PORTRAITS of people suffering from dementia, figurative nudes, the elderly, the young, the depressed, the jubilant and the familiar visage of Sir Bob Geldolf are amongst the 55 works of art showing at the Ulster Museum.
The internationally renowned BP Portrait Award 2015 exhibition, on loan from the National Portrait Gallery, London, showcases works selected by artists from 92 countries.
Selected from a record-breaking 2,748 entries, the chosen paintings represents the best in contemporary portrait painting.
Kim Mawhinney, head of art at National Museums Northern Ireland, was one of the six judges who selected the winners and the exhibition artists.
“It is almost 20 years since the Ulster Museum hosted this renowned exhibition and we are delighted to see it return to Belfast. Each of the judges brought a different aspect to the judging process. Some were looking for originality, but I was concerned about the quality of the painting and the technique,” says Kim.
The annual exhibition contains a wide range of artistic techniques from expressive sketches to piercing photo-realism.
“The techniques the artists use are just so fine people believe some of these paintings are actually photographs,” adds Kim.
This year’s exhibition contains work by five Irish artists – Comhghall Casey, Gavan McCullough, Stephen Durnin, Helen O'Sullivan-Tyrrell and Ian Cumberland, who was recently commissioned to paint former Lord Mayor Nicola Mallon’s portrait for the Lord Mayor Portrait collection in Belfast City Hall.
This is Banbridge artist Ian’s fifth appearance in the BP Portrait Awards, having won third prize in 2011. “This painting reflects a period when I was feeling low. I feel it is pretty honest, but I see it more as a wake-up call to try and change the things you have control of,” the 33-year-old said his portrait Sink or Swim.
The oil painting on linen was painted following the death of his grandfather and features the artist lying in his suit and black tie in a bathtub. He was also inspired by Sir John Everett Millais’s Ophelia.
Ian is passionate that his work is “honest to the medium and the subject”. "I don't try to make people look good. It’s more about capturing feelings”. By painting a self-portrait he says “you can make yourself look a bit rough and not offend anyone”.
Dublin artist Gavan McCullough, who gained a B.Eng. in Aeronautical Engineering from Queen's University Belfast and worked in IT before pursuing his love of art, also has a self-portrait in the show.
"I suppose when I look at things, I think how is it constructed? People are just like amazing complicated machines,” says McCullough, who is based in Munich where he is painting portraits of Syrian refugees.
The winner of the £30,000 first prize was Israeli artist Matan Ben-Cnaan for his portrait Annabelle and Guy, based on the Old Testament story of Jephthah.
The exhibition runs until June 12; admission is free; see www.nmni.com/um
