A tender and slightly surreal portrait of an artist’s mother appearing to drink tea has won one of the UK’s most prestigious art prizes.
Miriam Escofet, a London-based artist, was named winner of the 2018 BP portrait award for a painting praised by judges for its “constraint and intimacy” as well as its successful evocation of the idea of the “universal mother”.
An Angel at my Table shows the artist’s mother at her kitchen table surrounded by crockery. However, viewers who look closer will see that all is not as it first seems, one of the judges, Rosie Millard, said.
“The crisp tablecloth and china are rendered so beautifully and then you see that one of the plates and a winged sculpture on the table appear to be moving, which adds a surreal quality to the portrait.
“It is also a very sensitive depiction of an elderly sitter.”
Escofet was born in Barcelona, moved to the UK as a 12-year-old, and began painting soon after graduating in 1990 from the Brighton School of Art, where she studied 3D design.
She was presented with her £35,000 prize by the model and actor Lily Cole at a ceremony at the National Portrait Gallery in London. It comes with a future commission worth £7,000, the subject to be agreed between the gallery and the artist.
The second prize of £12,000 was awarded to the US painter Felicia Forte for a boldly colourful portrait of her boyfriend, Matthew, asleep in bed; and the £10,000 third prize went to the Chinese artist Zhu Tongyao for Simone, a portrait of his neighbours’ child during his time in Florence.
Ania Hobson, 28, from Suffolk, won the BP young artist award and Robert Seidel won the travel award for his proposal to travel the route of the river Danube, making portraits en route.
The winning paintings will be on show from Thursday at the annual portrait prize exhibition in London. The show will then tour to Wolverhampton Art Gallery (13 October-2 December), the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh (15 December-10 March 2019) and Winchester Discovery Centre (March-June 2019).