The BP Portrait Award @ Aberdeen Art Gallery!

Its been a while since I wandered into Aberdeen Art Gallery so I was delighted to find the BP Portrait Award show is in town. The Portrait Award is always worth checking out, there's always at least 1 painting which blows me away and this year there's been a few. The only problem is how to relay what they were as photography is forbidden as I found out when the steward came up and asked me to delete the pictures I'd taken, and then followed me around for the rest of my visit. But the great thing about a show like this is it makes you wan't to investigate more so I quickly jotted down the names of the artists whose work I liked and after a bit of Google searching I've managed to find a nice selection from the show. However you can't beat popping in and seeing the whole thing in the flesh so if you get a chance make sure you pop down, its free after all!

 Here's my personal highlights in no particular order.
Hynec Martinec
Ade Odedina
Daniel Coves

Carl Randall
Tony Noble

Lionel Smit
Alison J Kelleher
Colin Davidson
Its really great to see such fresh work from an international array of artists. Its hard to pinpoint a particular favourite as all these works appealed to my eyes in different ways, some because of their subjects, others because of the technical execution, other because I liked the hair cuts. Whatever it was each of the above made me stop and pay attention which is a key factor in my art appreciation, whether I stop because I like it or loathe it, its that split second which leads to a moment which leads to a traul through the internet to find out more.  

 So that's my top picks from this year, some really beautiful paintings and a top show all round, well worth firing down to see so make sure you swing past the Art Gallery before the show moves on at the end of January!

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