A variety of styles and subjects is always guaranteed and, often, some of the paintings are so realistic that you suspect they are photographs. The individuals featured in the paintings range from the artists’ families to well-known figures like Boris Johnson and Theo Pathitis.
This year’s collection was different to previous exhibitions. I felt some pieces were darker and there was much more symbolism, which unfortunately I’m not a great fan of.
“Geneva” by Ilaria Rosselli del Turco portrays professional dancer, Geneva Rosett-Hafter, and “was inspired by Italian Renaissance profile portraits, where the head is placed following geometrical principles.” The painting particularly caught my eye because of del Turco’s bold use of colour. The style is quite loose, softening the image, yet the painting is still detailed and refined.
My reaction to the winner, “Last Portrait of Mother” by Daphne Todd, was mixed. I studied the painting before reading the information, and quite admired the variants in tones and shadow. The woman looked in pain.
I then read the information and discovered that the painting showed Todd’s mother, 100-year-old Annie Mary Todd, as she lay in a refrigerated room in a funeral parlour. Todd was given her mother’s permission to paint her after she passed away, and studied her body for three days.
I was stunned. Todd described the painting as "a devotional study," but my immediate reaction was that it was disrespectful. The painting disturbed me. I wondered how Todd could have studied her mother’s body for so long, and if this is how far artists will go to differentiate themselves and be original? Would Todd still have won if her mother had instead been sleeping?
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