Kayley Hardiman, 24 Aug
FROM hundreds of entries, the shortlists of this year’s AIB Portrait
Prize and AIB Young Portrait Prize have been announced by the National
Gallery of Ireland and two artists from Limerick have been shortlisted.
Gearóid Arthur Hayes is among the 26 artists selected for the AIB
Portrait Prize with Kwena Chokoe, an oil on board. Roman
Petrova’s Vivid Impressions, a coloured pencil work on paper, has been
shortlisted for the AIB Young Portrait Prize alongside 19 other artists
from across the country.
The AIB Portrait Prize shortlist includes painting, drawing, sculpture,
video and photography demonstrating the breadth of contemporary Irish
art. The winner of the AIB Portrait Prize will receive a cash prize of
€15,000 and will be commissioned to create a work for the national
portrait collection, for which they will be awarded a further €5,000.
Two additional awards of €1,500 will be given to highly commended
works. Judges for the AIB Portrait Prize are: artist, painter and
writer Hughie O’Donoghue, Director of The Model, Sligo, Emer McGarry,
and Director of the Museum of Literature Ireland, Simon O’Connor.
Director of the National Gallery of Ireland, Dr Caroline Campbell,
commented: “We are proud to be working with AIB on the annual AIB
Portrait Prize and AIB Young Portrait Prize. With the two Prizes, we
showcase the work of Irish portrait artists of all ages and encourage
an interest in contemporary portraiture across the island of Ireland.
The artists shortlisted for the 2024 prize demonstrate an incredible
breadth of Irish artistic talent. We are looking forward to the opening
of the exhibitions on the 9^th of November and announcing this year’s
winners on the 27^th November.”
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Chief Executive Officer of AIB, Colin Hunt, said: “We are delighted to
share the shortlist for the 2024 AIB Portrait Prize and AIB Young
Portrait Prize. The portraits selected demonstrate the wonderful
creativity and expertise of Ireland’s portrait artists of all ages. We
are proud to be associated with such a strong and diverse selection of
portraits, and very proud to sponsor these inspiring competitions.”
The AIB Young Portrait Prize returns for its sixth year in 2024 as a
showcase for the artistic talent of young people from across Ireland.
Five winners (one from each respective age category and an overall
winner) will be selected from a shortlist of hundreds of entries from
young people aged three to eighteen. Winners will receive a bespoke art
box and a cash prize. The overall competition winner will be awarded a
personalised wooden box of high-quality art materials and a cash prize
of €500. All twenty shortlisted entrants will have their artwork
professionally framed. This year’s AIB Young Portrait Prize judges are:
author-illustrator and motivational speaker, Ashwin Chacko, Emmalene
Blake, a visual street artist, renowned for their large-scale portraits
and Head of Research and Learning at the Irish Museum of Modern Art,
Sheena Barrett.
Exhibitions of the shortlisted works in both competitions run at the
National Gallery of Ireland from November 9, 2024 until March 9, 2025.
The winners of the prizes will be announced at a ceremony held in the
National Gallery of Ireland on November 27, 2024.