A LEEMING artist is among 40 finalists for the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture.
Brad Durrant’s graphite-on-paper entry features fiancé Dr Heidi Nistelberger, who is working in Norway as a post-doctoral genetics researcher working on Viking archaeogenetics.
Her PhD was undertaken at UWA and Mr Durrant said he liked to capture the little moments that reflect a person’s personality.
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READ NOW“These are the moments that are often missed, but can provide the most intimate insight into a person and their intentions. What are you thinking? What are you planning?” Mr Durrant said.
He features Dr Nistelberger dripping wet, with white space to her left.
“I like to use negative space, and I sometimes use it in a way that may appear to run contrary to the actual portrait, but to me it works and makes sense,” he said.
“I liked the intimacy of the piece, and the tinge of mischief in her eyes.”
Mr Durrant is a full-time environmental consultant and has been doing portraits for the past seven years.
“This is my third time as a finalist in the Black Swan portrait prize from five attempts,” he said.
“I also manage the WA Portrait Artists group, a group of Western Australian artists who came together as a group after meeting at the 2011 Black Swan Portrait Prize.”
Winners will be announced in October, and exhibitions will be held at the Art Gallery of WA, with youth exhibits at Tower 1 Brookfield Place, and touring hospital exhibitions to visit St John of God Murdoch Hospital.