Justin Mortimer, a British Artist, born in 1970, creates semi-abstract drawings, paintings and photo-collages. He has won many awards for his work including Young Artist of the year in 1996 and First Prize in the BP Portrait Award in 1991.
The one piece which I am a massive fan of is ‘HM the Queen’ (1997. Oil on Canvas. 135cm x 135cm) The Royal Society for the Arts commissioned this piece to mark the 50th anniversary of its link with the Queen.
I really admire Mortimer for staying true to his semi-abstract style and producing a piece which was obviously going to be controversial and attract a certain amount of criticism.
He describes the piece as “fresh and funky” and says:
"I wanted to get away from the royal aspect and paint a picture of a person rather than the Queen.
It means people can focus more on the abstract quality of the painting and get away from the 'normal' paintings of royalty, where everything is intact and, dare I say it, sycophantic."
I totally agree with Mortimer's way of thinking. There is no point in repeating what’s already been done before.
1 comment:
I agree with the fact that all the images, portraits and paintings you see of the Queen tend to be very traditional and moreover conservative. It's about time that someone stepped across the line and did something a bit different, as i am sure not everyone's depiction of "Her Royal Highness" is one paintined in the finest oils on canvas.
By this i don't mean people are dying to scribble out her eyes and deface her to an extreme degree but just represent her and her vaules in a different fashion. As Mortimer suggests this piece is 'fresh and funky' and i have to agree, well done to you sir!
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