Edinburgh artists encouraged to enter national competition

Artists in Edinburgh are being challenged to show their artistic skills with the chance to win up to £15,000 and a gold medal in this year’s national Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize. They could also see their paintings hung in London’s world-famous Mall Galleries.

Unlike many other contemporary art competitions, the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize is for representational art – art that seeks to capture the real world.

Now in its thirteenth year, the Lynn Painter-Stainers competition is one of the most prestigious awards for artists in the UK, offering total prize money of £30,000, including a first prize of £15,000, second prize of £4,000 alongside the newly introduced People’s Prize worth £2,000.

Young artists aged 25 or under can compete for the Young Artist Award of £4,000. This is a coveted prize that aims to promote support fresh new talent. For the fourth year running, the competition is also offering the Brian Botting Prize of £5,000 which will be awarded to an artist aged 30 or under for an outstanding representation of the human figure.

Christopher Green, winner of the 2017 Lynn Painter-Stainers prize, urged artists to take up the challenge. He said: “Do enter the competition, it’s really something to work towards. I entered many times before I won. Winning the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize has been the high point of my work so far. I’ve been very busy since the announcement.”

2017’s People’s Prize winner, 22-year-old Kieran Nash, said: “After winning the prize, my painting View from Tate Modern was accepted for the Bath Society of Artists annual exhibition and was featured in the media. I also gained many more connections in the art world.”

The competition is open to any artist resident in the UK painting or drawing works of representational or figurative art and over 18-years-old. Both amateur artists and professionals can submit up to four pieces of work.

Prize judge Daphne Todd, leading artist and judge on BBC1’s The Big Painting Challenge, said: “The Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize celebrates the very best of British representational art and acts as a show case to the rest of the world. It’s all about the way in which our artists see the real world and capture it.

“We want as many entries as possible so that we can try to find new and talented artists who will benefit from the support the prize will offer them.”

Around 100 entries will be selected for display in London’s famous Mall Galleries from 5–17 March 2018, with winners announced on 5 March.

Judges for the 2018 competition are:

  • Benjamin Sullivan NEAC RP, artist, winner of the BP Portrait Award 2017
  • Daphne Todd OBE PPRP NEAC, artist
  • Robin Mason, artist and Head of Fine Art, City & Guilds London Art School
  • Johnny Messum, founder and director, Messums Wiltshire

Created in 2005 by The Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers and The Lynn Foundation, the open competition continues to champion the skill of draughtsmanship and figurative painting. The exhibition aims to reflect the breadth of approaches and materials from across the artistic spectrum.

The competition is open to all UK-based artists over 18. Artists are invited to submit images of up to four of their works online at lps.artopps.co.uk. These works cannot have been exhibited before. Entry is £15 per work, £8 per work for students. Approximately 100 works will be selected for an exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London, from 5-17 March 2018. The exhibition will be hung and curated by artist Sam Wadsworth and Andrew Wilton, visiting research fellow at Tate Britain.

Deadline for entry: 5pm on Wednesday 6 December 2017.

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davepickering

Edinburgh reporter and photographer