MAKING A MARK: Prizewinners - ING Discerning Eye 2015

On Thursday night the prizewinners in the ING Discerning Eye art competition were announced.

The Tyne at Wallsend Study 1 by Andrew Gifford won the main ING Purchase Prize of £5000.

The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition of selected works (457 artworks by 197 artists) opened to the public on Friday at the Mall Galleries, The Mall, London SW1 until 22 November 2015.

The gallery is open everyday from 10am until 5pm.
Admission to this exhibition is free.
You can also see the works selected by each of the judges online
All of these small 'domestic scale' works are less than 20 inches in any dimension and are for sale. Over 100 of the works are priced at below £500.

You can see the images of ALL the works that won prizes and find out who painted them below.

I always provide a link to the websites of prizewinners and I'm particularly struck this year by the number of artists who had absolutely no personal details (bio, location etc) on their websites. I'm not really sure why that's seen to be a good thing in marketing terms......

I've also added in galleries which represent the artists. Do tell if you think this is useful.

If you're interested in entering this competition next year you can read more about it in my archive of blog posts about this art competition in past years - see the end of this post.

Prizewinners

The prizes are awarded each year at the opening of the exhibition The exhibition selectors this year included Nicole Farhi, Larry Lamb and Emma Bridgewater.

ING Purchase Prize £5,000

The Tyne at Wallsend Study 1 by Andrew Gifford - ING Purchase Prize
£5,600
(selected by Steve Pill

Andrew Gifford grew up in Middleborough and graduated with a degree in Fine Art from Newcastle University in 1994. He's painted cities and urban landscapes around the world and has exhibited in solo shows on a very regular basis ever since.

The oil painting The Tyne at Wallsend Study 1, is one of a series of northern scenes that the artist entered into this year’s competition.

I'm hugely impressed by Andrew Gifford's landscape paintings in different locations - which you can see at his gallery's website

He's entered a series of his plein air studies

ING Commercial Banking is delighted to award Andrew Gifford the £5000 ING Prize for his

Andrew is recognised as one of the UK’s most innovative landscape painters, and has exhibited widely, including solo public shows at . Growing up in Middlesborough, Andrew drew much of his artistic inspiration from the scenery of the North East. He studied fine art at Newcastle University, graduating in 1994, and subsequently moved to France.

Years later, a yearning to return to his roots got the better of him, and he spent an extended period of time painting on the Tyne. In this series of paintings, he chose to focus on a visually unremarkable scene - rather than the imposing Tyne Bridge for example – so as to emphasise the painterly beauty of the glowing sky.

This is a brilliant video of Andrew Gifford talking about his London paintings - both his small plein air studies (one of which has won this prize) or his larger studio paintings. It's an excellent example of how a good gallery can really showcase their artists. I wish more did the same

Andrew Gifford is represented by the John Martin Gallery where you can see his:

He also works on BBC Paintings re. those in public collections

Articles:

Wall Street International - Art - Andrew Gifford
Financial Times - how to spend it - Andrew Gifford: inspired by the Tyne

The Discerning Eye Founder's Purchase Prize (£2500)

This prize was split between two painters Chris Bushe and Tom Hughes

Chris Bushe 'Summer surf, Ardnave' 2/9 - DE Founder's Purchase Prize
oil, 14x10 inches
£1250

Chris Bushe RSW (b.1958) is a Scottish land and seascape painter. He has four small works in the show - all the same size as this one. You can see a video of him talking about his work below.

The other half of this prizewinning duo was Tom Hughes (for 'Studio corner with skull and cubes'). I really like his painting - it comes across as really honest both in terms of content and colour.

Tom is regularly selected for exhibitions by FBA societies and also for major art competitions that I feature on this blog. He's somebody who's well worth keeping an eye on as he's doing well.

You can see more of his still life paintings on his website and you can also see his work in the RWA Autumn Exhibition this month at the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol.

Tom Hughes 'Studio corner with skull and cubes' - DE Founder's Purchase Prize

Tom Hughes 'Studio corner with skull and cubes' 6/43 - DE Founder's Purchase Prize
“Studio corner with skull and cubes”
oil, 18x18 inches
£1250

He has two paintings in the competition of very similar subject matter - however it's clear that this one was better depth and 'weight'.

You can see a number of time-lapse videos that Tom has made on his YouTube channel.

