Whitby artist Anne Moses has been shortlisted for a prestigious national award for her paintings of the human face

The runner up will receive a cash prize of £5,000, with the prize money for first and second prize to support the development of the artists’ future careers in the industry.

“It is very exciting,” says Moses. “I only applied at the last minute and so to be shortlisted from so many talented artists is a real validation on what I do.

“It would be incredible to win – not just for the cash prize although that would be very useful, it would just be a great way of getting my work out there and my name known.

“It is quite hard being based in the North of England, the London artists seem to find it easier to get their work into galleries – they can just go knocking on doors – it is harder from up here.”

Now in its third year, the award sets out to discover and champion exceptional emerging artists who are representative of contemporary Britain, and is organised by three leading organisations – global recruitment consultancy Robert Walters Group, arts charity UK New Artists, and renowned contemporary art platform Saatchi Gallery – to help provide a career springboard for emerging artists.

The award is open to all artists who are in the first ten years of their professional practice.

Within this year’s brief: ‘The Unimagined Future’ judges asked artists to cast their sights forward to submit work which explored predictions of where creative thought and ideas will be in the next decade – anticipating and exploring their own conceptions of what the inconceivable future holds and what need to change.

“I submitted two of my paintings that I thought fitted the brief,” says Moses.

The two paintings shortlisted are from a series of works around the theme ‘closed’, a series of works based on an image of a closed eye and the different and profound emotions this can portray.

Up until 2014 Moses supported her studio practice lecturing in Art and Design, managing and delivering a successful Art & Design Access to HE Course in the North-East which has enabled many disadvantaged adults to return to education and enter universities across the U.K.

She is now a full time, professional artist.

Her main area of interest has always been the human face and form, encompassing universal recognition of emotion and sensuality seen up close.

She now concentrates on her art full time from her large studio in Whitby.

Her work has mutated but the same themes have remained constant – close up and detailed observation of the skin, facial features and texture; montaged images; ambiguity.

"My main area of interest has always been the human face and form, encompassing universal recognition of emotion and sensuality seen up close with highly detailed observation,” she explains.

“Larger than life images dealing with fragments of life seen at close range – the portrayal of the elusive touch or feeling; the detail and minutiae of life; introspection – fleeting ‘moments’ translated into paintings:

“I believe that there is an innate response to the mimetic and the re-presentation of our own image, it is something we are fascinated by and conditioned to respond to.

"Painting takes this into another realm with the artist controlling each element of the re-presentation.”

Working primarily in oil paint, her working methods have changed and progressed over time.

In recent years she has researched and developed the Old Master technique of working with oil glazes, applying layers of transparent oil colour allowing for great play with subtle overlays of colour and fine detail. “It gives the painting a certain luminosity.”

She is no stranger to winning awards having already won the Australian 2022 Boynes Emerging Art Prize and been a finalist in the Aesthetica Art Prize 2022 .

Of being shortlisted for the New Artist of the Year 2002 Moses said: “I am very honoured and grateful to be considered for this prestigious award.

“Coming from the North-East gaining exposure for my work after a career in teaching has been a daunting, solitary journey and successes have been hard won with dogged determination.

“This award would pay great dividends in real terms of being able to further promote and expose my practice but also and, just as important, it would give validation to me as an artist.”

Judges will include Robert Walters – art enthusiast, collector and CEO of Robert Walters Group; Paul Foster – Director of Saatchi Gallery; Michelle Bowen – Director of UK New Artists; Lisa Gee – longstanding Director of the Harley Foundation Charitable Trust; Saad Eddine Said – internationally-acclaimed curator and Artistic Director and CEO of New Art Exchange; Won Hee Nam – CEO of Art Lab N3 and Gallery N&K based in Seoul, South Korea; and Anne von Freyburg – artist and winner of the 2021 UK New Artist of the Year awards.

“Following on from the resounding success of the 2021 awards we are returning in 2022 with an even more astonishing amount of entries – a 40 per cent increase on last year,” says Robert Walters.

To see more of Anne’s work visit www.annemosesart.com