Capturing the essence of humanity

Published on Wednesday 26 December 2007 08:27

BP Portrait Award **** National Portrait Gallery IN an era when anyone with a mobile phone can capture the digital likeness of someone's face and slap it on the internet for all to see, the 2007 BP Award is a welcome reminder that there is nothing as mesmerising as a meticulously crafted portrait.

Having received a record 1870 entrants from all over the world, The National Portrait Gallery has this year reaped the rewards of casting its net wider.

Previously, only artists under the age of 40 were eligible to enter, but this year's competition was open to anyone over 18.

The benefit of allowing more experienced artists into the mix was immediately obvious, with 60-year-old Paul Emsley scooping the 25,000 first prize with his magnificent depiction of fellow artist Michael Simpson.

The piece by Emsley, who was born in Glasgow but grew up in South Africa, is the first to greet visitors to the free exhibition.

Immediately striking is the photo-like realism of the painting, with everything from Simpson's wispy white hair to the lines in his face rendered in breathtaking detail.

The Potter Family by Stephen Earl Rogers is another piece where only very close inspection gives away the fact it isn't a photograph.

The portraits on display cover a wide range of styles, and an equally wide range of subjects. For example, Commuter, by John Ball, was painted from a photo he took on his mobile phone of an anonymous businessman on the London Underground.

There is every chance, of course, that the subject is completely oblivious to the fact his image is currently hanging in an Edinburgh art gallery.

In the case of Only For a Fiver, the title refers to the princely sum with which artist Edward Sutcliffe had to part in order to get his subject to do a sitting.

Not all the artists whose work is featured in the exhibition take a conventional approach. In her picture Macular Me, 22-year-old London artist Suzy Willis uses opaque wax to predict how her vision may eventually be affected by age-related macular degeneration of the retina. The blurring effect of the wax produces a truly haunting image.

Time to Talk, by Glasgow-born Lynn Ahrens, takes an even more abstract approach. Her bald subject, known only as Joe, bears little resemblance to any person you'd want to meet.

Hynek Martinec, a 27-year-old from the Czech Republic, scooped the young artist award with Zuzana in Paris.

The over-life sized, ultra-realistic painting features his friend wearing an enormous pair of aviator shades, in which visitors can clearly see the reflection of the artist's studio.

In Ian Hamilton Finlay 1997-2006, Eileen Hogan depicts the well-known Scottish artist and writer in three images. Making it extra poignant, Finlay, who founded the Little Sparta garden in the Pentlands, died shortly after sitting for the portrait.

This wonderful exhibition is a reminder that, at their best, portraits are capable of capturing the aura of the subject that, however crystal-clear its definition, a photograph simply cannot convey.