Emerging Art Prize nominee John Sillince‘s piece Horses and Riders has been selected for round 2 of the prestigious John Moores Painting Prize Exhibition. The prize was launched in 1957 with the aim of showcasing “the best and most vital work being done today throughout the country”.
Past prize winners include David Hockney (1967), Mary Martin (1969), Lisa Milroy (1989), Peter Doig (1993), Keith Coventry (2010), Rose Wylie (2014), Michael Simpson (2016), Jacqui Hallum (2018) and most recently Kathryn Maple (2020). Sir Peter Blake, winner of the competition’s Junior Prize in 1961, is Patron of the prize.
We have some wonderful paintings by John available, priced in the low hundreds, which you can view here. His paintings seem to launch us into a new dream-like reality, one which is untethered and has no rational explanation. Sillince focuses on creating a world that is full of new possibility and comes from a deep space in his unconscious. The paintings both cause and come from a deep emotional encounter from witnessing the world with an air of mystery and childlike curiosity.
“The John Moores is one of the most prestigious art competitions in the UK and winning the Junior Prize in 1961 is one of the achievements of which I am most proud.” – Sir Peter Blake, artist.
“[The John Moores Painting Prize is] the Oscar of the British painting world” – Sir Norman Rosenthal, curator and former exhibitions secretary at the Royal Academy.
“…catch up with innovative developments in a traditional medium” – Rachel Campbell-Johnston, The Times.
