That time of the year when lots of inquisitive eyes enter the central London NPG for some anonymous portrait staring has finally arrived. All those unknown family portraits of young and old, local and foreigners (but some famous too) who hoped to win the 2012 BP Portrait award have taken over the National Portrait Gallery for the usual 3-month period.
The very best in contemporary portrait with entries from all around the world (over 2100 this year) make of this its 33th edition… 55 works that had to be reduced, inevitably, to the four shortlisted artist with a New York-based winner and an Andalusian earning the second prize… funnily enough both choosing their elder relatives to get this far.
Aleah Chapin for Auntie, Alan Coulson for Richie Culver, Ignacio Estudillo for El abuelo (Augusta Estudillo) and Jamie Routley for Tony Lewis…. all storytellers presenting us their very personal stories: paternal grandfathers showing part of the human condition to which we belongs, honest paintings, hidden messages from your local newspaper vendor, maps of our journey through life and the always exotic and fascinating small-scale portraits by Carl Randall are the top lines of this years edition.
An unmissable that will be open until September 23rd, who’re you gonna stare at this year? More info on their webpage.
