First Prize 2024

Andrew Torr

Estate

Jackson's Art Prize 2024, Bankside Gallery 2024
Oil
Linen
120 x 120 cm

£6,800

“The painting is of the estate that I was born in. It looks like thousands of other estates across the UK. The white eaves and UPVC fittings on the houses are picked out to make a rhythm across the central band and flatten the distance of the view up to the picture plane. There is, hopefully, interesting tension between the thing represented and the abstract marks and calligraphy of the paint. The square format is also part of the attempt to undermine straight representation by working against the expected landscape convention – I would like there to be sense that the work could be hung sideways or upside-down. It is another way to flatten the various elements in the work to abstract areas of paint.

I am pleased that the subject matter, which is really just a vehicle for the paint marks, nevertheless carries a quiet ‘English’ melancholy. It’s an interesting exercise to try and make something beautiful out of such an unlovely subject.”