Unveiling The Final Commission - Portrait Artist of the Year - Art Documentary

[Music] foreign exciting time here at the Birmingham Museum and art gallery we're in a few moments International ballet star and choreographer Carlos Acosta will be unveiling a brand new portrait it's the prize Commission of portrait artists of the Year Curtis holder and I can't wait to see it the past 10 weeks we've seen 72 artists selected from over a thousand applicants paint a dazzling array of celebrity sitters hey guys my friends are gonna be so jealous as they compete for this prestigious ten thousand pound commission amateur artist Curtis holder first impressed with his highly original style and striking depiction of drag queen the Vivian it's scratchy and it's rough and it's energetic but peaceful and Serene and calm how does he do that it's like a little piece of magic in the semi-final his portrait of Booker prize-winning author Bernadine everisto won him a place in the final where he once again wowed the judges with his bold choices portraying actor author and campaigner Eddie Izard the intensity of the eyes they're loaded his work is so rich and his commissioned portrait of partner Steve securing his place as portrait artist of the year Well Done how did that happen Curtis what a genius man I want Curtis to grow wings and fly into the art world because I think his work will be lauded and he will be celebrated Curtis's prize sitter has been hailed as one of the greatest dancers of all time he's caused a sensation on stages across the world throughout his career breaking box office records along the way we follow Curtis as he sketches stop right there that's perfect photographs and experiments wish me luck before at last revealing his completed commission I can't wait any longer let's do it thank you [Music] Curtis lives in South London with his partner Steve and their whippet Freddie to repeat things that's sit like that there yeah yeah he moved to London from Leicester 32 years ago to study graphic design before becoming a primary school teacher he recently cut down teaching to one day a week to spend more time on his art I needed to do this but as you scale back the work you also scale back the cash Steve has been incredibly supportive but it's a sacrifice that we've had to make as a partnership hey I'm drawing oh very nice thank you very much settle good boy he's just turned 50 so inside himself he was wondering am I going to achieve this am I going to be able to do what I want to do and share my talent now hopefully this will be the beginning of him being able to do that the winner of portrait artist of the year is [Music] Curtis holder when my name was called out I kind of felt that someone had gut punched me and I'd actually left my body and everything just stopped I wanted to speak but nothing was coming out throughout the competition Curtis worked in pencil crayon and he's planning to stick with this for his prize Commission when you say fine art I think people gravitate towards oil painting and sometimes drawing is is kind of seen as the precursor it's like the sketches you do before you do the Masterpiece and I kind of do sometimes feel that drawing is the underdog for me drawings are usually full of so much life and emotion that is Lost in Translation when paint and canvas touch how do you put yourself in that position in the air I think Carlos Acosta is the perfect sitter in a way for Curtis he draws so freely and so instinctively to have a dancer as the subject those two things I hope are going to come together in unison and produce something really really wonderful oh okay that's incredible when I found out that Carlos was my sitter I was terrified and a little bit panicked because it's a big deal he's a big deal I'm a bit Star Struck but I've got to get over that renowned for his grace athleticism and gravity-defying leaps Carlos has performed with everyone from the bolsoi ballet to the Houston Ballet and England's Royal Ballet where he was principal guest dancer for 13 years until I meet him I'm not gonna know how I'm gonna draw him it needs to be sincere and real and not a Pastiche of what people expect because this is about me and him [Music] Curtis will have several sittings with Carlos but before deciding how to use them he's come to the Birmingham Museum and art gallery to see where his portrait will hang and meet director of collections Toby Whatley hello hello you must be Curtis hi Toby welcome to Birmingham Museum and art gallery thank you congratulations you won the competition thank you so much yeah would you like me to show you where we'll be hanging your painting yes and I'm really excited as well if you'd like to follow me okay let's go built in 1885 the gallery houses a collection spanning eight centuries including works from Renaissance Masters to pre-raphaelites to Major modern artists this Gallery is where we've got our modern British artists and if I bring you over here and you're in very good company here we have work by Howard Hodgkin it's called gardening it's actually a portrait of his wife and we also have other portraits in this room it says Portrait by Gwen John another very Greenberg over in the corner and I think a portrait of Carlos Acosta