LOCAL portrait artists are able to showcase their work these next months as a regular artwork exhibition returns to the big screen.

And this time a portrait of David Hockney himself is featured in the Not Just Hockney presentation which showcases the work of local artists on the City Park screen.

Last time due to the coronavirus lockdown the digital exhibition switched to the City of Film website, but from July, the latest presentation is returning to the big screen.

Throughout July and August the selected theme is portrait artists, with six local artists chosen to feature. Alongside a portrait of Hockney himself, there is also a giant sand sculpture of Charles Darwin that stood outside City Hall back in 2009, and has been described by sand sculptor Jamie Wardley at the time as his “proudest moment”.

Colin Neville, who set up the Not Just Hockney project, said: “Creating a portrait of another person, particularly a living one, is one of the most special, but also one of the most difficult art forms around. It is not just the sitter’s judgement of the finished artwork that is involved, but the judgement of others that know or knew them.

“The artist will want to capture the physical image of the sitter before them, but will also want to retain their own artistic style and impressions of the subject, and this can sometimes be a problem. The artist, Graham Sutherland, for example, came a cropper with his portrait of Winston Churchill - who hated it so much that it was never displayed in public, and was destroyed after his death by Lady Churchill.

“However, the six local artists featured on the Big Screen haven’t had to face this problem! Their work presents an impressive range of styles and art media, including portrait painting, as well as portraiture using nails, sand, ice, and even the contours of the land to create their artwork.

“Their subjects include self-portraits, portraits of friends and family, as well as commissioned portraits of people of fame and influence, past and present.

“Some of the featured artists have had their work exhibited nationally and internationally, whilst others are less well-known. But all have strived to catch the spirit or essence of the chosen or commissioned sitter or subject.”

The six featured artists this time are:

Buddy Brook is a wood sculptor, painter and illustrator, who works from his studio and home at Baildon.

He also paints in watercolour, pastels and oils in a wide subject range, but particularly portraits and domestic or nature scenes.

He is also a cartoon and greeting card illustrator. His work has been exhibited at Cartwright Hall, Bradford, at the 2017 Open Exhibition.

Marcus Levine uses nails to create his artworks. His portraits and sculptures can sometimes take months to complete and can use up to 200,000 nails, depending on the size and complexity of the work.

His artworks are now in many private collections and have been exhibited across the UK, including locally at Cartwright Hall, Little Germany, the University of Bradford, and Harewood House, Leeds. He lives in Bingley.

Richard Mort is a painter who has lived in Bradford since 1977. He worked in textile design for many years until he became a freelance artist in 2006.

His subjects include abstract works, often involving multiple canvases, as well as portraiture. Richard’s work has been shown in group and solo shows across the district, including at local libraries, the Saltaire Arts Trail, and the South Square Art Centre, Thornton.

Geraldine Thompson has a studio at Addingham. Her paintings, which include commissioned portraits and landscapes, have been exhibited in London and widely across Yorkshire, including at Dean Clough, the University of Leeds, Yorkshire Watercolour Exhibition, and the Ilkley Art Trail. Her artworks can be found in private collections in Britain, France, Spain, Italy and the USA.

The Bradford-born sculptor, Jamie Wardley, is the founder of ‘Sand in Your Eye’. Jamie and his team have built an international reputation for their sand portraits, land art, and ice sculptures.

They have worked on a wide range of commissioned projects, included memorably creating sand portraits in 30 UK coastal locations reproducing the many faces from WW1 to mark the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day 1918.

Although the artist, Tom Wood, was born in Tanganyika, there is a strong connection with the Bradford district. He has built a global reputation for his commissioned portraits, which have included Prince Charles, Lord Robert Winston, Lord and Lady Harewood, and Alan Bennett. Tom’s work is now included in over thirty public and corporate collections in Britain, including the UK National Portrait Gallery.

The Not Just Hockney exhibition runs every day at 12.30pm on the big screen which is run by Bradford UNESCO City of Film.