Art

Semi-Finalists Of The 2018 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize Revealed

It’s the semi-finals! No… we’re not referring to the sporting variety.

We’re talking about the announcement of 132 semi-finalists in the prestigious 2018 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, who were revealed this week in Sydney!

From over 1000 entries, this incredible shortlist of works showcases a diverse array of mind-blowing artistic talent! We highlight our faves below.

Written
by
Lucy Feagins

St Kilda Beach and Studio by Tom Alberts.

Left – Compass – Gabrielle (being Amy) by Deborah Walker. Right – Claudia Chan Shaw No 3 by  Tony Costa.

Lucky Charms Self portrait with son Rali by Kate Beynon.

Bernd by Bernd Heinrich.

Bury Me With A Mandarin by Narelle Zeller.

Left – Doug from Eden by Yvonne East, right – Flower by Lori Pensini.

Cooper project 11 by Lisa Saad

Bridget project 11 by Lisa Saad

Prudence Flint by Bridgette McNab.

Carla Zampatti by Sinead Davies.

This is not an act by Vincent Fantauzzo

Left – Portrait of Reg in a Mambo Singlet by Anthony Bennett. Right –  Heaven Can Wait by Andrew Baines.

Writer
Lucy Feagins
22nd of September 2018

Though it mightn’t be quite as well known as the Archibald, the 2018 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize is Australia’s richest prize for portraiture, with a grand prize of $150,000 for the winning artist!

Now in its 30th year, the prize is funded by The Moran Arts Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation established by philanthropists Doug and Greta Moran in 1988.

From over a thousand entries, this year’s shortlist of semi-finalists have just been announced…. and WOW, what a lineup! Portraits of well-known Australians such as Asher Keddie, Carla Zampatti and Reg Mombassa amongst the semi-finalists, across a diverse collection of life-like portraits in various mediums.

The judges of the 2018 prize are artist Louise Hearman, the former director of National Gallery of Australia, Dr Ron Radford AM and Greta Moran, Co-Founder and Director Moran Arts Foundation. ‘We saw some strange work, some interesting work and some strangely interesting work’ says Louise Hearman. ‘So much skill and time and emotion was evident in over one thousand entries. Ultimately a combination of skill and attraction, the ability of a picture to continue to fascinate us, was the deciding factor in choosing the semi-finalists.’

The finalists will be announced on Wednesday 17 October, with winners revealed on Thursday 1st November in Sydney.

Above, we share a selection of our favourite works to make the ‘semi-finals’ (strange to use that term in relation to art!?). The full list of semi-finalists can be found here!

 

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