London's National Portrait Gallery, The BP Portrait Award, 2010

If you like portraits - this huge gallery (or rather museum) is a must stop for you in London. From realistic to abstract, paintings, drawings and sculptures, photographs, famous and nobodies - this is an enjoyable and eclectic mix of people in art.

The BP Award exhibit: Not sure if this is the BP of the famous oil mess but I think so. I sure hope they have the funds to continue to sponsor this exhibit, but after a year like this, I wonder. This is a top notch show with countless works worth including here, if I only had the time. The expertise, vision and composition of all the pieces were heavenly.

Featured here are just some of the many masterpieces.

Mary Jane Ansell's "Dan" (above) was my top pick. The execution of this piece blew my mind. Every single hair on Dan's head was a single perfect brushstroke. And the way she captured his vulnerable, self-conscious look is sheer perfection.
For the Eclectix interview with Mary Jane click here.

  Molly Parkin by Darren Coffield

Free David by Paul Beel

Gillian by Miriam Escofet

Again, incredible hair sized brushstroke and details...

Daytime Observations by David Dipre

Think Peace by Tim Okamura

(sorry about the lousy foto)

Geneva by Ilaria Rosselli del Turco

Lila Pearl by Thea Penna

Blue Coco by Shaun Downey

That's it for the BP exhibit! For smaller versions of all the BP art go here.

The show is up thru Sept. 19th, 2010....


Below are just a few from the regular gallery collection. Again, way too many outstanding pieces to blog here, so you may just have to go there! 

Sir Paul Maxime Nurse 

by Jason Brooks

(this piece was huge, 107" across!)

Phyllis Dorothy ('P.D.') James, Baroness James of Holland Park 

by Michael Taylor

Kate Winslet by Jason Bell
Bell’s work regularly appears in Vanity Fair and Vogue

Self by Marc Quinn

 This was a great idea for a self-portrait! The whole shell of his head is filled with nine pints of his own blood. It looks very cool in person, the blood color has a lot of depth and movement to it. I think the head is made out of some kind of cast silicone and the whole unit is kept refrigerated. Quinn made his first blood head in 1991 and has continued to make a new cast, every five years to document his aging.