is going to look pretty good in this room I hope so yeah are there any limitations or anything that you feel that I've got to stick within for this particular portrait no we have very little parameters whatsoever so as long as it fits on that wall actually beyond that you've got free reign wow okay it's a blessing and a curse mostly a blessing artists often visited family in Birmingham as a child but this is his first time in the gallery this Museum wasn't a place that I would come to as a child because it just wasn't in our world it houses art that I have poured over in books for decades and to see them touch distance is something that I can't really describe [Music] this is the painting that I fell in love with when I was just starting on my journey it was an artist what really intrigues me about this painting is it's storytelling and that is huge they were immigrants from this country going to the new world and the most powerful thing is the way the composition is used it's in a circle for a start but the way your eye is drawn from the background to the people behind and then ending up on those eyes the expression of those people which is the only thing in here that's still and calm with a better idea of the gallery's collection and the possibilities in terms of scale Curtis is ready to meet his sitter Curtis likes to get to know his subjects and find out what makes them tick so he's arranged to hold their first sitting at the Birmingham Royal Ballet where Carlos is the newly appointed director there is how you see yourself in the mirror when you're dancing when you have an image of yourself but then there is the image that somebody is gonna portrayed of you is how that person sees you so you know I'm looking forward to compare that experience I would hope that he's open to whatever I want to do worst case scenario is he brings a photograph of himself that he wants me to recreate hello hello hi lovely seeing you at last wonderful come on in and then I'll tell you what I want you to do for me now I'll say I am a little bit Starstruck really but I do love drawing dances oh wow so I'm going to ask you to just freestyle you know right and I'm going to try and capture something yeah definitely yeah you know I'll I'll be happy to to tell me I mean about here or how I'm gonna follow you okay this is about me moving around I may sit down but I'll come close I've got to get into your Rhythm so give me a starting pose yeah this is amazing oh when I'm drawing movement it's so rapid I sometimes get some amazing results because I'm not overthinking freeze and I am being extremely instinctive of it I kind of disengage my brain from my hand and I let everything just come through my eyes and just straight onto the page I have to stop thinking about it because if I think about it I'll lose my flow go freeze this is amazing wow just the control is ridiculous [Music] [Laughter] sometimes from those rapid drawings there can be some really beautiful work produced and a real truth of Mark phrase [Music] yep that's perfect right that I feel I feel kind of bad I'm making you work that way right I'm going to bring these over to you let's see these are just kind of me trying to get to know you and your movements so that one is this one yeah yeah unbelievable I could actually kind of feel where you were going but already the whole Essence is there and you did it in seconds having warmed up with sketches of Carlos in motion Curtis will be using the afternoon to work on a longer pose and try to get to know his sitter so far it's been great he started to get a sense of who I am how we work with him and I will give the most chances that I could give so that he could have an idea of what it is that I am about [Music] he's such a nice guy he's got a very feral to movement and I think that might be quite important to capture I have been given an opportunity of a lifetime and I am going to make it work [Music] winner of portrait artist of the year Curtis holder is in his first sitting with ballet star and choreographer Carlos Acosta at the Birmingham Royal Ballet [Music] after sketching Carlos in motion come on in sit down Curtis now wants to make a more static study of his face and find out more about his sitter I've never been to Cuba what was it like what was it like when you grow up there well Q was music everywhere very humble you know Caribbean everybody shared less you know walking down the street yeah because it's 35 degrees the sea everywhere beautiful it's poor very poor country but thanks to the scheme of free education a family like mine could have access to Bali that's amazing yeah how old are you when you did your nine I hated it it was terrible you hate it yeah I hated ballet I I wanted to break dance on the streets you know it was in the 80s 80s break dancing BMX bikes skateboarding Michael Jackson but then there is also our q1 dances Rumba and salsa if you compare those three ballet was just the the most boring that's a big contrast so when did you start to like it it was when I was 13. yeah I saw the national Battle of cure for the first time and they were jumping you know I saw oh wow look at that look what it's impossible they can jump like this and doing all this graceful movement but