardo Da Vinci classic as the nation’s favourite portrait of all time.

The artwork which is positioned on an easel measuring a staggering fourteen metres high - double the height of an average two storey house, was commissioned to mark the launch of Sky Arts’ Portrait Artist of the Year competition, which begins on Sky Arts 1 HD on 5^th November.

The Mona Lisa portrait was created using 84 of the individual self-portraits submitted by the shortlisted entrants to the national competition.  Surrey based multi-media artist Quentin Devine spent a week incorporating each individual portrait into the Mona Lisa Mosaic replicating the portraits into 1000 individual pixels to create the Mona Lisa illusion. The giant artwork marks the first time the portraits have been displayed together.

Positioned in the middle of the common, the easel took a team of fabricators over two months to design and construct.  The montage of portraits was printed onto specially designed, wind breathable canvas and measures 5 metres by 7 metres – 85 times bigger than the original portrait which hangs in the Louvre.  The complete structure which weighs three tonnes is weighed down by an additional twelve tonnes of ballast to ensure stability.

Quentin Devine who devised the giant artwork comments "Updating Da Vinci's masterpiece to a 21st century digital piece of art has been one of the largest scale digital art projects I've worked on in my 13 years of being a Multimedia artist. It was a great challenge to combine the rich talents of the portrait artists competing for the accolade of Sky Arts Portrait of the Year." 

* * *

I had no idea that this was being created.. it's amazing to see your own work as a small part of a larger piece! The next show to be broadcast is from Glasgow - the one that I participated in. So I will give a more detailed account of the experience once that show is aired....