Workers in the frame at art show
THEY are used to aiding the public in enjoying works of art, rather than being subject of it.
But now two of the security and visitor services staff of the National Galleries of Scotland are featured in one of its most high-profile exhibitions.
Laura Nardo’s affectionate portrait of her friend and colleague Vittorio Milazzo is part of the new BP Portrait Award show that opens this weekend at the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.
It is among the 48 works on display, alongside An Angel At My Table, by Miriam Escofet, which took the exhibition’s first prize.
The paintings in the annual show were selected from 2,667 entries from 88 countries.
The portrait by Ms Nardo is entitled LTR Team A, and was painted last December.
Mr Milazzo says the painting, which shows him smiling in the galleries, almost walking off the frame, was born out of a close friendship.
He said: “Laura and I, and her husband, first met when they came to the gallery as visitors. Being of Italian stock, I home in on other Italians, and we struck up a conversation. I always approach people who are really interested in the art in the place. So, we got talking about art work... and that’s how we became friends.”
Ms Nardo, originally from Turin, and who trained as an artist in Venice, subsequently became a colleague in the front-of-house staff at the National Gallery.
She said of the painting: “I like to take a memento of our life, not just a pose, I like to paint real life. Working for the gallery, is something we spend a lot of time doing, in one place, and it is important you feel good in what you are doing – so how better than a piece to represent your life?”
Mr Milazzo, who works part-time, added: “I can’t stop working here. I love what I do, I am a people person, that’s what I do. I am gobsmacked, I really am. This is the first time I have seen it complete.”
The show runs from Saturday to March 10.