The stories behind our shortlist

Tonight at the National Gallery we reveal the winner of the first Evening Standard Contemporary Art Prize. Here the 10 shortlisted artists explain how London inspired them, from Waterloo Bridge to Wood Green

1. Wintery Waterloo Bridge

“Wintery Waterloo Bridge shows the view from the riverside terrace of Somerset House looking across Embankment towards Waterloo Bridge, which spans the picture at eye level, busy with people and traffic silhouetted against a narrow, jagged band of light. The pale forms of distant buildings and the London Eye, interspersed with lamp posts and road signs, create vertical accents beneath a grey and watery sky.

“I was inspired by the sight of Big Ben, appearing over the parapet of the darkly massed bridge no bigger than one of the well-wrapped figures hurrying over the river, a drama of space and scale that London by the Thames provides so readily.”

2. Wood Green

“The title of this painting, which was originally based on photographic material taken at Wood Lane Tube station, changed as it progressed to reference the dominant use of green in the composition.

“My work sources light patterns and shadows found primarily in architectural settings, which can then be used to structure and explore the meeting point between representation and abstraction.”

3. View from the Tate Modern

“I really enjoy the architecture of London, especially older buildings, and for this particular painting St Paul’s Cathedral was my main inspiration. I like the way St Paul’s stands out among the other buildings, even though it’s behind them.

“St Paul’s is my favourite building in London — I especially liked painting the dome. I was also inspired by the dreary colours when I captured this view of London. This helped me achieve a clear representation of London in a realist as well as architectural way.”

4. Urban Concrete

“Working from a studio on the seventh floor of a London Bridge building, I move inwards, outwards and upwards in a pulsing, everevolving metropolis of construction, concrete and glass.

“Urban Concrete responds to this environment and also specifically references the geometric forms and structures of nearby Barbican, contrasting the solid and stable with the fluid, flux, transient and ephemeral — exploring urban experience today.”

5. To Make a Sculpture

“When I was growing up in South Africa there were few contemporary art galleries and the internet was not yet around. Then I came to London, where I gained a scholarship from the Royal College of Art. This picture represents a turning point from a traditional way of painting; I was free to explore and experiment with new ideas, using material I found on the streets chosen because of form, texture and colour. These elements of abstraction are now used in my paintings.

“These dualities of place are fervent in my work after living in London for 20 years. This painting marks a departure but also the importance of individuality. It is about then and now. This painting is a symbol of what London means to me.”

6. Thames Mudlark

“Thames Mudlark is a homage to a historical aspect of London culture in the Victorian era. Mudlarks scavenged along the muddy banks of the Thames for anything that could be sold. Often young children or the elderly, the Mudlarks came into existence through poverty.

“I chose the Mudlarks as a representation of the desperation and hope of the poor and the correlation between Victorian London and the rising visibility of poverty in London today.

“I used the paint sparingly to reference these feelings and to expose the gesture of the figure bent down, faceless and scavenging. The painting is influenced by painters such as Vincent Van Gogh and his representation of the poor.”

7. Shoreditch

“This work is part of a series of painting about London’s nightlife with a focus on locations such as Soho, Shoreditch and Camden. Through these works I am trying to represent the mix of glamour and sleaze, fun and despair, random connections, hedonistic excess and darkness that are part of our city’s nights. But mostly I am interested in the people, the outsiders and the glittering revellers, the sex workers, the visitors and the lovers who populate it.

“Shoreditch is loosely based on my

‘I am interested in people, the outsiders and the glittering revellers, the visitors and the lovers’