I’ve had a few meetings with the National Portrait Gallery recently and finally we have come to a sitter as part of the first prize when I won the BP Portrait Award in 2006. I’m not sure if I can say who it is yet but so I’d better not. I can reveal that it’s a man though so that narrows it down to around 30 million in the UK.
September 17th, 2010
I think I mentioned that we are having a 4 person group show based on Portraiture which is scheduled for next March at Plus One Gallery. Phil Harris, Simon Hennessey and Craig Wylie are the other 3 artists. Just as a taster here are two of my sitters who I intend working with who I’ll just call Ray and Andy for the moment.
September 17th, 2010
My artist friend Mike Gaskell and his family came over the other weekend which was great. I’ve known Mike since around the end of last century ( which sounds like about 100 years ago) but we met at the BP Portrait Awards when we were both shortlisted and we’ve stayed in touch ever since. He came second back in 1999 I think it was ??? second again in last years and incredibly again this year and if I’m honest I think it was a better painting than the one which won.
Here we are in my studio in an homage to Gilbert and George.
September 17th, 2010
I was in London for the day yesterday for the launch of a new web based link up for BP artists. The BP Portrait Award has been going for over 20 years now so a lot of artists have passed through during that time. Someone’s had a great idea at the gallery to get everybody together in a web based networking set up. So basically it was a bit of a jolly lat night at the NPG, meeting up with old friends from years ago to present day. In fact, a lot of us are already in touch already but there ids so much scope for linking up and liaising with other artists…..very exciting. It’s also linked up with the Olympic funding and workshops are going to be set up to encourage the youngsters.
I met Philip Harris and Mike Gaskell earlier on in the day and we had lots of coffee and an appauling lunch in soho, ( soup of the day… economy tinned tomato soup, carefully opened out of view with three slices of courgette…yummy and a bargain at £4.00) But we managed to catch up and went to see some exhibitions around town. After more coffee we went to the NPG and met up with a lot of the previous winners , even going back to when JPS sponsored it. Humphrey Ocean and Tai Shan-Shierenburg who won that one then the BP winners, Phil Harris, Peter Edwards, Ishbel Myerscough, Stuart Pearson – Wright, James Lloyd, Craig Wylie and shortlisted artists and travel award winners Joel Ely and Annie-the lovely couple back together again, David Hancock and his partner , Kevin Cunningham who I haven’t seen for years and Brendan Kelley ( who amazingly hasn’t won it yet) and lots of others I’ve missed out.
Good luck for this year Mr. Gaskell.
May 18th, 2010
It’s been 10 years since Te New Art Gallery, Walsall opened its doors to the public and they’re having a party exhibition to celebrate. Should be a pretty cool series of events I think and an accompanying exhibition with some pretty big name artits in like Peter Blake, Martin Creed, Gilbert and George, Chris Ofili, Paula Rego, Sam Taylor Wood, Juergen Teller and Gavin Turk. I’ve got a piece in the show too and they’ve asked all the artists to do a birthday card for the gallery which will also be exhibited alongside the rest of the Party themed work. Here is my card which is a “Party Tape”, the kind of thing we used to take to house parties back in the student days or give to people you really liked. I think there is quite a growing nostalgia for party tapes in the digital age.
( Click on the image for a closer look at the track listing)
December 29th, 2009
I will be having a solo exhibition in London at the Plus One Gallery in Chelsea. The Private View will be on the evening of Tuesday 13th October and the exhibition will run until 7th November 2009.
It will be a portrait based exhibition featuring new and recent portraits from America and Japan and a few British portraits too.
Click on the image for more details about the exhibition.
if you would like more information please contact me on andrew@andrewtift.co.uk or the gallery on info@plusonegallery.com
September 16th, 2009
It sems like an eternity ago now but around 18 months ago I enterd my portrait of “Ronald” into the Wales Portrait Award 2, which is basically a carbon copy of the BP Portrait Awards in London. It’s a great exhibition and very professionally done with an excellent catalogue and prizes , again, similar to the BP. It basically stipulates that all of the artists haveto be Welsh or working in Wales or of a Welsh sitter – ( where my portrait qualified).
As in all of these competitions the visitors choices are inevitably different to the judges selections. All visitors are invited to write down their favourite portrait during the 18 month tour and luckily for me Ronald came top which I was delighted about , so thanks to all that voted , I’m just pleased that Ronald made such an impression / connection with people.
Here’s a picture of me with an oversized “lottey” style cheque which I took to the bank but couldn’t get under the counter. Just to the left hand side of th image is Peter Edwards’ portrait of Ryan Giggs , but unfortunately you can only just see his shoulders, sorry Peter.
The exhibition is at it’s 6th and final venue Rhyl Museum and Arts Centre until 19th September. I hadn’t been to Rhyl for years. My Grandad used to have a caravan there in the 1970’s and we used to go on family holidays up the A5 so the visit brough back a lot of memories too.
September 6th, 2009
I made and entry on my blog in January saying that I had done 2 portraits on postcards after the NPG approached artists to do so for their fundraising gala on 3rd March which I think they were selling for £200 . I can now reveal which 2 were mine.
They are about 8″ and the first is a B/W painting of a woman I met in Yoyogi Park in Tokyo and the second is a drawing of a dear friend of mine, Ken Billingham who also features in the next entry.
(If you click on the image they should enlarge)
March 5th, 2009
The Smithsonian Institution are currently exhibiting my two paintings of Cormac McCarthy and Murray Gell-Mann which they recently purchased in an installation of new acquisitions at their museum/gallery in Washington D.C. It’s a pretty long run and goes on from 2nd February – 15th November 2009.
If you click on the following link it should take you to their museum blog an their is quite an extensive piece about the exhibition.
February 8th, 2009
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