Final Call: The Discerning Eye Exhibition 2026

You have THREE DAYS LEFT to submit an entry to the Discerning Eye Exhibition which will be held at the Mall Galleries in November.

This prestigious annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London celebrates small-scale artworks by UK-based artists.

From call for entries by Parker Harris
amended by me to highlight the small nature of the artwork!

This is a very different sort of art exhibition - because it only contains small scale works - defined as a maximum diameter of 50cm in any direction.

In 2025, this exhibition featured 

• more than 730 artworks 
• by 529 artists, 
• selected from an outstanding 6,500 entries.
• curated by six invited selectors

Parker Harris post

Below is what you need to know to enter

Essential Details 

• Deadline for Online Submissions ONLY: 5PM on Thursday, 27 August 2026 via https://artopps.co.uk/checkout/165
• Exhibition: 13 to 21 November 2026 at the Mall Galleries in London.
• Prizes: Over £9,000 available across multiple categories.
• Who can exhibit?: emerging and established artists
• Artwork Rules: 
• Small-scale works - This is defined as a maximum 50cm in any direction, INCLUDING the frame
• in any medium
• all pieces must be available for sale. (a commission of 40% + VAT will be charged on all sales)
• How to Enter: You can submit your online application through ArtOpps https://artopps.co.uk/opportunities/discerningeye-26. 
• This the page with the RULES
• This is the Page with answers to the FAQs
• All entries must be entered online in the form of digital images and must be accompanied by the following information: Title, Medium, Year, Dimensions and Price.
• all images must be either JPEG or PNG files, no larger than 5MB
• if the work contains offensive material it's likely to be withdrawn from the exhibition (which is a new one on me - I can only assume Parker Harris has run into this issue on another exhibition)
• Who runs/organises the competition? 
• The exhibition belongs to The Discerning Eye. (Note: The ING Bank which has previously sponsored the competition no longer seems to be involved)
• It's organised by an art consultancy called Parker Harris 
• who use ArtOpps as the platform for dissemination of the rules etc and all digital submissions

Discerning Eye exhibition in the West Gallery last year
- which usually contains the exhibitions of four of the selectors

The Selectors in 2026

As always, this year's exhibition will be curated by six prominent figures from across the art world.

Each selector works independently, bringing their own distinct perspective to create six exhibitions within the whole. You cannot rely on looking at past exhibitions to know what sort of work would be suitable. 

However you might try reviewing the selectors' instagram accounts.... 

Call for Entries: Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2026

This is about the call for entries for the annual exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters - and why it's a good idea to enter if you an aspiring portrait artist.  It covers:

• reasons to enter
• who can enter
• what you can enter
• how to enter
• the timeline of important dates

Submissions are open until Tuesday 3 February 2026

You can also review my past blog posts about the RP Annual Exhibition over the last 19 years at the end.

Reasons why you should enter the RP's annual exhibition

The "Portrait Artist of the Year" competition may attract a lot of entries from would-be portrait artists in the UK - and be on television - but only one artist gets to win. 

The annual exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, on the other hand, welcomes new and emerging talent and ample space to give a boost to more than one artist.

The RP exhibition is an annual opportunity for artists who paint people to see their paintings hung alongside the work of their peers. As always, emerging and established talent is displayed together.

This "call for entries" gives all aspiring portrait painters:

• an opportunity to be hung in the same exhibition as some of the leading portrait painters in the UK
• a potential first step up on the ladder to becoming a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters 
• access to an extremely well used commission service for portraits
• access to a much longer term payoff than an outing on television and not winning the top prize

For all those wondering whether and why they should submit an entry to this exhibition, take a look at the following.

Expert assessment of your portrait

• ALL drawings and paintings selected for exhibition from the Open Entry are chosen by practising professional portrait artists who are full artist members of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters - and who use a variety of media. (click the link to check out their work)
• The Selection Committee is rotated annually. 
• There are no administrators, sponsors, gallerists, art critics, television personalities or other such éminence grise who get a say on what gets hung.
• Judges are are looking for solid skills in portraiture - but they are not averse to new styles and innovation demonstrated by emerging talent.

