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PORTRAIT NOW! 2023

Just wanted to take the opportunity to say thankyou so much to #portraitnow2023 for letting me be apart of this beautiful exhibition and honoring me with the young talent award. To the jury and everyone involved with the event at Frederiksborgs Castle , I appreciate all the kind words and time you spent with my work. And of course to everyone who congratulated and celebrated with me ! Continue reading for the jurys's motivation <3


The jury awards the talent prize to Agnes Hjalmarsson


Agnes Hjalmarsson's Business in the front gives us a momentary glimpse into an intimate act of self-fashioning. The model, Andy, is a familiar subject for Hjalmarsson; he features in a number of studies and finished paintings, usually set in the domestic realm, depicting him in various activities. Here, we are presented with a do-it-yourself style aesthetic, made palpable by Andy's intense concentration on his reflection in the bathroom cabinet. The success of the portrait initially rests on the tricky to capture pose which is made even more so by the inclusion of added elements; the mirrored cabinet with double doors breaks through Andy's left arm and necessarily, at the crucial point in the action, the scissor cutting of the hair. The modelling of the hand holding the hair is dreamily fluid, as if announcing 'I've got this'.


Each element of the painting works to create a space that invites us in; rather than playing the role of voyeur, we are there in the bathroom, a witness to this mo- ment. The shower curtain on the left is within our grasp as are the other objects on show - the towel, toothpaste and other toiletries - perhaps because these are not depicted in their entirety and seem to fall out of the picture. Angles and edges play a critical part in drawing us in to focus on the reflection in front of us, concertina- ing the space and thrusting us into the composition. The colour palette echoes and darts across the canvas, creating a unity of person, purpose, and place. Shadows and crevices are highlighted by vivid, iridescent passages of paint while hues of green permeate, creating the equivalent of a sense of mood music. Is there music playing? The volume of the white tiles and bathroom furniture is turned up to form brighter flecks which pepper the surface, highlighting areas of the skin and leading us to the whites of the eyes.


It's a painting which draws us back to look again - the scene seems to shift on each encounter, prompting a variety of possibilities for how it will unfold. One day we might be passing by the open door of the bathroom, on another occasion we might linger and offer up a remark which might or might not be related to the activity hap- pening in front of us. The title of the painting focuses our thoughts on life beyond this seemingly singular activity. As one half of the saying so closely associated with the enduring mullet hairstyle - certainly an editorial fashion choice in 2024 - "business in the front (short) and party in the back", business and party are both on show, soon to be amplified beyond the confines of the bathroom.


-Imogen Gibbon, Debuty Director & Chief Curator of Portraiture, National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland


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