Through to the semi-final of Portrait Artist of the Year
I won my Portrait Artist of the Year heat and am through to the semi-final!
I was tasked with painting Mercury Prize-nominated musician Kojey Radical who was a perfect sitter. He has such a warm, open personality and I couldn’t believe that he stayed until the end to celebrate together. Just a couple of weeks later he was headlining the Albert Hall.
Artist Jonathan Yeo, art historian Katy Hessel, and FRIEZE director Eva Langret are the new judges for this season and were all so generous in their conversations with me throughout the day. I am really grateful for their comments about my work that aired on the episode.
"These portraits challenge representations of masculinity in portraiture."
– Eva Langret
"He captured something emotional, vulnerable and moving about Kojey. It was full of beautiful colours, beautiful textures..."
– Katy Hessel
Congratulations to my fellow artists on the episode. It's such a whirlwind of a day and one of the real positives is meeting a group of brilliant people:
You can watch the broadcast of the semi-final on 2 December on all Sky platforms and Freeview Channel 36. The season episodes, including my heat, are available on catch-up and Sky Go.
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