"Figurative Art Now" opens online - and transport responsibility has changed!!

The online exhibition of "Figurative Art Now" has opened online on the Mall Galleries website.

Before I review the exhibition, I want to comment again on the issue of who picks up the transport cost for sales - because there has been a significant change.

You may remember that:

• I didn't publicise the Call for Entries - which was for a very specific reason. The grossly unfair and not well publicised condition that the artist paid for the transport to the buyer no matter where they lived in the world! Which just filled me with horror given all the issues to do with export and customs for artists who may never have shpped an artwork before
  
• I then put up a post Figurative Art Now: how fair are the T&C to artists? just before the deadline for entries highlighting this - and a lot of people who had already entered rushed back to the dashboard for entries and changed their prices to cover postage and packing as per the terms and conditions!

I also made my views known to a few key people.

I'm guessing this is maybe what has helped trigger a change of heart over who pays for the transport of the art to the buyer.

I'm VERY pleased for all the artists to say that 

• if you click on an image of an artwork, you are taken to the unique page for that artwork
• and the page now states very clearly - under Fulfilment Info
  

This work will be sent directly from the artist in the UK. The purchaser is responsible for the cost of transport; please see our Art Sales Collection and Delivery page for more information.

Mall Galleries will support and facilitate transportation quotes and provide artwork locations where required.

Note the column on the right which makes clear that
the buyer is responsible for transport

 

This is reiterated on the Art Sales Collection and Delivery Page on the website.

What's still not clear is who is responsible for packing - and I think this needs to be made EXPLICIT.

My view would be that 

• if the work is small then that's something the artist can easily arrange. 
• However, for larger works packaging is a VERY critical part of the safe transport of an item and it's more usual for those transporting to also arrange packing - as they know best (or should do!) what's required for safe transport.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see on that one.

I'd appreciate feedback on how it all works.

At least it's now much more consistent with the arrangements for the ad hoc purchase of artwork from artists via the 'Buy Art' section of the site - which had ALWAYS made it clear that the buyer picks up or pays for transport.

UPDATE: Fine Art Transport Services and Couriers in the UK in 2020

I've spent some time today updating the UK Art Movers & Couriers & Fine Art Transport Services on my Art Business Info for Artists website (Ship Art section).

As part of my review of matters relating to the Recession, I wanted to check the current status of current providers of transport services for fine art.
Changes made include:

• CHECKING on current information provided and revising as required. (I've not quite finished)
• ADDING IN new providers - some new sole traders and private limited companies offering to pack/move art around the UK
• ADDING CAUTION NOTES - in relation to their current trading status and/or compliance with UK ecommerce regulations

I'm also looking for some help in keeping this page updated throughout the year - in order to avoid artists getting caught out by a business in the process of going under.  (please see the end).

Basic data checks and compliance checks re. regulations

I now check each service against a set of criteria - and a number of the services have noticed and have started to address their shortcomings!

TIPS for entries to the 2020 RA Summer Exhibition

This is a longer Guide to the Call for Entries for the 2020 Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. I gave a brief summary of what you need to do in RA Summer Exhibition 2020: Call for Entries (SHORT version)

I used to do a detailed long guide to how to enter but I'm not convinced people read it. (If you want to read last year's take a look at my detailed guide last year (but ignore the 12,000 entries bit- they dropped that without telling anybody!)

This post covers background advice and tips relating:

• The Largest Open Exhibition
• Observations on the Selection and Hanging Committee
• TIPS for Submission
• Photography Matters
• Pricing and Selling 

The VERY Overcrowded Entrance to the Exhibition
left me wondering whether the Health and Safety People has been asked to comment.....

The Largest Open Exhibition

This is the largest open exhibition in the world. A huge number of artworks get hung or displayed in the exhibition.

Consequently the curation is critical to the success of the exhibition.  I confess I really notice the difference each year based on who curated it and who was on the Selection and Hanging Committee. The exhibitions oscillate between marvellous and boring - with quite a lot of tedium and rather too few gems.

Last year was just weird. It felt like the least curated exhibition ever. In the end I was so bored by last year's exhibition that I walked out before the end, did not go back and did not write a blog post about it. I do however have a stack of photos - but I keep reminding myself I only photographed what I liked and not the complete mishmash inbetween.

On the other hand the RA reckons they had their best ever sales last year. I'd like to know whether that best ever relates to number of sales or value of sales. Whichever I suspect a vast number of sales are accounted for by the fine art prints which are often very affordable and popular artworks have many red dots!

