Martin Gayford is an Artwork Critic for The Spectator and creator of publications on David Hockney, Antony Gormley and far more. He joins the specialist judges panel for Jackson’s Portray Prize 2023 and listed here, he shares his exhibition highlights of the past year and guidance to these pondering about getting into the competitors this year.
Above image: Internet pages from Adore Lucian: The Letters of Lucian Freud 1939–1954, 2022 by Martin Gayford and David Dawson
Could you tell us a bit about your self and your operate?
Martin: I’m a writer, generally about art. Above the decades I have been an art critic for many publications which includes the Everyday Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph and Spectator. Among the my guides are biographic operates about Van Gogh, Michelangelo and Constable. I’ve created commonly on David Hockney (together with two is effective co-composed with him) and Lucian Freud. Shaping the World: Sculpture from Prehistory to Now (2020) was a collaboration with Antony Gormley. Spring Are unable to Be Cancelled, co-created with David Hockney, appeared in 2021. My most modern reserve is Like Lucian (2022), a collection of Lucian Freud’s early correspondence, co-edited with David Dawson. I have sat for portraits by both equally Hockney and Lucian Freud.
Appreciate Lucian – The Letters of Lucian Freud 1939–1954 2022
David Dawson and Martin Gayford
What have been your exhibition highlights of 2022? Who are the artists or artworks you were most impressed by this previous calendar year?
Martin: Perfectly, for me 2022 was a calendar year in which I expended a large amount of time organising exhibitions of which I was element of the curatorial staff such as Hockney’s Eye at the Fitzwilliam Museum and Downing College or university, Cambridge and Lucian Freud: The Painter and his Loved ones at the Freud Museum, London. In any other case I was tremendously struck by the Freud show at the National Gallery, Loved ones Relations at Gagosian, and a variety of shows at the Venice Biennale.
Spring Can’t Be Cancelled: David Hockney in Normandy, 2022
David Hockney and Martin Gayford
How significant do you consider awards and competitions are for artists today?
Martin: Well, they are surely part of the recreation, but art is not the exact as activity – and it is critical to keep in mind that the ideal particular person does not necessarily gain.
The Pursuit of Art: Travels, Encounters and Revelations, 2019
Martin Gayford
What will you be seeking for in the entries submitted to the opposition this yr?
Martin: Originality, visible sensitivity and pizazz.
Shaping the Entire world: Sculpture from Prehistory to Now, 2020
Antony Gormley and Martin Gayford
Do you have any guidance for artists out there thinking about moving into Jackson’s Portray Prize this year?
Martin: The most vital advice for any artist (or writer) is to keep at it.
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