With the Prize Exhibition taking a well-earned rest before heading over to Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery in October, we’re taking the opportunity to catch up with some of the artists whose work is in the show.

First we chatted to Justin Coburn, whose painting ‘Thought Fox’ won the TIG Visitors’ Award at The Bowes Museum’s leg of the Prize Exhibition’s tour.

‘Thought Fox’ by Justin Coburn

Describe your work in three words.
Ambiguous, Thoughtful, Illusory

Describe in three words what the ‘North’ means to you.
Character, History, Memory

Justin Coburn

What made you decide to enter the New Light Prize Exhibition?
It was really the opportunity to exhibit at such great venues that was most appealing.

What does winning the Visitors’ Choice Award mean to you?
When you’re working on something in the studio, it’s hard to image anyone seeing the work, so for the work to be popular amongst a wide range of people is just great!

What are your artistic plans for the future?
I’m continuing to work on a body of work with animals as the central motif and to explore the ideas around this.

What well-known painting do you wish you had painted?
Velasquez’s The Feast of Bacchus

Deigo Velasquez’s The Feast of Bacchus (Museo del Prado)