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The DE people have done a count and calculated that in the first 25 years:
3,563 artists have been selected for the 25 exhibitions and
12,490 works of art have been exhibited!
What's very interesting is that the website now lists the top 20 artists who have shown work in the shows. Those with a number more than 25 have had multiple works picked in certain years.
What makes this interesting is that these are artists who either have universal appeal over time - or are very well connected to those doing the selection! (i.e. the table does not explain how many were invited to exhibit and how many of the paintings came from selection via the open entry). Whichever, it's still a fascinating list.
Below is the list and embedded in their names is a link to their website. Interspersed are
some of my photos from past exhibitions - although I've only been covering them for 10 years. (Below is my own small work - a sketch from the 2007 ING Discerning Eye exhibition - which is one of my favourites. I believe that Mall Galleries enthusiasts will have no difficulty recognising the man with no face!)
some quotations from individuals associated with the exhibitions.
Small paintings, at their best, have something unique to offer the viewer - intimacy. Intimacy affords the artist an opportunity to speculate. Qualities which would normally be inappropriate in a larger work thrive. Small paintings can be exquisite, tentative and fragile. Small paintings can embrace uncertainty without seeming flawed. By the same token small paintings demand a kind of accuracy on the part of the artist, accuracy of intention. | Graham Crowley - top 20 artist and artist selector 2002
"Visual Language"
my sketch in pencil and coloured pencil from my first ING Discerning Eye exhibition
Most Shown Artists at Discerning Eye
Light reflected across the valley - Paul Newland (DE 2015)
oil, 15x15 inches
Joint top with 34 works each are:
Paul Newland RWS- a favourite of mine. This is an artist who really knows how to use watercolour for atmospheric and seasonal effect.
These are framers who are recommended by artists who have used them - on the artist's website or blog.
they are listed in two different ways:
traditional vs online
geographical location - in the UK and Ireland
At present the listing is limited to the UK and Ireland but there's no reason why it shouldn't include people around the world.
There's just one thing - the recommendation has to come from the artist and there needs to be evidence of a recommendation on his or her website or blog.
You are very welcome to add your recommendations to this list If you'd like to recommend a picture framer this is what you do.
Complete the form at the bottom of the website page
state your name and your email address (ie recommendations cannot be anonymous and can only come from artists)
state the name of the Framer, where they are located
Identify the URL of a website or blog where you recommend this framer online. If you haven't recommended the framer online then the framer cannot be added to this listing.
By way of explanation, it's more convincing as a recommendation if you also list them on your website and/or have examples of their work on your website.
Who do you recommend as a picture framer?
Below are links to more of blog posts about framing and hanging pictures.
The annual exhibitions at the Mall Galleries by the art societies belonging to the Federation of British Arts all now have have their catalogue and images online prior to the exhibition opening.
Cover of the NEAC Catalogue for the 2017 Annual Exhibition
In practical terms what this means is:
VISIT: you can see very quickly if this is an exhibition you'd like to visit in person
COLLECT: art collectors who follow particular artists now tend to buy in advance of the exhibition opening - to make sure they get the artwork they want!
BUY ONLINE: those used to buying art online are much more likely to have a good look at what's on offer beforehand - rather than wait for the exhibition opening
GET A BARGAIN!: those on the lookout for "the smart buy" - a great painting selling for a very reasonable sum - are now much more likely to be bought in advance. I'd liken these to the small paintings which always sell well and very quickly at the PV.
THINK AGAIN: If you get home and then wish you'd bought the painting you liked, you now have a very easy way of doing something about this.
What you need to do if you want to buy
First check out the paintings and drawings in the exhibition
To do this click on the title below the artwork (i.e. don't click on the image - nothing happens!)
CLICK TITLE below the artwork to see a larger image
This will bring up a page for the artwork which has
a form to complete to make an enquiry about the artwork
an invitation to "view in a room" - which gives an approximate size rather than exact.
This is the page you will see if you click the title
If you want to buy a painting you like the look of you need to:
EITHER email the Mall Galleries using the form which pops up on the page for the artwork (after you have clicked on the title)
OR telephone the Mall Galleries on 0207 930 6844 and you will be able to purchase the painting using plastic over the phone.
TIP: I tend to right click on the title to bring up the image in a new tab. That's because the back button on my browser takes me back to the beginning of the virtual exhibition rather than the specific page I'd got to.
View of part of last year's Jerwood Drawing Exhibition
This is the last year of Jerwood's sponsorship of The Drawing Prize project.
The project was founded in 1994 as the Rexel Derwent Open Drawing Exhibition
Between 1996 and 2000 it was known as the Cheltenham Open Drawing Exhibition
Then in 2001, the Jerwood Charitable Foundation became its principal benefactor.
