Talented Aylesbury Vale artist scoops £5,000 Football Art Prize

A talented young Buckingham artist has won first prize in the national Football Art Prize.
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Toby Michael, aged 25, took home the prize worth £5,000 for his oil painting of the player turned pundit, Roy Keane.

Launched to coincide with 2022 World Cup year, the Football Art Prize is a new competition celebrating art and football.

Open to all artists aged over 18 working in all two-dimensional mediums, the competition received entries from across the world.

Detail from Toby's portrait of Roy KeaneDetail from Toby's portrait of Roy Keane
Detail from Toby's portrait of Roy Keane

All of the submissions were reviewed by a selection panel from the worlds of art and football, comprising former England footballers David James MBE and Gordon Taylor OBE, art critic Sacha Craddock, Turner Prize-winning artist Mark Wallinger and curators Jo Cunningham, Mark Doyle and Kirstie Hamilton.

The judges shortlisted 69 artworks by 50 artists for an exhibition at Touchstones Rochdale, and selected three artists to win £10,000 in prizes.

Toby, who grew up at Stowe, where his father was a housemaster, learned that his portrait of Roy Keane had scooped the first prize, at a private view and awards ceremony.

He said: “It was a strange moment, because I’d gone up with no expectations of winning anything.

Self-portrait by Toby MichaelSelf-portrait by Toby Michael
Self-portrait by Toby Michael

"It felt amazing. It was a really good feeling, it’s that kind of validation and recognition by your peers and people around you who are in more important positions.

"It’s worth its weight in gold, having that kind of endorsement from people who actually know what they’re doing

Artists like myself who are in an emerging situation, we’d sell our souls for it.”

Inspired by an infamous photograph of Roy Keane holding an ice cream while scowling at the camera, Toby’s winning portrait represents him as a painter in the studio.

In the painting, Keane is standing, paintbrush in hand, in front of a self-portrait of himself as a devil.

The judges applauded the picture for its light touch and humour.

Judge David James said. “The deliberations went on for a long time, like a league table towards the end of the season, different names in the top three.

"The winning piece was one thing we all seemed to agree on - not one that I would have hanging in my home, however!”

Toby was previously a finalist in Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2020.