Self-taught artist Jiab Prachakul has won the 2020 BP Portrait Award for a picture depicting her two friends in a bar in Berlin.
The Thai artist, who is based in London, was this morning announced as the winner of the prestigious award and the £35,000 prize money for her work Night Talk. The work along with other highly commended pieces is now on display at the National Portrait Gallery, which Londoners can view remotely online.
The National Portrait Gallery has also commissioned the artist for a new piece worth £7,000.
Judges said the work - which was selected from nearly 2,000 entries from 69 countries - was “an evocative portrait of a fleeting moment in time, giving us a glimpse into someone else’s life that is beautiful, mysterious and alive. It is loosely painted and the bold composition makes clever use of contrasting shapes.”
Born in Nakhon Phanom, in northeast Thailand, Prachakul relocated to London several years ago. After visiting the David Hockney exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, she decided she wanted to learn to paint.
Entirely self-taught, Prachakul’s work has previously been displayed in solo exhibitions in the UK, Germany and France. However, this is the first time she has been selected for the BP Portrait Award exhibition.
The second prize of £12,000 went to Russian artist Sergey Svetlakov for his work Portrait of Denis: Actor, Juggler and Fashion Model. Judges said the portrait, the sitter for which was found through an online appeal by Svetlakov, was “timeless.”
The third prize of £10,000 went to Michael Youds, a gallery attendant at the National Galleries of Scotland, for his portrait Labour of Love depicting Tommy Robertson, the owner of an independent music store in Edinburgh. The judges said the work was “ nostalgic.”
The BP Young Artist Award of £9,000 for the work of a selected entrant aged between 18 and 30 has been won by Dutch artist Egbert Modderman for his piece Restless, which depicts the Old Testament figure of Eli.
All 48 works selected for the BP Portrait Award 2020 exhibition are on display in a virtual gallery space. The area replicates the rooms of the National Portrait Gallery, meaning viewers can read portrait labels and get insights from the artists, as well as exploring each individual work in more detail.
Visit the online exhibition here: npg.org.uk/bpportrait
