Graeme Drendel Portrait of Lewis Miller 2022 oil on linen 30 x 26 cm
Congratulations to Graeme Drendel who has been announced the winner of the 2022 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize for his portrait of fellow artist and friend, Lewis Miller.
“It is a quietly powerful portrayal of a familiar face, a character study both reflective and demanding attention on account of its emotional strength and credibility. Drendel’s painterly technique is superb, skilled and subtle with faultless lighting and tonality, and it demands close looking. Perhaps surprisingly, it is one of the smaller entries in the 2022 Moran Prize, which overall offers a very strong and varied group of works that represent the quality of the portraiture genre in Australia today” said Gerard Vaughan, 2022 Judge.
Judge Lucy Culliton said the winner was a unanimous decision:
“I was drawn to Graeme Drendel’s painting of Lewis Miller in the first round of judging. The portrait has everything I was looking for. A freshness of paint. A likeness of the subject. The eyes meet the viewer. The palette of colours used is subtle but mixed in good skin colours. Interestingly when we viewed the paintings in real life, although I knew the painting was small, I was surprised at how small the portrait was. I am very happy with our winner. A beautifully painted painting.”
Our thanks go to the entrants who showed a strong commitment to portraiture and the advancement of the arts in Australia. Thank you also to the judges for their expertise, guidance and dedication to the task.
Exhibition
Due to renovations at historic Juniper Hall the 2022 exhibition of finalists will be online on the Moran Arts Foundation website.
View exhibition here.