See more about Pricing and Selling below.

Sarah Rogers - Sleeping Mouse (not 2019)

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for all Printmakers

I very much recommend this exhibition to all those people who are skilled fine art printmakers - particularly those who work in series and sell at affordable prices (under £1,000). 

There are a lot of people who visit and try to buy an artwork from the Summer Exhibition and they invariably, for budget reasons, choose a print.

Take a look at the prints which were exhibited last year - and also take a look at their pricing and don't get silly. Overpriced prints do not sell whereas reasonably priced ones just walk off the walls. I always do a calculation every year in relation to some of the prints of what the value of the print has been in terms of the sales achieved.

For example, the one below - on the day I visited - had netted gross sales (of the framed print @ £560 on display and other unframed original prints @ £450) of £11,380 - and bear in mind it's one of a series of four with different views of London. People do like to collect....

Richmond Park - etching by Mychael Barrett (part of a series)
One of my favourite prints in 2019

I sometimes wonder why the RA don't do a separate shorter exhibition just for the fine art printmakers - but based on the same principles as the Summer Exhibition.  They would sell enormous numbers of prints if they did.

Selection and Hanging Committee 2020: Observations

Call for Entries: BP Portrait Award (Part2) - How to Enter

This post is about 

• the MAJOR CHANGES to how you enter the BP Portrait Award 2020 at the National Portrait Gallery
• How to enter the BP Portrait Award 2020.

Key info is highlighted in red.

Selected portraits for the 2019 Exhibition
- the winning entry is on the right

Yesterday, in Part 1, I wrote about the key things you need to think about when considering an entry to this competition.

I recommend that you READ THESE POSTS before submitting an entry

• Call for Entries: BP Portrait Award 2020 (Part 1) which explains
• why this exhibition has changed in the last two years - and I'm afraid not for the better
• reasons from the past as to why you should enter this competition for a first prize of £35,000
• my recommendations as to a possible approach for 2020.
• BP Portrait Award Exhibition 2019 (Part 1): Overview critique. I still feel the same way several months after seeing this exhibition.
• BP Portrait Award Exhibition 2019 (Part 2): Analysis - which highlights what has CHANGED about this competition in terms of number of paintings, size and media, type (eg the range between whole body and head study), composition, colour and subject

The GOOD NEWS is that the works exhibited in the Porter Gallery for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Award (which I saw yesterday at the press preview) are all at head height.  

I was advised that the gallery has listened to the comments they received about the hang of the BP Portrait Award 2019 exhibition and additional display walls have been introduced to provide the extra space needed to provide a decent exhibition.

My reservation is that the corridors they create are narrow and I anticipate the complaint in 2020 will be that you cannot get far enough away from the painting to look at it properly. The corridor at the back is particularly narrow.

New display boards in the Porter Gallery
(for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Award)

BP Portrait Award 2020: What are the major changes?

Oh dear! 
The Official Document about the Entry and Judging Process

There really is NO EXCUSE for misleading people who to enter the competition!

Major Change for BPA2020 #1: Deadline for Entries is 11 December 2019

The first major change is that the deadline is 6 weeks earlier than last year - i.e. 11th December 2019  and nearly two months earlier than it has been in the past - with absolutely no prior warning.
Or as one person put it on Facebook...

BP portrait award 2020...closing entry date is 11th December 2019!!!!!!!!!??😳😱

It's rather more instructive that so few people have picked this up because there are almost no comments about it on Facebook of Twitter.

I reckon that's because momentum to think about submitting an entry usually only gets underway in December.  Some think about planning to get their work finished in time while others start thinking about starting so they can get it finished over Christmas and get the digital entry sorted without the oil looking wet before the end of January!

The crucial aspect for portrait painters who use oils is drying times. Not to mention those who are routinely painting right up to the last minute!

So I think the notion of having something else to do over the Christmas New Year period is just beginning to dawn on a few portrait artists. Or maybe more than a few?

I gather the issue has arisen due to the fact that a decision to close the entire gallery has only been taken relatively recently. Hence the lack of notice.

Major Change for BPA2020 #2: A Much Shorter and Earlier Exhibition

EVERY Introduction Page to the BP Portrait Award microsite that I have ever seen has included the dates of the Exhibition

Except the one for 2020.

I conclude the reason is because:

• the dates and length of the exhibition have changed. 
• when the Call For Entries was published last week the NPG had still not announced that the National Portrait Gallery will close for three years as of the end of June 2020.

