TED MAY ART Finalist 2006 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize  Finalists Exhibition - Mitchell Wing, State Library of New South Wales 11 March - 30 April then touring Nationally throughout 2006                    Oil on Canvas       Portrait of Ken Fargher    198x153cm                                                                Return to:  Awards  /  2006 Exhibitions   /  Portraits                                                                                          About the Exhibition Artists from across the country are encouraged to submit a recent portrait painted from life of an Australian who need not be well known. An exceptionally high standard of entries forced judges to choose extra finalists for the second time in the prize's history.  A total of 36 finalists - 6 above the normal limit - were chosen from 425 Australia - wide entries, by 2 Australian judges, Mr Andrew Sayers, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, and Ms Jenny Sages, a prominent Australian artist.  Andrew Sayers stated that limiting the number of finalists would have reduced the diversity and vitality of the exhibition. "The finalists are stylistically diverse, but the vivid presence of a person is what unifies all good portraiture and that's what Jenny and I were looking for." "Overall there was a simple sincerity in many of the portraits - a quiet rather than a flamboyant mood predominated.  What came through strongly for me, particularly in the finalist selection, was the artists' honest search for painterly means to express the essence of the character rather than a parading of virtuosity for its own sake," Mr Sayers said.  Excerpts from Press Release: atmitchell.com. Doug Moran National Portrait Prize 2006