A local artist said they are “proud” and delighted” to have been shortlisted for a national art award from around 1,500 applicants.
Dr Adam Perchard was recently named in the shortlist for the 2026 Hogarth Art Prize for the works “English Ships” and “Leviathan”.
The pieces will be displayed alongside approximately 80 shortlisted artworks at Hogarth’s House in Chiswick, London, from 28 July to 6 September.
The national competition is open to UK-based artists at all stages of their careers and welcomes work in any medium suitable for wall display.
This year’s winner will receive £3,000 and a solo exhibition at Hogarth’s House, while visitors to the exhibition will also vote for a £500 Visitors’ Choice Award.
Dr Perchard said they were immediately drawn to the competition after spotting it on social media, explaining: “My eyes lit up. The application process was wonderfully simple – all I had to do was submit my images with their titles.
“They didn’t ask for any information about me, or why I made them, they just judged them on their merit as images alone, which is rather gorgeous.”
The shortlisted pieces form part of a much larger body of work created for Dr Perchard’s forthcoming novel London Fluid, which explores queer, Black and immigrant communities in London across multiple time periods.
“These are two of nearly 500 images I have made for my new book,” they explained.
“The whole text is teeming with these original images of mine – I want it to feel a bit like a cross between a contemporary William Blake book and a spellbook.”
Rather than illustrating scenes from the novel, the works explore its themes through visual imagery.
The piece English Ships responds to the 1588 painting English Ships and the Spanish Armada, while Leviathan references the frontispiece of Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan.
Dr Perchard said: “They’re also, amongst other things, doing a scribbly dance with the frightening resurgence of English nationalism that’s going on at the moment. So they feel very political to me.”
The works were created as monoprints using black oil paint applied to glass, before being transferred by hand onto thin rice paper.
“Not being able to afford my own printing press, I had to improvise,” explained Dr Perchard.
“The scribbly, energetic marks my spoon made during the transfer process have become an important part of the image.
“I am a self-taught artist, mainly making it all up as I go along in my little shed at the bottom of the garden.
“But I think there’s a strength to that. Not knowing the rules means you approach things from an unusual angle.”
For Dr Perchard, the shortlist comes at a particularly significant moment as they seek literary representation for their new novel.
“I have recently started sending my book out into the world in search of a literary agent, and it is a process famously steeped in rejection,” they said.
“So having this vote of confidence in my images from such a distinguished museum – and from such a brilliant panel of judges – is an amazing boost for me right now.
“It means I can hold my head up that little bit higher as I take my first tentative steps out into the crowded, rather intimidating, literary marketplace.”
The recognition carries added significance because of the prize’s connection to William Hogarth, whose work Dr Perchard taught while lecturing at the University of York.
“Hogarth has always been a big hero of mine,” they said. “Like me, a writer as well as an artist, I love his capacity for bawdy, blistering satire as well as beauty.
“I chose these pieces to submit because I hoped there was something a bit Hogarthian in their subversive play with politics and power.
“If you had told that younger Adam that someday their artworks would hang in Hogarth’s actual house, they never would have believed you.
“It is a wonderful thing. If I’d ever been audacious enough to dream it, it would be a dream come true.
“I have been smiling ever since I got the news. I am so proud and delighted.”
Although the overall winner is yet to be announced, Dr Perchard said: “Whatever happens, I am treating this as a win: to have been shortlisted out of 1,500 applicants and to have two of my pieces exhibited is an amazing honour, and I am made up about it.”
While there are currently no plans to exhibit the shortlisted works in Jersey, Dr Perchard said they are “plotting something else that might be rather fab”.
“Keep your fingers crossed for me, please, and stay tuned,” they added.