He's represented by a number of galleries

Panter & Hall 11-12 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5LU 12 – 13 York Street, Bath, BA1 1NG
Beaux Arts, Bath 12 – 13 York Street, Bath, BA1 1NG
Jane Reeves Gallery 11 Lanadwell Street, Padstow, Cornwall PL28 8AN
Peter Barker Fine Art Welland Vale, Glaston Road, Uppingham, Rutland LE15 9EU
Tinca Gallery 6 – 8 High Street, Portishead, BS20 6EW

Discerning Eye Chairman’s Purchase Prize, £1000

Dion Salvador Lloyd 'Chalkland' - DE Chairman's Purchase Prize
oil, 14x10 inches
£1250

Dion Salvador Lloyd's website tells me nothing about his past or present. It's entirely focused on his art and exhibitions. I find it very odd. I like to know where somebody is from and where they live now. It's that congenial bit of chit chat which helps you 'locate' somebody before you get to know them. He won Best Open Studio this year - but I have not got a clue where his studio is!

Meynell Fenton Prize, £1000 and Benton Purchase Prize, £1000

Mark Hearld 'Vixen' 1/30 - Benton Purchase Prize
mixed media, 20x20 inches
£795

Mark Hearld is represented by St Jude's Prints - this is his collection and he's got four works in the show. There's something about his work which I really like.

This is a rather nice film, made by St Judes about Mark talking about his work, his inspirations and his working methods. I wish Mark had a website of his own.

Humphreys Purchase Prize £750

Rose Eva 'Nude' - Humphreys Purchase Prize

Rose Eva studied History of Art at the Courtauld and has wrked as a picture specialist at Phillips Auctioneers and as a curator and writer on art. She is a self-taught sculptor.

Her interest lies in the human form. I like the look of the different ways she represents the human form on her website

Her Snapbreast was featured in The Huffington Post earlier this year.

I'm not detecting any gallery representation which i find rather surprising.

Lincoln Seligman Purchase Prize, £500

Delia Tournay-Godfrey 'Summer evening walk' - Lincoln Seligman Purchase Prize

I love simplifying what is there, omitting unnecessary detail, emphasizing close tones; using these elements to evoke a mood or atmosphere. Summer Evening Walk was painted quickly, the figure walking a dog worked in before disappearing, followed by an intense period of painting activity to resolve the rest of the panel.

I like Delia Tournay-Godfrey's work - as seen on her website - a lot. It's very simple and it does that thing a lot of artists are scared of - it places people in a landscape.

However her website is 100% dedictaed to her art and tells me absolutely nothing about her. No CV, no artist statement - just an email address in the footer. However if we go to her page on the blog for Ipswich Art Society we can find out a bit more about her.

Google tells me that she is (or was) represented in East Anglia by:

Discerning Eye Sculpture and 3D Work Prize

Elizabeth Sophia-White 'Rocinante' - DE Sculpture Prize

Elizabeth Sophia-White 'Rocinante' (2/81) - DE Sculpture and 3D Prize
bronze (dimensions?)
£14,000

Elizabeth Sophia-White has yet another webste with absolutely no information about her or where you can see her work on it.

What is it with ING Discerning Eye and websites without bio content or gallery information?

St Cuthberts Mill Award

Alison Lumb 'Street Scene 1' 3/37 - St Cuthberts Mill Award
Limited edition inkjet print on paper (2014)
270mm x 190mm, 14x18 inches
£180

Alison Lumb used to be a film producer producing drama series and mini-series for the UK’s major broadcasters. She's now a a full-time practising artist and is a member of Espacio, an artist-run gallery in Bethnal Green - where you can see more of her work. She's been exhibiting on a regular basis for the last five years.

I wish I knew what sort of print it is and how she made it....

The Exhibition - selection and curation

The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition is a show of small works - including paintings, prints, sculptures, drawings and photographs - in six small exhibitions within one, each personally curated by six prominent figures from the art world. They create their exhibitions from their personal selection of work coming through the open entry and artists they have personally invited to exhibit .

The 2015 Panel of Selectors/Curators comprised:

Emma Bridgewater, the founder of iconic British ceramics brand
Nicole Farhi, respected fashion designer-turned-sculptor
Larry Lamb, actor - known for roles in EastEnders and Gavin & Stacey.
Stephen Doherty, Director of Visual Communications at Somerset House
Steve Pill, Editor of Artists & Illustrators Magazine,
Stephen Snoddy, Gallery Director of The New Art Gallery, Walsall,

Note: The exhibition is organised by Parker Harris on behalf of The Discerning Eye, an educational charity which encourages a wider understanding and appreciation of the visual arts. It's sponsored by ING Commercial Banking.

MAKING A MARK

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Saturday, November 14, 2015

Prizewinners - ING Discerning Eye 2015