Thus:

• Instead of it being a three month exhibition between June and September, 
• it's now going to become a five week exhibition ONLY between May and June.

The net result of this is much less exposure than hitherto and probably fewer visitors to the exhibition.

Or alternatively the same number of visitors in a shorter space of time - which will make viewing unpleasant.

Hopefully it will be counterbalanced by longer displays at more provincial galleries - but there's no indication of that at present.

BP Portrait Award 2020:
How to enter for those who don't like lots of small print

First read this paragraph from the website - and then reflect on whether you are sending your very best work.

The BP Portrait Award 2019 received 2,538 entries from 84 countries. Judged anonymously, 44 portraits were selected for the exhibition.

The basics - on the website

Exporting Art (Part 1): The Invoice

This is a technical post about what you need to include on an invoice when exporting an artwork to another country.

I've got two reasons for producing this post

• First, to be honest, I'm writing it all down because I forget!  I've sent quite a few artworks overseas but I always have to spend time double-checking I've done everything correctly after referencing all the proper sources of information.
• Second, I periodically hear about people whose artwork has got stuck at Customs.  I must confess I do speculate to myself about whether they've maybe missed out one of the essential tasks! (see Parts 1 AND 2 OF "Exporting Art")

Below you will find

• a checklist of information which should be supplied to enable artwork to clear customs quickly and without a problem
• a link to where you can download a proforma invoice like the one I use (see below).  

Proforma Export Invoice for Artwork
(right click to see a larger version in new tab)

What to include on an invoice when exporting art

The example proforma invoice referenced is for an artwork which had been commissioned and is to be exported to another country.

You can find An Export Invoice for Art available as a Word document on my Making A Mark website - which you can download for FREE.

Your Information

Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize 2013: Call For Entries

The Call for Entries for the 8th Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize has been published.

The Prize encourages the very best creative representational painting and promotes the skill of draughtsmanship. The Exhibition of works selected by the Panel of Judges will be held at the Mall Galleries in February 2013.

Cover of Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize 2013 Call for Entries Leaflet

I have to say I do very much like the brand new website which the Prize has this year.

To download the Call for Entries leaflet, Entry Form and labels, please visit the Info for Artists page.

Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize 2013

Prizes

The prizes total £25,000 in value - which means this ranks as one of the most prestigious art competitions in the UK.  This prize fund is allocated as follows:

• First Prize : £15,000 and a Gold Medal
• 5 Runner-Up Prizes each at: £1,500
• Young Artist Award: £2,500 (The Young Artist Award is for an artist who is 25 years of age or under on 11 January 2013)

Exhibition

The Judges will select approximately 100 works for the Annual Exhibition which will be held at the Mall Galleries, The Mall, London SW1 from 18th February to 2nd March 2013. Admission is free.

The Exhibition will also be online.  Images of work selected for the 2012 Exhibition can be seen at  http://www.lynnpainterstainersprize.org.uk/exhibition/

What's happened in the past?

You can see the artwork shortlisted for the Lynn Painter Stainers Prize on the website on the Past Winners page

Panel of Judges

The panel of judges for the 2013 Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize comprises:

• Nina Murdoch - painter in egg tempera.  Nina has exhibited across the UK and won numerous awards including 1st Prize in the first Threadneedle Art Prize 2008.
• Antony Williams RP, PS, NEAC - painter in egg tempera.  Antony won 1st Prize 2012 Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize with his painting Still life with electric fan. 
• Andrew Lambirth - writer.  He's a regular contributor to The Spectator and has written books and essays on numerous contemporary artists. 
• Ken Howard OBE, RA, PPNEAC, RWS ,  painter in oils and watercolour - Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Painter Stainers, Professor of Perspective at the RA Schools 2004-2012, Past President of NEAC and Judge in 2012
• Andrew Wilton, Visiting Research Fellow at Tate - Member of the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers and Judge in 2012

The judges will be looking at all the paintings submitted throughout the UK in mid January 2013. For further information about the judges Read More

What are the chances of success?

First things first - it helps to be realistic about the chances of success.

In 2012, 1,150 entries from all over the UK were submitted and 98 were selected and hung in the exhibition.  That equates to 8.5% chance of a work being selected - which as major competitions go in the UK is actually pretty good!

The other way of looking at this is that you have a 91.5% chance of spending money on framing, transporting and submitting your artwork for absolutely no return.  So if budgets are tight you need to make sure you are fully aware of what costs are involved and have confirmation in writing (see my Recommendation at the end re unselected and unsold works).

How to Enter