A prestigious portraiture exhibition - in central London and online

This is a very prestigious exhibition within the international portrait world

• It fills all three galleries at the Mall Galleries on The Mall in London
• It attracts over 4,000 entries to the exhibition - including very many entries from international artists
• The exhibition is also put online so it can be seen all over the world.

An expert commissions service

• This exhibition generates a LOT of portrait commissions. This exhibition is much less about sales and much more about being a marketing shop window (e.g. 87 (40%) of the portraits exhibited last year were not for sale as they had been done as commissions and already had owners)
• An expert Commissions Consultant service runs throughout the show. Exhibiting artists are invited to
• display additional material
• advertise portrait commissions through the Commissions department - on which a commission will be payable.

The Commission Room at the 2024 Exhibition

Entry is digital

• Hence you only need to go to the expense of framing and transport IF invited to progress to the second stage of selection. So entries which do not succeed only incur the expense of the submission fee.

Some significant prizes

This is an exhibition with some heavyweight and prestigious cash prizes. 

• The total prize fund is £35,000, including The William Lock Portrait Prize (£20,000).
• It has the most valuable individual prizes awarded by any national art society in the UK. 
• These include awards for younger artists and portrait drawing.

Your chances of getting selected

Review: ING Discerning Eye 2025

Last Thursday I went to see the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition at the Mall Galleries - on my four art exhibitions on one day extravaganza! (The feet have told me not to do it again!)

The event celebrates a wide range of art media, from print to sculptures, from all regions across the UK. The exhibition celebrates small works, and so entries must have a maximum height of 50cm including framework

Three different exhibits of the six which make up the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2025

I've been covering the ING Discerning Eye exhibition since 2007 and every year it's a pleasure to see the huge range of small artworks hanging in the three galleries.

This year the open entry has been impressive and very big and you'll never ever see as much artwork in these galleries as you will in this exhibition!

Below you can find out about:

• The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition - and why it is different from any other exhibition you will ever see
• The Six Exhibitions - by six different selectors
• how to see the exhibition

(but not the prizes....)

About ING Discerning Eye Exhibition

All works must be within the maximum size limit of 50cm including frame.

Like most decent art competitions these days, it has

• a reputable backer The Discerning Eye is a visual arts focused educational charity. Its principal activity is to hold a rather unique annual exhibition
• the exhibition is sponsored by ING Bank. Hence it is known as the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition.
• offers prizes - including the ING Purchase Prize, worth £5,000. Awards will be given out to the winners in a prize giving at the start of the exhibition.
• been running since 1999.

The three key differences are:

• ALL the artwork is small
• the six selectors change every year AND each selector curates their own exhibition. In effect, there are six small exhibitions across the three galleries at the Mall Galleries by:
• two artists - 
• two curators
• two collectors
• The selectors are solely responsible for their own selection; selection is not by committee.
• Selectors can also invite artists to exhibit 
• The balance of their exhibit comes from selecting artwork via the open entry AND the selectors must choose at least 33% of their section from the open submission.

Personally speaking - having browbeaten most of the FBA Societies into understanding that if you are going to call something an open exhibition, then you need to have a very significant proportion from the open entry. (ASA regulation | The UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code) etc.) They got the point - they cannot be misleading!

• I intially suggested two thirds member / one third open
• most are now near 50:50 - which has been a shot in the arm for all those with aging members who'd like to be able to paint less and need new members!

Sadly ING has not yet tightened up on their advertising of this art competition - and still need to address this.

More than 730 artworks by 529 artists have been selected from a staggering 6,500 entries, reflecting the breadth and vibrancy of contemporary British art.

REALLY?  All selected from the open entry???

Anyway - enough of important technicalities....

