November 23, 2011
Pictures of people have a way of connecting with viewers. If you get a chance, make a connection with the ROM and check out the Kingston Prize exhibition. This show happens every two years and features the very best of Canadian portraiture and figurative work.
This biennial competition has high stakes. The Grand Prize is $20,000! Of the 451 artists submitting to this juried show, thirty finalists are chosen to be included in a touring exhibition.
I found that many works aspired to the conditions of photography—in other words, lots of amazing photorealism. Perhaps the best example is by Vancouver artist Brian Boulton. His diminutive graphite drawing titled Mikey@20.c (Chelsea Boots), is an astonishing, well-burnished “gem” that evacuates all evidence of the artist’s hand and his chosen medium. On the other hand, the works that strayed from the photographic sources really stood out in a positive way. The more exuberant works from T. Salzl and S. Hadzihasanovic conveyed a dynamic tension between traditional painting from life that was strangely contemporary.
Although the Grand Prize winner has been chosen (going to Kingston’s Michael Bayne), it’s not over ‘til it’s over. Don’t forget to cast a ballot to your fave for the People’s Choice Award–the winner will walk away with a “grand” in prize money. A must-see show!
Brian Boulton's "I-can't-believe-it's-not-a-photo" drawing
curator by day 
6 comments
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November 23, 2011 at 6:53 pm
Kaaren Brown
In the four competitions so far, beginning in 2005, there have been just under 1300 entries.
Any Canadian may enter the competition. The subject, or one of the subjects, must also be Canadian and must sign the entry form that they have met with the artist for the purpose of making the portrait.
November 23, 2011 at 9:04 pm
curator by day
Thanks for clarifying, Kaaren.
November 25, 2011 at 9:49 am
Anne Garrett
Totally amazing and beautiful works. Any of my drawings would look like stick figures by comparison.
November 25, 2011 at 10:23 am
curator by day
I too was humbled by the high-calibre of work–something to strive for. Thanks, Anne, for reading…
March 3, 2012 at 12:02 pm
G
what I wonder, is if this prize is about developing and encouraging portraiture, and it appears to be, by not obliging a particular style but celebrating the vastness of choices , then why the barrier of having to work from a live subject?
Many of Leonardos studies were likely expressions of his reverie. Why exclude where our imaginations can lead us? The BP Portrait in England already encourages portraits working from life. How about making this Prize distinct, open it to our imaginations …let the censorship of real life stand aside for a moment ….
March 3, 2012 at 3:32 pm
Julian Brown
The Kingston Prize requirement of a live subject is intended to bring the artist in touch with another person, to meet, to talk, to listen, to watch, to understand. Real life need not be censorship, but instead can be an opening of the artist’s consciousness to the experiences of another person: joy, tragedy, love, laughter, illness, aging, youth. Who better than an artist to record these? Who better than a real person to reflect the realities of life? A sense of contact with reality is important and interesting, and is sometimes very surprising to the viewer; it does not necessarily require a realistic style of painting or drawing.
The BP Prize in London and the Archibald Prize in Sydney both accept only portraits that depict a live subject. The Kingston Prize has the same requirement, but differs in other ways. The BP and Archibald are both highly successful, and year after year bring blockbuster crowds of thousands of people each day to see the exhibitions. The Kingston Prize can grow in the same way. The exhibition at the ROM was seen by about 700 people a day for three months.
With the influence of landscape painters of the early twentieth century, followed by abstraction and then various newer art styles, contemporary Canadian artists seem to have lost interest in people and their lives. One result is that artists collectively depict a Canada which appears less populated now than in Victorian times. One objective of the Kingston Prize is to bring a bit more prominence to people in our artwork.