Polly Simons

'Putting family in the frame pays off'
Village Voice, June 2008, page 33.

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Persistence has payed off for Drummoyne artist Alan Jones, who was this month selected as a finalist in Australia's richest national art prize for young painters.

This was the fifth year Alan had entered, but the first time he had been nominated as one of the 25 finalists in the $50,000 Metro 5 Art Award.

 "It's been a long journey," Alan said.

 “After so many years of working in the studio and chipping away at exhibitions, it’s nice to finally be recognised and involved,” he said. 

Alan portrait of his brother, Painting 69 (Darren), was chosen from more than 300 entries from across Australia.

The work was inspired from Alan’s return to Sydney in late 2005, after years spent in Melbourne and travelling overseas.

“Moving back to the place you grew up, it becomes a time where you want to make connections with family roots again,” he said.

A series of family portraits seemed like the obvious next step.

Alan said knowing the person he was painting made it easier to convey aspects of their personality.

“If you are doing a portrait of someone you have just met, yes, you can just look at their face and paint that, but you want to get a bit of their personality across,” he said.

Alan said his brother could be an “intense person” on occasion, and he wanted to convey this boldness and intensity in the portrait.

“When [my brother] saw a copy, he phoned me and said: ‘What have you done to me? You’ve made me look like a gremlin!’,” he said.

“He did come round to it, and he now loves the painting and is very supportive."

Alan Jones, 31, a former recipient of the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship and graduate of the National Art School, is a finalist of the Metro 5 Art Award, which will be announced on June 24.

Alan will also be exhibiting in ‘Sordid Tales – A History of Chippendale’, at the NG Art Gallery, Upper Level, 3 Little Queen Street Chippendale, from July 29.