http://www.christianhook.com/#!2016/cu53
Christian Hook was the winner of the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2014 competition from the UK. This British reality show was just broadcast here in the US this past winter and a new season is about to begin. I am assuming it will be the 2015 season.
One of the things I enjoy very much about the UK reality shows I have seen is that they seem to have so much more depth and texture than shows in the US. In an American reality show, the winner is chosen and that's the end of it. You don't get to see the winner enjoying their prize.
The prize of the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2014 was a £10,000 commission, and the commission was to paint Allan Cumming for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
In the final episode of the season, Christian flew to New York and met with Allan for 3
fascinating sessions which were nothing like any traditional portrait sitting I have ever seen. Christian had Allen painting and dancing and they splashed paint around together, making a "right old mess".
Christian Hook is from Gibraltar. His work has a wonderful synthesis of realism, cubism and deconstruction. The balance gives the deconstructed elements a delicious sense of life and motion. I never got that feeling of activity from a Picasso, sorry.
One of the competition pieces was this fantastic portrait of Amir Khan.
Christian's FaceBook has some shots from the sessions with his subjects - very interesting reading too...
https://www.facebook.com/hoookart