Showing posts with label Discerning Eye. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Discerning Eye. Show all posts

Saturday, November 23, 2019

The Discerning Eye 2019!



So every time I get selected for a London exhibition I am elated. The Discerning Eye at the Mall Galleries was one of the highlights of 2019.  I went down to the exhibition with Patrick early on the Thursday of the Artists' PV.  Parker Harris had already contacted me to tell me that I had sold my opened book, We Know that Light. I hadn't know there was PV before the PV...Because of GDPR, I will probably never know who bought the piece so I won't be able to imagine it in the future, but of course I was delighted.  

What was equally exciting was finding that Kwame Kwei-Armah had chosen my piece for his wall.  You can find out more about Kwame here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Kwei-Armah

I loved the way he curated his part of the space and felt he told a story with his choices. 

I barely spoke to anyone at the PV, which is not my usual way, but earlier in the day I met a few people who stopped and looked intently at my drawing.  I saw lots of engagement with it, which was fun. Part of the reason I didn't speak to much of anyone except a fellow artist, Cathy Cooper, (who I'd met at the drop off and whose work was in Gill Button's selection),  was because there was a fire alarm and not a practice… so we all had to file out and wait until they discovered that it had been triggered by someone vaping in the toilet. 

We didn't let it dampen our spirit.

On the train going back I read Kwame's comments in the exhibition booklet: 



This Thursday I went back to see the show another time. I wanted to look at Kwame's wall in particular and to think about what in my work made Kwame choose it.  There were still plenty of people visiting, but I did manage to find a lull to take photos of Kwame's wall.


I noticed the breadth of Kwame's choices. There was the black and white wall which was beautiful in its quiet.  It ranged from isolation to race and was strong and graphic.


To the left of the B & W grouping, and what felt like the middle of the wall,  Helen Stone's One of Many, an evocative tactile sculpture, a child's jacket with tags spoke to me of how we won't share our world with everyone. Below the jacket, three beautiful paintings of people from the asylum.


To the left, Kwame has chosen lots of people, juxtaposed to spaces. Skin, faces, expressive, Brexit, the people we share the world with, a beautiful world, a barren world, a built up world, a broken down world. 



A pair of shoes, abstracted colour , an internal landscape... 

my work 4th from left
Perhaps Kwame chose my piece because of the colour, the view and the title which seems to admit that we all share the experience of living with all the inhabitants of the earth.  And man, isn't that light amazing!



Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Selecting work for national open exhibitions

We Know That Light, pastel on altered book pages, 44 x 35cm (framed)
based on drawing in sketchbook of Preble Beach, Cranberry Isles, Maine.

Bring Back the Golden Days,pastel on altered book pages, 44 x 35cm (framed)
drawn on site outside Ware House, Cranberry Isles, Maine.
I am submitting for the Discerning eye open exhibition again this year.  I have never got my work accepted, I believe I have submitted four times. Above are the two pieces I selected and will carry down to London o Friday.

Here are the rules:

RULES

  1. The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition is open to artists born or resident in the UK only.
  2. All works must be for sale.
  3. All works must be within the maximum size limit of 20 inches (50cm) including frame.
  4. All works must be an original creation by the artist; prints (including prints from i-pad drawings), photographs, and sculptures are acceptable.
  5. All entries must be accompanied by a fully completed, signed Entry Schedule and a fully completed Discerning Eye Work label.
As you will notice, there are no particular rules about what to submit. the exhibition has a particular way of selecting work and usually I google the selectors and think about them when I choose what to submit.  this year I have only just done that.

SELECTORS

The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition is selected each year by 2 Collectors, 2 Critics and 2 Artists.
Artists
Gill Button – Painter & Illustrator
Charlotte Hodes – Fine Artist
Collectors
Kwame Kwei-Armah – Young Vic Artistic Director
Tim Rice – Author and Lyricist
Critics
John Penrose – Past Chairman Discerning Eye
Louis Wise – Critic & Writer, The Sunday Times

I'm submitting two pieces because I think a pair is stronger than a single and although I agree with 'art tax' and don't object to paying to enter, I think it can be a bit like being a gambler… it's easy to add ad believe you will have a better chance with more. Because I am exploring opened books at the moment, I hoped I would make two of these for the exhibition. I haven't had much time lately but time pressure can be useful.

Having looked at the selectors… I think I might have chosen a different strand of my work… Below are the three opened books that I didn't choose. Wish me luck! I've already booked my train down to collect unaccepted work so don't fret on my behalf, though.
The Gathering Storm, pastel on altered book pages
Based on drawings made in Kenya

Lost in the Woods, pastel on altered book pages
drawings made in the Rockefeller Gardens, Mount Desert Island

Britains Structure and Scenery, pastel on altered book pages
drawings made on IBBAS paintout