Members Preview  

I attended a Members Preview - which is a new venture by the Mall Galleries - and one which I very much hope will be repeated. 

24 Million Pageviews for Making A Mark

I've been writing this blog for very nearly 20 years having started after I took early retirement. 

In December 2005 I started to work out how it all worked with four posts. This was the second 

from Two of my favourite occupations

and  as you can see I hadn't yet mastered how to get a graphite drawing not look overly grey!

Red Onion
from Working Smaller

I then went public at the beginning of January 2006 with these first three posts

• Catnapping
• Links to artist weblogs and websites
• Comments policy

and started to focus on producing small works, thinking I might eventually sell them....

I'm used to Blogger which is why I stick with it - and its archive (see below) although I have been tempted by Substack.

I have a 71st birthday coming up soon and I now write an awful lot less than I did in that first year when I aimed for a post each day and actually wrote 348 blog posts. 

Basically osteoarthritis limits gadding about now but also requires regular longish walks - which in turn limits time for blogging. However I now aim to do as much gadding about as I can before I creak too much - and have had a wonderful hot summer visiting various gardens across London and the southeast! So blogging comes second to filling my eyes with things I like to see - whether it's art exhibitions or plants, gardens and walks.

You can read any of my past posts by browsing the blog archive (see links below and in the side column in the desktop/tablet view) - which probably helps explain how come I've now had 24 million pageviews for Making A Mark!!! i.e. more than a million pageviews a year for every year this blog has been published!

Many posts are what might be called "perennials" and worth a second or third look! People have been known to get lost in my archives for hours at a time.....

Browse the Blog Archive

• ►  2025 (78)

• ►  2024 (113)

• ►  2023 (154)

• ►  2022 (151)

• ►  2021 (179)

• ►  2020 (212)

• ►  2019 (174)

• ►  2018 (205)

• ►  2017 (191)

• ►  2016 (180)

• ►  2015 (217)

• ►  2014 (221)

• ►  2013 (274)

• ►  2012 (304)

• ►  2011 (288)

• ►  2010 (307)

• ►  2009 (310)

• ►  2008 (357)

• ►  2007 (392)

• ►  2006 (348)

• ▼  2005 (4)

Royal Society of Portrait Artists Annual Exhibition 2025

I had an extremely pleasant time at the Private View yesterday for the Annual Exhibition 2025 of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. 

Overall it was a real pleasure to be able to meet artists and view an exhibition and the artwork in a very congenial environment. So much so it will be my abiding memory of the exhibition!

The catalogue of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2025

How to have a great Private View

The reasons for the congenial environment were:

• the Private View started at 11am and the speeches and prize giving was in the evening at 6pm, by which time I'd disappeared!
• at all times there were enough people around for it to be happily populated - but at no time was there any sort of crush or sense of standing room only
• as a result I could SEE THE ART!!! 
• More importantly for me, I was also able to talk to various artists - both members and open artists - without the sound of the constant chatter generated when you invite everybody to the same PV in a very short time slot!
• AND I was able to take photos of the galleries because they were not too crowded
• Net Result: I don't have to pay a second visit just to get photos - which always makes me rather grumpy....

Moreover, this was one of the best hung exhibition by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters that I've seen in recent years. It looks great and has got a really nice flow to it and, more importantly 90% of the artwork is worth a good look (Note: I never like everything!). I gather there was a new set of hangers this year and I think they should be encouraged to do a repeat job next year!

West Gallery

I took photos of all the artwork in the exhibition and 

• UPDATE: I have now uploaded my photos into three different folders on my Facebook Page - which you can access if you have a Facebook Account
• West Gallery
• East Gallery
• North Gallery
• plus my FB album RP Annual Exhibition 2025 - Artists with their paintings.

• my photos include the artwork I liked - as single artwork photos. It's always interesting to see which aligned with the views of the Judges. Plus there's commentary on some of the photos.

More about the exhibition after the innovations highlighted below!

