LIVERPOOL, UNITED KINGDOM.- The £1000 Visitors’ Choice prize in the John Moores 23 exhibition of contemporary painting (JM23)has been won by Dominic Shepherd with Piper at the gates of dawn. His oil painting inspired by a 1967 Pink Floyd album of the same name polled 349 votes out of a total 3,854 cast by visitors to the exhibition between 18 September and 31 October 2004.

Ann Bukantas, the Walker’s curator of fine art and a member of the JM 23 jury, says: “We’re always fascinated to learn what our visitors think of the exhibition. Dominic’s work is something the judges discussed enthusiastically during judging so it’s great that he has won the Visitors’ Choice prize. I am delighted so many people have felt moved to vote – it has obviously created a lot of interest and debate.”

Another judge Gill Hedley, director of the Contemporary Art Society, says: “I am delighted that the public vote went to an artist new to me and also not a prizewinner – although I think a sense of British fair play would always see to that. It’s pointless trying to sum up why I think visitors chose this one but my guess is that it’s colourful with lots of detail to be spotted with careful study. It’s a painting and a visual quiz and very readable, all at once. Perhaps the explanation is the number of Pink Floyd fans in Liverpool!”

Second in the poll was Paul Winstanley’s Veil 14 (319 votes) and third Andrew Bracey’s Clout (284). There were nearly 21,000 visitors to the exhibition over the voting period.