Artist accused of winning prize with ‘imitation’ won Australian award with piece ‘influenced’ by Basquiat

Seaside Explorers by Jane Allan won the $20,000 Doyles art award but has been accused of being an ‘imitation’ of a Nicholas Harding work. Illustration: Jane Allan View image in fullscreen Seaside Explorers by Jane Allan won the $20,000 Doyles art award but has been accused of being an ‘imitation’ of a Nicholas Harding work. Illustration: Jane Allan Artist accused of winning prize with ‘imitation’ won Australian award with piece ‘influenced’ by Basquiat Jane Allan’s winning Darling portrait prize painting has raised eyebrows after her Doyles art award piece was compared to artist Nicholas Harding An Australian painter was “clearly influenced” by New York artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in a major prize-winning work, according to the National Portrait Gallery, after she was accused of winning a separate $20,000 prize with “an imitation” of a Nicholas Harding piece. The National Portrait Gallery has declined to comment further on the marked similarities between a 1982 work by Basquiat, Untitled (Two Heads on Gold), and a work by Lennox Head artist Jane Allan, titled Weight of the Mind’s Periapt. Allan’s painting was a finalist in the prestigious Darling portrait prize in 2022, and won the Art Handler’s award , worth $2,000. Questions were raised about the piece after concerns over Allan’s winning submission to the Gold Coast-based $20,000 Doyles art award last year, which had similarities to a painting by acclaimed Australian artist Nicholas Harding. Basquiat’s piece depicts two robot-like figures side-by-side. The figure on the right has spiky hair, a distinctive nose shaped like an upside down T, white outlined features and spindly arms. The other figure appears to be angry, in a pose that is almost zombie-like. The painting has been described by the artist’s estate as a “vibrant, layered piece” in which Basquiat “[channels] raw energy into two faces that seem to echo and challenge each other, reflecting a sense of duality”. View image in fullscreen Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (Two Heads on Gold). Photograph: The estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat Allan’s painting depicts an almost identically shaped and detailed figure to the Basquiat work, with similar white outlining of features and spindly arms. The left hand side of her painting is a melange of words, names, numbers and smaller images of animals. View image in fullscreen Weight of the Mind’s Periapt by Australian artist Jane Allan. Illustration: Jane Allan Allan’s artist notes described the work as a portrait of her “inspirational primary carer, Warren” who had looked after her “after a truck ran into me resulting in spinal cord injury which robbed me of my independence”. The Guardian was unable to reach Allan for comment. A National Portrait Gallery spokesperson acknowledged that, at the time of the prize being awarded, the gallery’s art handlers had “noted that the artist was clearly influenced by Jean-Michel Basquiat”. “While the gallery regularly reviews the terms and conditions of its prizes