• You can also see the exhibition online on this link.
• These are the Award winners - the news post about the artwork which won prizes - although you have to click it to see which prize, which I'm not a fan of - because that just turns the post into clickbait.
• This is the Events Programme

The Buyers' Preview

ING Discerning Eye 2024 Exhibition

The ING Discerning Eye 2024 Exhibition is currently on at the Mall Galleries in London and I visited last Friday. 

Unlike other exhibitions, five days later there's nothing much which comes to mind when trying to recall it - apart from a few pieces which were standout ones for me. That's essentially because it is overloaded with small artworks but maybe something else as well.....

paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture in the ING Discerning Eye 2024

The exhibition is unique because of the way it is put together.

Six people - two artists, two critics and two art collectors - pick what they like best from the open entry and also get to exhibit artwork by artists they like. 

The selectors this year are listed below - together with some views of their individual exhibits

You can also see the exhibition online - by selector. I'm putting the link underneath each pic of their exhibit below

Artists

• Adebanji Alade - current President of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters; he also features regularly on the BBC’s The One Show
• Nina Murdoch - She trained at the Slade School of Fine Art (1989-93) and at the Royal Academy Schools (1993-96), and was the winner of the inaugural Threadneedle Prize (2008).

part of the exhibit by Adebanji Alade (134 artworks)
https://ingdeexhibition.org/gallery/adebanji-alade/

part of the exhibit by Nina Murdoch (105 artworks)
https://ingdeexhibition.org/gallery/nina-murdoch/
(who had the most difficult and fragmented space - next to the cafe)

Critics

• Paul Carey-Kent - he has weekly column for FAD art news, does monthly interviews for Artlyst and freelances for various art news publications. This is his blog post about the exhibition and his chosen artworks
  
• Will Gompertz - an English journalist, author and art critic. He was the BBC's arts editor before becoming he Barbican Centre's Artistic Director in June 2021 and the director of the Sir John Soane’s Museum in 2024.

part of the exhibit by Paul Carey-Kent (119 artworks) in the North Gallery
https://ingdeexhibition.org/gallery/paul-carey-kent/

part of the exhibit by Will Gompertz (107 artworks) at the end of the West Gallery
https://ingdeexhibition.org/gallery/will-gompertz/

Collectors

• Carol Leonard - has been dubbed the ‘doyenne of boardroom head-hunters’ by the Financial Times.
• Gabrielle Blackman - one of the country's leading interior designers.

two walls of the exhibit by Carol Leonard (115 artworks) in the East Gallery
https://ingdeexhibition.org/gallery/carol-leonard/

part of the exhibit by Gabrielle Blackman (124 artworks)
https://ingdeexhibition.org/gallery/gabrielle-blackman/

What seemed very weird to me this year is that I found it quite difficult to distinguish between the individual selectors - with the exception of Will Gometz and Paul Carey-Kent - who happen to be the art critics - who both produced quite distinctive "looks" to their two exhibitions. 

Who knew it would be the art critics who would present me with the best visual experience?

Lessons from this Exhibition 

The thing about this exhibition, which is its unique distinction - a wealth of small artwork - is also what makes it very difficult to view on occasion.

I usually come out feeling as if I've just had a visual overload.  But there's overload and then there's indigestion.

Review: Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition 2024

This is a review of the Annual Exhibition 2024 of the Royal Society of Marine Artists - currently exhibiting at the Mall Galleries in London - until 28th September.

The exhibition is has lots of high quality artwork which is well hung and includes paintings (in various media), drawings, prints and sculpture and other 3D media.

Below this post covers

• different ways in which you can see the artwork
• a commentary on some of the aspects of the exhibition - given my commentary on a number of the artworks is contained in my Facebook albums
• an analysis of the sales to date - and a chart which shows these are spread across different price ranges and between members and open artists.