also you know their Applause because I was very shy and every time I dance at the end of it there was an Applause and it was a way of saying wow they noticed me I find my purpose kind of like and that could be very addictive as well yeah I suppose that I suppose like it now you you know you won and it's your thing yeah it's it's a great place to be foreign has got a strong face when I'm drawing the form is described by one single line an edge it's it's described by The Contours of the face so when I'm drawing something I will keep applying layers and eventually the figure will appear but it will look as though it's coming out of a mist [Music] foreign [Music] is very interesting because when I look at you from from outside it's almost like a performance it's not a dance the way you look and you raise your eyebrow and all that it's almost like a like a dancer it's like a very private performance yeah now we're talking I'm thinking yeah it is the added dimension for you is you're performing in a show and how do you deal with the fact that as well as it being a physical thing it's an emotional thing you've just had an argument with someone yeah how is that how does that work you go to that place it's a switch you know I'm telling I remember when I lost my mother and I had to go there and perform I was crying on the show I'm always performing this amazing which is one of the greatest ballet and uh you know at the end she basically die in my arms and all that so and I was sort of channeling that grief through that's in town in the valley that I think is is difficult the way I deal with things is to draw and once I've finished the drawing then those voices just fade away so it's like a shelter for you it's like a refuge where you go in and that you know it's exactly the same for for me dance is the place where I escape to when I had the sorrow and pain I danced we've all we spoke the more we realized that the way we work is quite similar artistically even though the genres are completely different which was quite you know magical [Music] yeah well I'm finishing up now um it's kind of like a study it's not super accurate do you want to have a little look yeah yeah I'll turn it around okay wow some value it's me strong and love it the shape of the head sing cry you know like it's definitely a start and do you know what my nerves have now gone but I know that you're actually a human being to the next session amazing when Curtis is not teaching children at school he enjoys mentoring his nephew Jethro is also an artist and feels he can learn a lot from his uncle's work there's some of you in here I look Grandma yeah yes I would say that in this one that mush you do look like my mother this which is one of my one of the favorite ones because it's less is more isn't it I focusing on the bits that I love that's the link you focus on the important bits yeah he captures Emulsion through tone it's just like their life that moment is just captured beautifully is Steve he's that is probably one of my favorite pieces of what he's ever done you can see the love in it even when he draws Freddie you could see his love within the image I think I'm too far because I'm making it like perfect too perfect but you know what is perfection though yeah one thing he's passed on to me is to be true to myself because she's not going to be a true eyes to yourself then you're not really being a lighter style yeah [Music] Curtis is determined to develop his Unique Style but he still sees the value in learning from others so he goes to life classes at the dulwich art group courtesy go for the red pencil today but I have got a handful of blue pencils what I think makes Curtis special is that his drawing is intuitive it's not a conscious thing it's a curious mysterious visceral process this drawing he kind of does a lot for you composition wise he makes really lovely shapes there is no separation there's no pulling back it's a complete engagement with looking so the line never leaves the surface the pencil never leaves the surface you can trace his looking through all of those lines if that's done with honesty then what emerges is truth and it's the person themselves and that that's a that's a great thing that is a real skill he has fantastic potential which is as yet unfulfilled and he is going to go places portrait artist of the year Curtis holder is in Birmingham to create his ten thousand pound Commission of iconic ballet dancer Carlos Acosta for the Birmingham Museum and art gallery I'm elected let's see with movement being so key to his sitter's life and character how to capture that in his drawing is something Curtis is Keen to explore you have to get into the same Rhythm as the dancers and you have to kind of move with them to get the essence of what you're seeing [Music] you've got a great profile Tyrese I want to get the personality of the people who are you know doing their thing are done now do you want to take a photo wow is it all right that's quick no that's quick but I have to be quick you're quick I just like how it looks authentic thank you for letting me draw you thank you no worry thank you inspired by Carlos's own roots in break dancing Curtis has chosen an appropriate place for their second