Feature: Gaela Erwin at the British National Portrait Gallery

Louisville artist Gaela Erwin was selected for the highly prestigious British National Portrait Gallery’s BP Portrait Award 2018 Exhibition. Erwin flew to London in June to attend the opening, and the exhibit is on display through September 23, 2018.

This was Erwin’s second consecutive entry into the BP NPG show. “They only accept oils and I had been working in pastel for three and a half years,” she explains. “During that time I was able to dabble in oils a bit to try to get my skills back. I typically will alternate the two mediums exclusively over long periods of times. I switched back to oils and put away my pastels in earnest to qualify for this competition.”

"Portrait of Neema Tambo" by Gaela Erwin, Oil on panel, 48x36in, 2018

The accepted painting, “Portrait of Neema Tambo”, is an image of a woman who has been featured in at least one other of Erwin’s work. “Licia and Neema” which was a part of the artist’s 2016 exhibit at The Speed Museum, Reframing The Past. In contrast to the posed, costumed figures depicted against scenic backdrops that populated that show, “Portrait of Neema Tambo” is plain and straightforward, bereft of ornamental detail, Tambo stares directly at the viewer in an almost confrontational manner that holds us firmly in its thrall.

“It is quite significant that a Louisville artist has made a successful entry into this competition,” states Curator John Begley, formerly of Louisville Visual Art and the Hite Institute of Art. “Getting into this show is no small feat; there is an extensive double jury process, including shipping the actual piece to London if you make it to the second round. Its a great expense without guarantee of final success to the artists, particularly for those outside of Great Britain.”

The BP Portrait Award is generally considered to represent the very best in contemporary portrait painting. With a first prize of £35,000 ($44,500), and a total prize fund of £74,000 ($94,000), the “Award is aimed at encouraging artists to focus upon and develop portraiture in their work. Over the years this has attracted over 40,000 entries from more than 100 countries”.

The BP Portrait Award is in its thirty-ninth year at the National Portrait Gallery and twenty-ninth year of sponsorship by BP. Since its launch it has been seen for free by over 6 million people.

The exhibit is at St. Martin’s Place in London, England, before it travels to Wolverhampton Art Gallery (Oct. 13 — Dec. 2) the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (Dec. 15 — Mar. 10, 2019) in Edinburgh, and the Cartwright Hall, Bradford, England (March-June 2019).

The competition was judged from original paintings by this year’s panel:

Dr. Nicholas Cullinan, Director, National Portrait Gallery (Chair)
Dr. Caroline Bressey, Cultural and Historical Geographer, University College London
Rosie Broadley, Head of Collection Displays (Victorian to Contemporary) and Senior Curator, 20th-Century Collections, National Portrait Gallery
Glenn Brown, Artist
Rosie Millard, Journalist and Broadcaster
Des Violaris, Director, UK Arts & Culture, BP

"Licia and Neema" by Gaela Erwin, Pastel on paper, 68x48in, 2016

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Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2018 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved

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Vignette: Ashley Cathey

Ashley Cathey at the installation of her mural for the Kroger on West Broadway. Photo: Sarah Katherine Davis Photography.

Ashley Cathey is a painter whose creative journey began with performing arts before she was eventually encouraged to develop her visual art talents, which, up until then had been purely for her own personal edification, by exhibiting in Chicago before returning to her native Louisville. She came to prominence when ArtsReach commissioned Cathey to create a series of portraits for their annual Keepers of the Dream celebration at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. In 2016 her work was featured on the cover of LEO Weekly as part of an extensive story on artists of color in Louisville.

“Cherena” by Ashley Cathey, Acrylic, graphite on canvas board, 16x20in framed, $400

Cathey is currently featured in Looking Up: Heroes For Today – An LVA Exhibit at Metro Hall, which is on exhibit through January 11, 2019 at Louisville’s Metro Hall, 511 West Jefferson Street. The work included there consists of portraits of Women Of Color in acrylic and oil, striking in their use of non-traditional colors for skin tones and an almost complete omission of the hair. While the faces are rendered in rich, graphic layers of texture, where the hair would be Cathey has left mostly empty space, with perhaps a few marks to indicate the shape or direction of the women’s hair.

“So often Black women are judged by their hair, and I wanted to take that away and let them be judged for themselves. I didn’t want to focus on their color or their hair,” explains Cathey, “but on the colors of the paint, the expression on the face.”

“I wanted to do portraits of people that aren’t often acknowledged, such as single mothers. They are rarely, if ever represented at all, much less for what they accomplish: raising kids, feeding a family - simple things that many of us take for granted, but for which some of these women are heroic acts.”

Cathey’s portraits are largely these kind of “ordinary” women for whom just living can seem like an act of courage: surviving against economic challenges and fighting an uphill battle just to make it through the day. They include refugees and immigrants for who home is no longer viable.

“Kaila" by Ashley Cathey, Acrylic, graphite on canvas board, 9x12in, NFS

But some of her subjects are women striving to make a difference in the community that surrounds them, people such as Dr. Kaila Story, who is Associate Professor in both the Department of Pan-African Studies and Department of Women's & Gender Studies at the University of Louisville. “Her work on Strange Fruit (a weekly podcast of musings on politics, pop culture, and black gay life, that is broadcast on WFPL) is so important,” says Cathey. “There is not always a voice of color when it comes to dealing with LGBTQ issues.”

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: Studied theatre at Roosevelt University, Chicago, Illinois
Website:

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"Lakeishia” by Ashley Cathey, Acrylic and graphite on up-cycled plywood panel, 36x40in, $750

Illustration for the cover of LEO Weekly by Ashley Cathey, February 2016

"Nina Effect" by Ashley Cathey

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Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2018 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.