Marine scenes - water, skies and boats!
(East Gallery)

My artist to keep an eye on for the future in this year's exhibition produced the paintings top left and top right - and I was entirely unsurprised that top right sold - given it's a very contemporary painting of expensive yachts in a race at a prestigious event (racing around the Needles - in the Round the Island Race?) AND it's part of an edition of 5 and has been priced just under the £2k hurdle price! This very astute as well as accomplished artist is Alex Poyner and I fully expect her to become an Associate of the RSMA very soon - if she applies......

How to see the artwork online

I took a number of photographs when I visited the exhibition last Friday. This week I've spent a long time eliminating perspective distortions for those too high or too low for my current state of agility - and then uploading them to new Facebook Albums.  

These are the links to my photos of the:

• Artwork in the West Gallery
• Artwork in the North Gallery
• Artwork in the East Gallery

This is the only place - other than actually visiting the exhibition - where you can see the relative sizes of the artwork, which a lot of people find difficult to fathom when seeing artwork without a context and only numbers to guide them.

All my comments about artwork I liked can be found in commentary on artwork in the albums. 

You can also see 

• all the members artwork - in alphabetical order - on the RSMA website. I thought the idea of splitting the alphabet up into four separate pages and then providing clear signposts to different sections was excellent! A very fast solution to getting to see the artwork by the member whose artwork you really like!
• ALL the artwork  - by members and selected from the open entry - on the Mall Galleries website (see Annual Exhibition 2024 )
• if there was one criticism I'd make, it's that this image (below) is VERY BUSY.  The different text - in different fonts, sizes and colours - overlaying artwork makes it quite a challenge to understand quickly. I think it could be done a lot more simply - and that's the challenge I'm issuing for next year!

My comments on a number of matters

Exhibition Commentary 

To be honest, I've not got a lot to say which I didn't say last year (see Review: 78th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists) so, 

• given the context of my new priorities (see I'm back - but slowing down and walking more!) and 
• less time for writing blog posts, 

I'm going to try and be less long-winded and a bit more succinct!

Diversity

This is a very masculine art society. Hence it's always pleasing to see more and more female artists submitting artwork and getting selected. 

Call for Entries: ING Discerning Eye 2024

I've been covering the ever popular and unusual ING Discerning Eye 2024 exhibition for years. 

In 2024, the exhibition will be 

• at the Mall Galleries from Friday 15 to Sunday 24 November 2024 and 
• unsold work will remain online until the 1 January 2024 - making it available for all those looking for small artwork presents for Christmas!

ING Discerning Eye 2023
small 2D artworks on the wall and small 3D artworks on the plinths

About the ING Discerning Eye

Like most decent art competitions, it has 

• a reputable backer 
• The Discerning Eye is a visual arts focused educational charity. Its principal activity is to hold a rather unique annual exhibition 
• the exhibition is sponsored by ING Bank. Hence it is known as the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition.
• offers prizes - including the ING Purchase Prize, worth £5,000. Awards will be given out to the winners in a prize giving at the start of the exhibition.
• been running since 1999.

I've been covering it since 2007. (You can find blog posts - and sketches - on this blog going back to 2007 - see below!) In that time, I've also seen artists who have done well in this exhibition do well subsequently e.g. gallery representation! It's a really great way of getting noticed.

Visual language 
(some may recognise the model - at the 2007 ING Discerning Eye exhibition)
8" x 11", pencil and coloured pencil in sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

So what makes it different?

What's different about the ING Discerning Eye Competition and Exhibition?

The three key differences are:

• ALL the artwork is small
• the six selectors change every year AND each selector curates their own exhibition. In effect, there are six small exhibitions across the three galleries at the Mall Galleries by:
• two artists
• two curators
• two collectors

The selectors are solely responsible for their own selection; selection is not by committee.

• Selectors can also invite artists to exhibit as well as selecting artwork via the open entry BUT the selectors must choose at least 33% of their section from the open submission.

