Maleny artist David Bongiorno has taken home one of the top accolades at this year’s Brisbane Portrait Prize.
Bongiorno has been named the winner in the $7500 Performing Arts and Music Industry Prize with his portrait of the musician Karl S Williams: Built This Way.
The Brisbane Portrait Prize, now in its seventh year, showcases the best in contemporary portraiture.
Brisbane Portrait Prize chief judge Jason Smith says there is a “potent allure” to Bongiorno’s portrait.
“Painting is constantly evolving, and contemporary painters are productively inspired and influenced by the long tradition and discipline in which they practice,” he says. “I was immediately drawn to Bongiorno’s contemporary take on Renaissance portraiture.
“There is an enigmatic quality to Bongiorno’s image that reminded me of the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer’s famous Self-Portrait at Twenty-Eight (Alte Pinakothek, Munich), completed in 1500.
“Like Dürer, Karl S Williams emerges from darkness in a portrait of stillness, dignity and gentle humanity.
“The painting is technically and aesthetically refined and confidently understated.”
Brisbane Portrait Prize chair Anna Reynolds says she is thrilled with the winning works this year.
“These artworks highlight the rich depth of talent and ingenuity of Brisbane artists – and also they give us special insight into the lives of the sitters and the times in which we live,” she says.
“There is something for everyone in the Finalists Exhibition.
“In addition to the well-known faces, there is space for showcasing the richness of humanity and revealing the nobility inherent in the everyday.”
The Finalists Exhibition is on display at the State Library of Queensland, Brisbane, until November 9.
