Artist: Antoinette Barbouttis
Title: Alexandra
Subject: Alexandra Liveris
Medium: charcoal on paper
Size: 132 x 130 cm

Judges’ Comments:

Joanna Gilmour
“I was drawn to the artist’s work first and foremost as a beguiling and effecting portrait. It’s simultaneously powerful and gentle, and demonstrates a palpable connection between artist and sitter, sitter and artist. On close looking, I was struck by the artist’s consummate handling of the medium, and the skill with which she has pushed the possibilities of charcoal without losing its qualities and its capacity for nuance of texture and tone. Having a weakness for drawings, I loved that the artist relished their medium without negating its inherent softness. Finally, the work was, for me, evocative of Pre-Raphaelite portraiture while remaining a striking and sensitive contemporary work.”

Dr Stefano Carboni
“It caught me by surprise on many levels. First, from the distance, the near-photographic quality of the finished work. Secondly, the incredible technical ability and understanding of the medium in the use of charcoal to create wonderful Chiaroscuro effects and nuances in the drawing. But it is the progressive discovery of the deep connection of the artist with the subject that makes it a sure winner.”

Mathew Lynn
“Contains a deeply convincing and intangible feeling for the sitter, identifying something essential. Technically masterful, but only as much as is absolutely necessary and no more. A haunting, almost breathing image, somehow conveying the paradox of the eternal and the fugitive.”