sitting he's invited him to meet in an area of Birmingham famed for its striking street art [Music] look at this hello again Carlos what do you think this place this is unbelievable I need like it this is colorful graffiti thing going it's amazing right so today I'm going to get you to sit you know maybe 10 minutes at a time right that you just got into that pose there which is great so I know you told me a little bit about growing up in Cuba what kind of boy were you like tell me oh I was the kind of boy that like always being on the street very free Wild didn't like school at all we had a kind of like break dancing club you know in our neighborhood and yeah we will go to compete with different neighborhoods it wasn't like a battle again okay dancing battle Yeah because we were such a bad losers nobody wanted to lose it's always a fight we broke out at the end of the day and then the police we had to come and intervene and all right okay you can relax out of this pose now if you want you can go yeah you can go into another pose if you want to just as long as yeah that's fine yeah foreign [Music] you draw someone it's about human connection when I'm drawing someone I am trying to get to the bottom of what that connection is that's why I do a lot of drawings beforehand because that's them talking and me secretly searching so what I was going to ask was the Carlos that was doing the competitions then suddenly went to ballet school that he did not like tell me about that my father wanted to a better future obviously yeah these gatherings with the break dances and getting into this kind of Street Scene was gonna lead into a world of petty crime he could see where it was going yeah and so he spoke to a neighbor and she recommended this ballet school because then everything was for free they had hot meals for free and so we saw that it would have been a way to pull me away from that crowd but I did get my bad kid you know yeah I can imagine I became sort of like yeah I want to be cool thank you I don't want to be wearing a leotard thanks very much no room for men in tides I didn't want to be that at all so when did it all start to kind of Click into place when the head of the school in the country picked two students to take them to Italy yeah I just turned 16. 16 just turned 16. I didn't speak the language at all Italy and coming to Italy from Cuba I was like going to Mars okay that's so far apart yeah yeah yeah the company was quite small they were like perhaps 14 dances forgive me but were there any other black people in in that production just asking because I'm thinking 89 that's uh nobody yeah I remember going to Italy and people were looking at me like there were no a lot of black people around no it's true because I remember traveling around Europe after I'd finished University I didn't see any black people you know I remember going into a jewelry store and people don't let him in yeah I've got one of those stories too right okay I think I'm done now these sketches are just sketches just me getting used to your face because you're not going to be sat for me for nine hours ah wow yeah that's great and um brilliant do you think my eyes are sad like I have sad eyes or something because I've been told that before I wouldn't say they were sad I would say that you look as though you're always thinking of something else oh really but that's a good thing [Music] he asked me if he had sad eyes the shape of his eyes are very beautiful and unusual for me not sad but thoughtful if you kind of move in the way that you were doing before amazing it was really interesting not a lot of dancing today but it's always great working with him and you know it's a lot of exchange of thoughts about the process about both our lives no it's just great I really enjoy the whole process I love him against these backgrounds look at that everyone's a winner that's the last one you were absolutely fantastic thank you so much can't wait till tomorrow see you tomorrow that backdrop was amazing and the portrait is starting to crystallize I'm really really relieved because you can't make that happen it just like that has to where it doesn't and it's starting to it's starting I'm getting excited because it's starting to happen in my head it's good it's good Curtis has one sitting left different locations can bring out different aspects of his subject's character so Curtis wants to capture Carlos in the natural environment of birmingham's Botanical Gardens to explore more ideas for the background I'm a little bit apprehensive because I do want to try and experiment a bit today which is a bit of a risk and if it goes wrong then it goes wrong but I'd rather do that than walk away from this experience saying gosh I wish I'd have tried that I wish I'd have done that round three in terms of today I had no clue what he would want me to do so we'll see take a seat my friend all right hey Cassie so what's the plan right today the plan is slightly different I'm going to take some risks so the pose is going to be a bit longer but weirdly I'm gonna concentrate on the background and hopefully your ghost will appear in this picture usually with the pieces that I do there's a lot of negative space and I'm not afraid to leave