Griffin Gallery hosted finalists of Saatchi’s Painted Faces Showdown competition, London.

Griffin Gallery hosted finalists of Saatchi’s Painted Faces Showdown competition, London.

David Franchi – Sunday, 29th December 2013

Winner Miguel Laino, Didier; Runner-up Chris Stevens, Loughros Point revisited, 2013 © Saatchi Gallery.

The Painted Faces Showdown competition was an interesting collaboration, between the Saatchi Gallery and Saatchi Online, in association with Winsor & Newton, and the Griffin Gallery, London.

The winner of the Painted Faces Showdown has been Miguel Laino and the runner-up Chris Stevens. Their works were exhibited alongside the works of 8 other finalists at the Griffin Gallery in London.

Saatchi Gallery and Saatchi Online hosted Painted Faces Showdown, which is a competition for artists all over the world to showcase their work and be given the chance for it to be judged by internationally acclaimed artists and curators. It is also a great opportunity for collectors to discover emerging artists from around the world.

“The winners have merited completely their award. They are the best of this competition. This is a competition for artists all over the world” Nigel Hurst, CEO Saatchi Gallery, said. 

For the Painted Faces Showdown, Saatchi Gallery and Saatchi Online partnered with Winsor & Newton. The latter has been producing the finest art materials since the company was founded in 1832. The winner and runner-up of Painted Faces Showdown will receive art materials to the value of £1000 and £500 GBP respectively.

The 10 finalists were: Miguel Laino (UK), Chris Stevens (UK), Casper Verborg (Netherlands), Stephane Villafane (France), Kristina Alisauskaite (Lithuania), Sergey Dyomin (Latvia), Fiona Maclean (Australia), Minas Halaj (US), Maurice Sapiro (US), Daniel Gonzalez Coves (Germany).

The selection procedure was the following: a longlist of 300 artists was chosen by the Saatchi Online community of artists and by curators from Saatchi Online. The 30 semi-finalists were selected by Rebecca Wilson, Chief Curator, Saatchi Online and Director, Saatchi Gallery, and Rebecca Pelly-Fry, Director, Griffin Gallery. The 10 finalists, including the winner and runner-up, were chosen by the artist Chantal Joffe.

Focusing on contemporary portraiture, the Showdown exhibition for the first time took place at Winsor & Newton’s gallery, the Griffin Gallery, in London.

It was interesting to host this exhibition at the Griffin Gallery, in West London, a hidden venue, located far from the main art routes of London. Griffin Gallery is a new space supporting advanced talent, hosting discussions and celebrating the best in contemporary art in London and around the world through a new award, the Griffin Art Prize. The Griffin Gallery is situated underneath the headquarters of brands such as Winsor & Newton, Liquitex and Conté à Paris and it is home to an extensive series of events for artists and arts professionals.

Founded in 1985, the Saatchi Gallery over the last four years has hosted ten out of the top 15 most visited exhibitions in London, according to The Art Newspaper, and is also ranked amongst the world’s top three most liked museums on Facebook and Twitter by Museum Analytics.

The Saatchi Online is an online art gallery which gives artists all over the world the chance to show and sell their work so that they can support themselves through the work they are making. It enables people to discover artists from over 100 countries in an accessible, curated environment and to acquire works directly from artists’ studios.

Founded in 1832, Winsor & Newton built its business on the mix of art and science. They introduced new colours and new opportunities for artists, establishing a proud tradition marked by constant improvement and continuous response to ever-changing needs.

The Saatchi‘s Painted Faces Showdown competition was at the Griffin Gallery, Latimer Road, London, from 5th until 20th December 2013.