Art lovers are being urged to vote for a Wolverhampton Art Gallery painting after it was named in the top ten of a national survey. Spirit of the Carnival by Tam Joseph is among ten other paintings in UK galleries, which the public can vote for in The Art Fund competition. The Art Fund, which for more than a century has been helping museums and galleries buy and display great works of art for everyone to enjoy, has selected the painting.
Other paintings in the search to find the public’s favourite image for 2016 are in collections at the Royal Museums Greenwich, Walker Gallery, Liverpool, National Portrait Gallery, London and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and Gallery of Modern Art.
Voters can win a lifetime National Art Pass for taking part in the survey to find the nation’s favourite art acquisition for 2016. Councillor John Reynolds, cabinet member for City Economy, said: “The Art Fund has helped museums and galleries across the UK make a range of fantastic acquisitions during 2016. “From the almost 100 works of art the fund has helped to buy, Wolverhampton’s painting is in a shortlist of ten. It would be great if people could vote for Spirit of the Carnival and not only support our gallery but also win themselves a lifetime National Art Pass.”
The poll closes on Sunday 18 December at 11.59pm and is at www.artfund.org
Wolverhampton’s Spirit of the Carnival, 1983, reflects the uneasy relationship that existed between black communities and the police in Britain during the early 1980s, particularly at the annual Notting Hill Carnival. It was shown in the Lichfield Street gallery recently in an exhibition called Black Art in Focus, which celebrated the work of contemporary black British artists. The painting was acquired thanks to The Art Fund, the Heritage Lottery Fund Collecting Cultures programme and the Friends of Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