blank space but I think this Commission I need to do more storytelling because he has so much story I think I need some context for him and I've got to figure out how to do that [Music] I'm finding that this process is quite nerve-wracking but you're someone who has taken a lot of artistic risks and done things that is not always been popular am I right in thinking that that's right well there's so many ways that you could bring a role to life every time I go back to those ballets I always try to go in a different way instead of just delivering what you think is gonna go down well with the audience to take it to a place that I've never been why do you do that because most people would just go do you know what when I did that the audience clapped I'm going to do that again you know this because you are you are an artist an artistic risk they do because you can't stay still you have to give evolving and in order for you to evolve you had to go towards the unknown it's frightening let me have a look let me choose some more colors but I'm curious to know what are you going to scare yourself with next well I think um it might be a ballet to do with Bremen and itself you know yes perhaps Led Zeppelin which again yes so how can we push the boundaries in terms of bringing stories that are not the typical ballet story because it's always a risk yeah and he's like oh wow [Music] oh sh that's a bit risky that is a risk could you do me a favor I'm going to ask you to do three movements one and then two and then three slowly unfurling going that way so there's that way yeah so they're parallel to me so that yes yes yes yes yes even that just give me the end result so then I can yeah [Applause] I want to get the feeling of capturing that tiny second in time and when you see movement you're not seeing one frame of that movement you're seeing multiple frames of that movement position two please Carlos even though they are static line drawings there will be a sense of transition and movement and Flow position three please Carla Carla yes yes yes yes yes [Music] done done right so now I'm going to apply water to this wow all right the risk is I apply water and it completely ruins everything I've done the joy is that maybe it makes something new and make something better but I don't know let's see right I think I've done what I needed to do today I'm going to say shave my wrist take okay let me see oh wow all right wow it's amazing how at this point you see a macro you know like the whole composition instead of going in the details it's amazing you know but thank you for allowing me to risk take you know you're welcome wonderful as well as exploring ideas for the background Curtis needs to decide how to pose Carlos in the final portrait but I'm gonna be taking photographs of you and you're going to be doing it lying down you're lying down yeah right okay and Beyond portraying Carlos's profession as a dancer he needs to convey something of his character I want to show just how fluid and free he is and how unrestrained he is I'm doing all this and you're so good is anybody else be like what do you want now in terms of the end piece that really is a hassle to me I have done a few positions I have done dancing in different environments so what is it going to be at the end what what version of what I gave him he is going to go for beautiful oh yes having Carlos as a sitter is hugely encouraging because the man is fearless and I'm gonna take lessons on [Music] that with a wealth of inspiration to draw on from his time with Carlos Curtis returns to London to start work on his final Commission [Music] the things that are going to inform my final portrait are the really rapid drawings I did of Carlos because they have an instinctive energy of him and I kept photos that reminded me of those moments when he would go from one static pose into another static pose but in between those there were faces that I thought were amazing [Music] thank you I will always start with a feeling then everything else forms around that feeling I'm going for is a feeling of just Awakening that moment or you don't know whether things are real or not real whether you're dreaming it's that State of Mind where nothing is impossible and everything's a possible I think that is where Carlos kind of is with the process of these new appointments this is the biggest drawing I've ever done in my life I think it needs to be that big because I do want Carlos to have this sense of power [Music] I want to keep an essence of Storytelling fairy tale through Sleeping Beauty when you meet Carlos he's not a static person even when he's describing things to you his arms are constantly moving I'm trying to incorporate something static with elements of movement in them I've never done anything like this before so I have absolutely no idea whether it'll work [Music] it's the day of the unveiling at the Birmingham Museum and art gallery Our Winning artist Curtis holder has traveled up with his partner Steve discover what sort of reception his first major commission will receive I am feeling apprehensive I've got to be honest I'm quite worried as to the response that I'm going to get from this piece of work because every piece that I produce during this