Lists of Archibald Prize finalists

Transcription

And now, to the place winning portraits. The third prize in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009, which consists of a $5000 reward, is given to Adam Vincent for his portrait "Dressy Bessy Takes A Nap." The second prize in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009 which consists of a $7500 prize is awarded to Stanley Rayfield for his portrait, "Dad." Even I feel a little tingly about this. The grand prize winner of the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009 and recipient have a $25,000 and a separate commission to create a likeness of a prominent American for the National Portrait Gallery permanent collection is Dave Woody for his portrait "Laura." I'd like to invite Dave Woody to come to the podium and say a few words. I want to say that I'm sincerely humble and thankful to you all for this prize. It's an incredible honor and firstly I'd like to thank the the family of Virginia Boochever for their continued dedication and support of her vision. Secondly, it's an incredible thing her accomplishment, getting this to be the first National Portrait competition. Secondly I'd like to thank everyone involved in this: all the artists, the staff the jurors, and everyone who's made this. I haven't gotten a chance to see the show, but I'm really looking forward to it. It looks beautiful and I'd like to thank everyone who is involved in that. Thank You. Warren Perry and Ben Bloom here with Dave Woody, the winner of the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009. So when did you figure out you won the competition? Did you happen to notice all the photographers converging on you? No, I didn't, I mean it just happened quickly, they ran through the list of winners, and by deduction, I realized that I was the last person. And it's still a shock. It's an incredible honor and privilege. I just didn't know what to expect. - Congratulations. It's a great work. Can you tell us a little bit about it? -The work? It's from a series of work I was working on last year; I'm still working on it, but friends, people I know, they're pretty simple portraits. There's not much going on, except for an attention to light and color and I'm just really interested in how these elements kinda bring out the psychological space of a sitter. There's sort of an intimacy to the portraits. They're usually just three-quarter busts. But there's something kind of quiet and close to to how they're portrayed and I like that feeling of intimacy. -And the sitter, Laura, is a friend of yours you share studio space with, is that correct? - That's correct, she was a fellow graduate student down at UT Austin. You know, usually the people I've been photographing are people I've known for a little bit and I see something sort of vulnerable sometimes and I want to try to capture that. It doesn't always work, but I think something about my work is this sense of vulnerability, quietness, or opening up in a way to something that's kinda private. -And you also really like that particular space you're using. -Correct, some there's this gorgeous quality to light there that I haven't really; I have been trying to find the same kind of light. It's a shed with these wide open doors and so there's kinda this incredible infusion of natural warm light, I mean, something you would expect in a classic photographer's studio in Paris, you know? With the north facing light. I mean, as a photographer I'm interested in light. It was one of these things where this light in this shed kinda brought out things in each individual photograph. in this photograph this kind of green quality to the light that just kinda matches her mood and her sweater and her eyes. There are a lot of quirks in my photographs that I made in that shed. -Does she know the portrait of her has been selected as the first prize winner in this year's competition? -She doesn't. She was aware that it was in here, I had to get a model release but, I'll let her know. And I'm sure she'll, in a way, be a little mortified. No one really likes pictures of themselves, you know? -But Laura's going to be in a pretty prominent place for the next few months. -I'll have to break that to her. -We're happy for you and Congratulations! It is an excellent work! -Thank you! -We're here with Stanley Rayfield, who received second prize in the in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009. Mr. Rayfield, Congratulations! -Thank you, man! Thank you! I appreciate it and I'm just still stunned and I'm just excited and eager to keep painting, man, in fact, use this as motivation to keep going. I'm just floored. -It's very good. It's a very dramatic work. Is this your dad that we're seeing? -Both in the picture and behind us, yeah, that's that's my father. He just turned 65 in September and I'm just glad he's able to see this, you know, with his medical conditions and everything he's gone through. I'm just glad that he was able to see me at a time like this and accept this award. -You attended Virginia Commonwealth, if memory serves? -Yeah I attended Virginia Commonwealth University. I was in the Communication Arts Department and it was just a great learning experience for me. -Are you native Richmond? - I was born in New Orleans, but I grew up in Richmond, so I feel like I'm from both places, honestly. -So can you tell us a little bit about the work? - Basically, when I found out about this competition, I was thinking along the lines of "What can I do that was personal to me?" And I thought about my dad just things he's been through in just the way he raised me and how, even though he's been sick, and had heart surgery, and walks with a cane, and has been through much, he still is a powerful figure and man in my life. I felt like he's the best person I could capture in a painting. I feel like people need to see how much he means to me. I just want people to see it. - And it shows. It's not only dramatic, but there's a there's a lot of emotion that you've load your work with. Tell us, if you don't mind, how long did it take you to execute this work? - About 80 hours to complete - How old are you? -22 - You're 22 and you've won second prize in a National Portrait Competition. -Yeah, (chuckles), yea I did. I'm shocked - I want to repeat that: you're 22 -I'm 22, yea Well, my birthday with this month on the 13th. - So you created this work when you were 21? - When I was 20. - So what do you do from here? -I'm hoping to get some portrait work, some more, just, something to do, just to keep painting, you know? - He's a kid! -Yeah, I just hope to use this momentum and this opportunity, I feel really blessed by this and I just hope to continue on forward, you know. -We know you'll do well, you've gotten off to a very very great start for a career. I think that everybody here is really impressed with you. And we're awfully proud to have your work here hanging on the walls in the National Portrait Gallery. Congratulations! -Thank you sir, I appreciate it. -We're here with Margaret Bowland, whose work is behind us. Can you tell us some things about this amazing, monumental picture? - Thank you. The young woman who is the center of the painting really kind of created the painting. She was modeling for me for another piece, and she saw a wedding dress in my studio that she wanted to put on. And when she put the dress on I started to then think about what it meant, because she cared so much that she looks beautiful in the piece. And at the same time, around the corner from me, Murakami, the Japanese artist, had a major show at the Brooklyn Museum, and I knew that people from my family had receptions for weddings in museums. So I thought about what it would mean for me to take Kenyetta and put her wedding cast it in the Brooklyn Museum for her reception. And I have been troubled looking at Murakami's work about how misogynist it is. You get all these young women lining up to buy his chaskas, hair ribbons, etc. And yet the image he presents of women is of big, blown up Barbie dolls. It's done in a Disney-esque way, so people feel positive and upbeat about it. But what gets to me as a woman is the fact that women participate generation after generation in telling young women, that who you are isn't lovable enough. You have to dress yourself up, you have to whiten yourself, and put on the dress to purify yourself. You have to make of yourself something more salable than who you are. And this is Kenyetta and her niece Brianna and this is the same little girl looking back on this initiation. It's the same person twice. I like portraits when they are stories, first, and in the second beat you realize that it's about an individual person. And I feel that she triumphs in this paining because no matter what garb we put on her, what paint we put on her, she still shines out of it and is herself. And that to me is triumph. -It has so much resonance and it's so dramatic and carnivalesque. -Murakami does that. That's the Murakami. Murakami does huge installations of balloons like that. And I thought about scale issues in art. Things that are made huge we think of as important work. Murakami does balloons 16 feet across. So I thought "You know what? It's a balloon." So I reduced it to the status of something that is a carnival thing. And made it just something that's about decoration, which I think is what his work is about. And I wanted to say that people still matter a lot, no matter what happens. - Thank you very much. We're very impressed. - My little girls are gonna collapse when they come here and see this. -We're looking forward to talking with you more in the future and and more great work for you. -Thank you!