Exhibition Review - Royal Institute of Oil Painters

Yasu by Yasunobi Shidami
First Prize, Winsor and Newton Oil Painter Awards
copyright Yasunobi Shidami

I went to see the 2009 Annual Exhibition of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters at the weekend and was very impressed by a number of the paintings. 254 paintings - of all sizes and styles - were on show at the Mall Galleries. It's now finished but is definitely a show to try and get to each year.

As mentioned in yesterday's post, Adebanji Alade, who had a work in the show, has a great post about a number of the other young artists who were showing work - see Some young painters I loved at the ROI Exhibition 2009

Artists who impressed me included:

• Linda Meaney - who won the Stanley Grimm Prize at the ROI last year. I'm not a huge fan of photorealism or massive macro works but the simple fact of the matter is that I couldn't take my eyes off her very large painting of physalis. I loved the colour of the reflected light in the shadow areas. She also had a much smaller painting in the show of the same subject and that also had significant impact. She teaches her techniques in both workshops and holidays
  

Physalis II
36" x 36", oil on canvas
copyright Linda Meaney

• Chris Bennett whose Blackbirds painting was extremely striking. Judging by his website he has both a very defined style and subject matter
  
• Lucy McKie - who besides being a very good painter does a nice line in titles ( I particularly liked "Only food and sauces"). Interestingly she is a portrait painter but only one of her paintings was a portrait - suggesting and artist who might like to paint other subjects more often?
• Bryan Ryder who paints the Norfolk coastline. An interesting artist - obviously somebody who enjoys line (I love the drawings and pen and wash work on his website) but also has a very sure touch with oil paint and colour.
• and finally, three painters who never disappoint and who I seek out every year - David Curtis, Luis Mendoza and Paul Banning

ROI Prizewinners 2009

The ROI has a very long list of awards - a definite incentive for encouraging entries!

Winsor & Newton Oil Painters Awards

• 1st Prize (£1000 Winsor & Newton Fine Art Materials) - Yasunobu Shidami for ‘Yasu’ (see top) - this very large work remind me a lot of a very large 'big head' painting which won a major prize at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters not that long ago. This is a self portrait and the painting is large and the paint has been applied thickly. Some really great modelling.
  
• 2nd Prize ( £600 Winsor & Newton Fine Art Materials) - Eskov Pavel for ‘Winter landscape, Sant-Petersburg. This painting reminded me of past traditions of oil painting - in a nice way! Brilliant handling of painting white snow and obviously an artist who is very attuned to the painting of trees.
  

Museum of Art in Saint Petersburg by Eskov Pavel
2nd Prize, Winsor and Newton Young Artists
and C. Roberson & Co. Prize for notable work
copyright the artist

• 3rd Prize (£400 Winsor & Newton Fine Art Materials) - Alice Hall for ‘Battersea Bridge’. Juding by her website she's a committed plein air painter. She graduated in Fine Art from The University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in 2007
• Winsor & Newton Non-member Award (£150) Rupert Cordeux for ‘Victorian cream jug
• The Alan Gourley Memorial Prize (2008) for Anthony Green 2009 - awarded for apainting of outstanding merit - Rosemary Carr for ‘Cloudless for the second of June, Roundstone bog’
• The Phyllis Roberts Award an award of £2,000 to encourage and support young painters was won by Michael Robson for ‘Wormit House, September evening’ (see right). It was very reassuring to see a more abstracted work getting a major prize
  
• The Le Clerc Fowle Medal presented to the painter of an outstanding group of paintings: Ronald Morgan. I also saw several other good sets of paintings in the show
  
• Stanley Grimm (2008) for the most popular paintings in the show: two prizes - 1st Prize to John Sprakes, 2nd Prize to Mick Dean; bonus prize to Brian Ryder
• L. Cornelissen & Son for outstanding work to Roger Dellar for St. Peter’s, Rome
• Frank Herring Easel Award to John Stillman for “Brilliant light, Richmond”
• Menena Joy Schwabe Memorial Award of £250 to Barry Peckham for‘Whitby morning’
• A&K Wilson Award- Stephen Teeuw for ‘The mandolin’
• DAS Award of £500- Anna Redwood for ‘Back light’
• Fine Art Uk Award to Pat Maclaurin for “Lustre vase”
• The Ranelagh Press Award for an exceptional small oil to Peter Barker for “October morning dew”
• The Arts Club Award to Bill Dean for “Burlington Arcade”
• The Bridge McFarland Solicitors Award of £350 to Malcolm Ashman for “Bridge, London"
  

I always enjoy tracking down the websites and having a jolly good look at the art on websites. I enjoyed the process nearly as much as viewing the exhibition. I'm extremely impressed by the number of artists who have websites - it makes a very nice change. Maybe it's expected of an artist who paints in oils?

I've also got a video of the exhibition but need to check out whether that can be shown - watch this space!