competition has been a surprise to me I've pushed myself in ways that I wouldn't have and that has meant that the final piece was also a surprise to me so I'm scared but I'm willing to take it on the chin during the comp etitors we could always see there was a quality in his work each time we approached the model and knew there was a new way of thinking and it was fresh and it was now in the case of producing a commission for this great institution I have no doubt he'll produce something dangerous although Carlos has seen some of Curtis's preliminary sketches this will be the first time he's seen the final piece I'm very curious very curious and I don't have any preconception at all you know there's many layers that conform a human being and so I just want to see which layer he managed to incorporate in into the painting hey hey long time no see I'm family yeah I'm super excited to see what he's done with Carlos because in a way they both approach their practice with a similar sort of attitude they're steeped in Tradition you know we've got Curtis with old Master drawing effectively and and Carlos with Classical Ballet but they both break the rules and that makes it really exciting so Carlos is a portrait of you behind here nervously yes a bit yes yes Rapport is obviously important in creating a portrait did you get on with each other it's been great their process has been wonderful and I think it's been very free-flowing yeah I think so it's been brilliant you were an amazing sitter Carlos you've got any idea what's behind here no not really I don't you know it's going to be a colorful paint I mean I had no clue okay well let's have a look at Carlos Acosta in a portrait by our very talented portrait artist of the year Curtis holder I can't wait any longer let's do it wow this is wow thank you it was a two-man job wow this is just wonderful it really is you know it's me there's no question about that but look at that color as well that this is again where I come from very Caribbean colorful the flowers all the elements that we spoke about I mean it's the sense of moon it's really beautiful I don't think I've seen anything quite like it before it's very evocative and it's almost like like a ballet in a way like telling a story in the valley so that everything is not straightforward that the suggestions about stories to be discovered there's hopefully some fairy tale in there I wanted you to be the Sleeping Beauty not the prince well Toby that is going to hang in your uh Museum an art gallery I think our businesses are going to absolutely love it it's one of those drawings isn't it where it not only captures the energy of the sitter but you can almost see the artists that work putting their own energy and into it I think it's gonna be really popular it was probably one of the most difficult things I've ever had to produce but it was worthwhile even if I just got to meet you it was great it was fantastic I'm very humble you know I really thank you it's just fantastic and unexpected I mean I really thought it wouldn't get sort of the athletic dance and what we're getting is something much softer and Carlos is in a dream and that dream comes across and I don't know how Curtis has done it I love the ghostly presence of lines as if Carlos has sort of danced across the canvas and then found himself in that top left-hand corner I do think that Curtis has really developed a language which is his and his alone and I think he's taking it to the next level he's just done something so special I'm so impressed wow I didn't know what to expect I really love the fact this portrait isn't traditional it's not someone just stood there looking at you holding your gaze it's someone that's drawing you in the more you look the more you find things working with Carlos in the studio because we both worked with him at Birmingham Royal Ballet it's great to see that motion on paper you can see the passion that he had in the studio with us and it's the hands through me the power in his hands they were captured is just amazing it's unbelievable I'm so happy you know I feel honored the way that he summarized what I'm about all the emotion all the movement the color what an artist that's all I can say I want to take it home to be honest I mean it's just wonderful it's Timeless I think you know I feel a huge sense of relief I'm just glad that the judges feel as though I haven't let them down and most of all Carlos Carlos really did seem to genuinely like the portrait and that's really important to me I'm pleased [Music] it's been a really wonderful experience and just watching him sort of grow in confidence and it means the world to Curtis you know whether he had won or not entering the competition in the first place is a big deal so for it to end like this is a fairy tale this process it's open up a door that is unique and I would never have been able to open on my own hopefully this is going to be a new chapter in my life one that I've always wanted but still I'm surprised I've got here and I'm very excited to see where it leaves me [Music] [Music] thank you [Music]

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Length: 45min 29sec (2729 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 07 2024