Portraits of a man sleeping and a “universal mother” have been shortlisted for a £35,000 art prize.
BP Portrait Award contender Time Traveller (Matthew Napping) depicts artist Felicia Forte’s “sweetheart” Matthew DeJong enjoying some rest on a sweltering summer’s day.
Artist Miriam Escofet is also in the running for An Angel At My Table, showing her elderly mother sat at her kitchen table surrounded by tea crockery.
As well as the sitter’s “inner stillness and calm”, Escofet “wanted to transmit an idea of the ‘universal mother, who is at the centre of our psyche and emotional world.’”
The paintings are two of four works in the running for this year’s BP Portrait Award.
The other works are A Portrait Of Two Female Painters by Ania Hobson, depicting the artist with her sister-in-law, and Zhu Tongyao, for Simone, who is the child of the artist’s neighbours.
Dr Nicholas Cullinan, chair of the judges and director of the National Portrait Gallery, said: “The BP Portrait Award exhibition is an annual celebration of contemporary painted portraiture by artists of all ages from across the world and continues to attract submissions from the medium’s best practitioners.”
The winner will be announced on June 11.
The BP Portrait Award 2018 exhibition will run at the National Portrait Gallery, London, from June 14 to September 23.
