Leading Australian artists such as Yvette Coppersmith, Anthony Lister, Rodney Pople and Michael Zavros are amongst the finalists alongside several emerging artists, with paintings of former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, actors Sigrid Thornton, Noah Taylor, Matt Nable and Barry Otto, and designer Kym Ellery, as well as several self-portraits, in the running for the $150,000 prize.
The 2019 DMNPP judging panel includes: Nigel Milsom, artist and 2013 DMNPP winner, and Kelly Gellatly, Director of the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne, who judged this year’s Prize alongside Peter Moran, Managing Director of the Moran Health Care Group and son of Greta and Doug Moran who established the Moran Arts Foundation in 1988.
Richard Lewer, As a bald man, I miss going to the Barber
Milsom and Gellatly speak of the advantages of ‘seeing and assessing the works “in the flesh”‘;
‘Being able to experience the ‘real thing’ rather than via reproduction, is invaluable – it’s where the magic combination of subject, composition, technique and scale either work, or don’t, and where you’re able to recognise the power a work of art can have over you in person. For the judges, each of the finalists in this year’s Prize achieves this magic in their own way; creating an active dialogue between the viewer, the subject and the work that is both rewarding and endlessly engaging. We hope audiences enjoy the exhibition as much as we did selecting it.’
The 2019 DMNPP finalists are: Abdul Abdullah, Kate Beynon, Barbara Bolt, Sally Bourke, Jimmi Buscombe, Hua Cun Chen, Rachel Coad, Yvette Coppersmith, Dagmar Cyrulla, David Darcy, Tara Gibbs, Ben Howe, Richard Lewer, Anthony Lister, Robert Malherbe, Scott Marsh, Joshua McPherson, John Morris, Ellie Noir, Adam Norton, Rodney Pople, Paul Ryan, Randall Sinnamon, Wendy Spindler, Vanessa Stockard, Alex Thorby, Natasha Walsh, Oliver Watts, Michael Zavros, and what.
Each finalist receives a $1,000 prize and will have their work on display in the 2019 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize Exhibition at Sydney’s Juniper Hall in Paddington from 31 October to 1 December 2019. The winner will be announced on Wednesday 30 October.