The exhibition comprises both publicly submitted works and works independently selected by six prominent figures from different areas of the art world: two artists, two collectors and two critics. Each section is hung separately to give each its own distinctive identity. The impression emerges of six small exhibitions within the whole.

I'd add a fourth difference. The implication of artwork being small is one might expect it to be also more affordable.  Artists who price high, for no good reason (eg having sold at that price regularly in the past being the best one) will just incur costs and are unlikely to sell.

You can see the standard of the artwork included in last year's exhibition in albums on my Facebook Page

ING Discerning Eye 2023

• Artwork chosen by: Eliza Gluckman Chris Levine Ian 'H' Watkins
• Artwork chosen by: Julian Wild, Tony Adams

Who can enter?

The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition is open to artists resident in the UK only.

What can you enter?

All works must be 

• an original creation by the artist
• within the maximum size limit of 50cm including frame.
• for sale.

Acceptable artwork/media includes paintings, drawings prints (including prints from i-pad drawings), photographs, and sculptures.

Work previously submitted is inadmissible. 

How to enter

Review: Royal Institute of Oil Painters - Annual Exhibition 2023

The Annual Exhibition 2023 of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters continues at the Mall Galleries until 16th December - and this is my review of it.

This review is going to focus on:

• The overall "look" and content of the exhibition - what I noticed about what had changed
• Paintings which jumped out at me - in a good way!
• Observations on framing and pricing

East Gallery + Private View

I've paid two visits to the exhibition. The first to the Private View when it was great to see a lot of artists I've not seen in a very long time. The second was last Friday when I got the chance to actually take photographs of the artwork in the three galleries without huge numbers of people in front of them!

I've loaded my photographs into three albums on my Making A Mark Facebook Page:

• ROI Annual Exhibition 2023 - West Gallery (57 items)
• ROI Annual Exhibition 2023 - East Gallery (21 items)
• ROI Annual Exhibition 2023 - North Gallery (16 items)

Unfortunately, Facebook appears to be suffering from malfunctions this week, as I'm unable to annotate all the images in the West Gallery album (as yet). 

I've tried to include all the various prizewinners - which you can read more about in this Mall Galleries post about Royal Institute of Oil Painters 2023 | Award Winners

This review is late in being published because I'm currently in the process of personal priorities related to dealing with matters related to my late Mother's Estate.

Look and Content

I've looked back at past ROI Exhibitions before making the comments below. As always it was well hung. 

Size of paintings

To me, it seems as if the exhibition lacks the number of large feature paintings - which draw attention and anchor a wall - as it normally has. 

I think the current economic context may have influenced artists to submit smaller work in the hope that it sells.

In doing so, they would be following the very well trodden path that I saw in very many exhibitions post between 2008 and 2010 during the banking crisis. 

Once you know that larger more expensive paintings are simply not selling, there's a considerable incentive to reduce your expenses in terms of shipping and framing and submit the size of works which might suit buyers pocketbooks better.

EXCEPT this then means the exhibition loses impact.

If I may be so bold as to suggest, I'd like to see all member artists sending in at least one large painting and then the rest can be any size they like. Large paintings are there to capture attention and make the viewer appreciate the expertise involved. They also help create a positive impresssion with visitors - so long as the paintings are good.

Colour

The paintings also lack colour to some extent. There's a lot of dark / grey / muted / neutral paintings. Looked at one their own - by one artist - this is not an issue. Looked at in a large exhibition, it begins to be noticeable. However I did feel the North Gallery was rather muted this year.

ROI Annual Exhibition 2023 - North Gallery

Take as another example the end wall in the West Gallery - devoted to the theme of Urban Life. 

Quite a subdued neutral wall - only the vegetation stands out!

I came away on the Friday feeling a little wintery and underwhelmed. Which is not to say that there's not a lot of excellent paintings in this exhibition.  

The Paintings which jumped out at me

Given the above comments I've decided to focus on some of the paintings which jumped out at me - in a nice way!

I typically walk around an exhibition about three times. 

