The 24th John Moores exhibition of contemporary painting arrived at the Walker Art Gallery, bringing with it numerous painterly themes, from cats to the cosmos, memory to Mondrian. With a £25,000 first prize, four further prizes of £2,500 and the media spotlights shining brightly on the winning paintings, the competition, open to UK-based painters, attracted 2,300 entries, the largest number 43 years.

From an initial selection made anonymously by slides, 268 shortlisted paintings journeyed to a Liverpool warehouse for the final stage of selection. Artists Peter Blake, Tracey Emin and Jason Brooks joined Andrea Rose, Director of Visual Arts at the British Council and Ann Bukantas, Curator of Fine Art at National Museums Liverpool, to form the 2006 jury, selecting 52 works and the winning paintings.

In 2006, The John Moores Prizewinner was: Martin Greenland with Before Vermeer’s Clouds (Before Vermeet’s Clouds image © National Museums Liverpool)

A Visitor’s Choice Prize gave gallery-goers the opportunity to put themselves in the jurors’ shoes, debate, and select their winner. One artist was presented with the £1,000 prize.

Artists Henny Acloque, Guy Allott, Carolina Ambida, Lucy Annat, Emma Bennett, Alan Brooks, Elaine Brown, Matthew Burrows, Gordon Cheung, Leigh Clarke, Graham Crowley, Matt Davies, Geraint Evans, Cynthia Girard, Martin Greenland, Andrew Griffiths, Andy Harper, David Harrison, Vincent Hawkins, Claude Heath, Gerard Hemsworth, Günther Herbst, Dale Holmes, Philip Jones, Neil Kelly, David Leapman, David Mabb, Jeff McMillan, David G. Martin, Eliza Meath Baker, Andrea Medjesi-Jones, Nicholas Middleton, Richard Moon, Jost Münster, Penny Neville-Lee, Sachiko Odashima, Alicia Paz, Hugo Platt, Daphne Plessner, Alex Ramsay, Andreas Rüthi, Gary ‘Dolmann’ Sollars, Ben Spiers, Arabella Stewart, Michael Stubbs, Paul Thomas, Covadonga Valdés, Julian Wakelin, Caroline Walker, James White, Emily Wolfe, Clare Woods.