BP PORTRAIT AWARD 2008 AND BP TRAVEL AWARD 2007

About

The BP Portrait Award is the most prestigious portrait competition in the world, promoting the very best in contemporary portrait painting. With a first prize of £25,000, the exhibition has proved to be the launch pad for the careers of a number of successful portrait artists. This year's exhibition will present over fifty-five selected portraits, alongside the work of the two BP Travel Award 2007 winners, Timothy Hyman and Gareth Reid. Hyman's studies of a unique group of Indian artists he first met in the 1980s will be displayed alongside Reid's portraits of members of the Scandinavian ‘vinterbaderklubs' (winter-bathing clubs) who regularly swim in man-made ice holes. On Monday 16 June 2008 the winner of the BP Portrait Award 2008 was announced by Ian Hislop at the National Portrait Gallery. In a record-breaking year for entries from non-UK artists, the prestigious first prize was won by 35-year-old London artist Craig Wylie. His winning portrait, K (oil on canvas, 2100 x 1650 mm), is an epic study of his girlfriend Katherine Raw based on sittings at his Hackney Wick studio. Craig wins £25,000 and a commission, at the National Portrait Gallery Trustees' discretion, worth £4,000. The second prize of £8,000 goes to Simon Davis for Portrait of Amanda Smith at Vincent Avenue and the third prize of £6,000 goes to Robert O'Brien for Hannah O'Brien. There is, also for the second time, a BP Young Artist Award of £5,000 for the work of an entrant aged between 18 and 30. This has been won by Peiyuan Jiang for Untitled. An 88-page book, with an essay by Alexander McCall Smith, accompanies the exhibition, featuring all the selected artists and including the two BP Travel Award 2007 winners. Special Gallery price £7.99 (RRP £8.50 paperback).