• first time round, I'm just looking at the art and not at the labels (who painted it etc.) or whether it's won a prize - just looking to get a general impression and see what jumps out at me
• second time round, I'm looking to see if the things which appealed the first time still appeal - and this time I look at the labels and pay particular attention to who painted them
• third time I'm collecting data on who has sold - and for how much!

So here's my top 10 - in no particular order

That said, I thought this was by far the best painting in the show. I'm not normally a fan of hyperrealistic artwork but there's such a lot to admire in this one. I was really surprised to see that it had not won a prize - particularly given the emerging status of the artist.

Review: ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2023

The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2023 opened to the public last Friday - when I visited. This is a review of what I found - but first some facts about this very unusual exhibition and how it works - and who are the six selectors who have created six very different exhibits in 2023

(This post has been updated since it was first published with respect to the number of entries, selected works and artists - see below)

The end of the West Gallery featured a lot of sculpture and 3D works.
I couldn't quite work out whether these all related to just one selector
as the names of the artists suggested not.....

At a time when sponsorship is being withdrawn and art competitions are dying on their feet, ING are to be very much applauded for their continued sponsorship of this open art competition / exhibition.

• ING has been supporting this exhibition every year since 1999!
• This makes it one of the longest corporate art sponsorships in the UK

Since it began in 1999, 11,000 works by 4,000 artists have been exhibited, £290,000 has been awarded in prize money, and over £1 million worth of art has been sold on behalf of the artists

The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition

The Discerning Eye is a visual arts focused educational charity. Its principal activity is to hold a rather unique annual exhibition sponsored by the bank ING - and hence it is known as the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition.

Ian Watkin's Exhibit

What's special about this exhibition is that it is:

• an annual show of small-scale works - which are all for sale
• chosen by two artists, two art collectors and two critics / people who have art-related occupations
  
• as a result, there are six different exhibits - one for each of the selectors
• while 25% of each exhibits MUST come from the open entry, the selectors are also able to invite artists they like to exhibit their work
• it's a good opportunity for 
• emerging artists to get their work seen, appreciated and exhibited - albeit in a small way!
• artists whose work may not always please ALL the selectors!

Within each selection works from, as yet lesser known artists, hang alongside pieces by those who are more established or internationally recognised.

The exhibition is 

• open daily 10am - 5pm in all three galleries at the Mall Galleries in London
• it closes on Sunday 26th November at 1pm

You can also VIEW EACH EXHIBIT ONLINE

Plus I am going to be uploading my photographs of the exhibition to an album on my Making A Mark Facebook Page.

• 

  ING Discerning Eye 2023

  38 items
• 

  ING Discerning Eye 2023 (Part 2)

  37 items

I've included representative ones of each exhibit in this review.

Part of the Exhibit by Chris Levine in the North Gallery
- probably the most curated and gallery like of them all in terms of presentation

The 2023 Curators

Links embedded in the selectors name are to their ONLINE EXHIBIT.

(Quite why the URL for each exhibit bears absolutely no relationship to the selector's name is beyond me - but is the sort of thing I notice!)

Artists

• Chris Levine, a luminary in light art, 
• Julian Wild, an accomplished sculptor, 

Curator/ Critics

• Péjú Oshin, a distinguished curator, currently Associate Director at Gagosian
• Eliza Gluckman, Director of the Government Art Collection

Eliza Gluckman - part of her exhibition in the East Gallery

Art Collectors

• Ian "H" Watkins one of the singers in Steps who is passionate about painting
• Tony Adams - former Arsenal and England football captaiN.

The exhibit by Tony Adams - in the West Gallery

My review

My reviews tend to focus on a lot of practical aspects and things of interest to artists wanting to be selected for the exhibition, visitors to the exhibition and those whose wanting to buy. These are all summed up below in 

• what I liked
• what I disliked 

That's not to say I don't have an opinion on the art - but it is so diverse and eclectic it's difficult to have a coherent view about the artwork itself