It's now a prize in search of sponsor for 2018.
In the meantime the 2017 exhibition for The Jerwood Drawing Prize is seeking entries for and exhibition and somebody to give the prizes to!
Those who entered the Derwent Drawing Prize in 2016 should certainly be taking a look below...
One of the Student Awards 2016
went to the drawings of "dreams and nightmares" by Amelie Barnathan
Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017 - Summary of Key Points
This open exhibition is a platform for drawing practitioners to showcase their work alongside other leading contemporary artists in the field, and provides those selected with the opportunity to help promote a wider understanding of drawing for future generations.
Second Prize 2016: Sid in Bathtub
ball pen on tracing paper
by Anna Sofie Jespersen
The deadline for registration of entries is 17.00 on 28th June 2017
Drawings must then be submitted to a number of Regional Collection Centres for drop-off and/or pick-up in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and around the English regions - see end of this post
Fees for submission vary between London and the Regions.
Work can be for sale - but you need to allow for the 50% commission levied on all sales made at the exhibition(s).
Notification of selection will via email by Friday 21 July 2017
"which offers an almost sculptural digital rendering of the transformative and fluid drawing process."
The Selection Panel 2017
The Selection Panel will aim to create an exhibition that explores and celebrates the excellence and range of current drawing practice in the UK.
The Panel members are:
Dr David Dibosa, writer, researcher and Reader in Museology at the University of the Arts London. A number of you may remember Dr Dibosa from the BBC's Big Painting Challenge. I was not impressed - as readers of my blog posts about each episode may recall. He's an academic and a curator not a practising artist. I'm guessing he might be better suited to this role.
Helen Legg, Director of Spike Island, an international centre for the development of contemporary art and design, based in Bristol (who has got an interesting Twitter account @elenheggl) and
The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017 exhibition will, as usual, be at the Jerwood Space, 171 Union Street, London SE1.
The Jerwood Drawing Prize winners will be announced on Tuesday 12 September 2017.
The exhibition opens to the public on 13 September and continues until 22 October 2017.
It will then tour to venues across the UK.
The Jerwood Drawing Prizes 2017
First Prize: £8,000;
Second Prize: £5,000 and
two Student Awards: £2,000 each
All four prizewinners in 2016 were women.
The second prize was won by Anna Sofie Jespersen (b.1992) for her ball pen on tracing paper work, Sid in Bathtub (studying for a Fine Art Degree at Chelsea College of Art)
Two Student Awards of £2,000 each went to
Jade Chorkularb (b. 1971) for "That What They Would Do" a video of real-time drawings during interviews with people being asked what they would do if they only had an hour left to live.
Amelie Barnathan (b. 1991). studying for her MA in Visual Communication at the RCA produced large-scale drawings which rendered dreams and nightmares.
Collection Points
London - Wimbledon College of Art
Bath - Bath School of Art and Design
Belfast - School of Art University of Ulster
Aberystwyth - Aberystwyth University, School of Art
Cheltenham - University of Gloucestershire Hardwick Campus
Glasgow - Centre for Contemporary Arts
Leeds - The Tetley 1st Floor Galleries
Newcastle-upon-Tyne - Fine Art Department, King Edward VII Building, Newcastle University
Norwich - Outside Colman House, University of East Anglia
Plymouth - Main reception Plymouth College of Art
Please note that all Submission and Collection dates and times may be subject to change.
This year 2,580 artists entered portraits for the BP Portrait Award - but only 53 from 87 countries were selected for the 2017 Exhibition of the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery this summer. This blog post is about those artists who have been selected to exhibit in the BP Portrait Award 2017 Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery this summer.
the BP Portrait Award 2017 represents the very best in contemporary portrait painting
Here are some numbers:
In terms of entries, out of the 2,580 entries from all over the world
1,214 Entries came from the UK - England, Scotland and Wales (47%)
1,366 Entriescame from 84 other countries(53%)
218 paintings (8.4%) of the original entries made it through to the final judging session at Trinity Buoy Wharf.
The judges then reduced this number to their selection of the final 53 for the exhibition (representing 2% of the total number of entries).
Alan Coulson with his portrait painting selected for the BP Portrait Award 2017
See the names of the selected artists - organised by the country where they live at present - BELOW - plus:
links to their websites and
a short summary of their CV
some photos of the artists and/or their portraits
Allocation to country takes detective work! Where I couldn't work out a country I created a category at the end called "unknown". If anybody spots a mistake with a website please let me know via comment or contact me.
SELECTED ARTISTS ARE INVITED to send me a copy of the image of their portrait - to feature in this blog post - along with a copy of their confirmation email. See the side column for how to contact me.
The Best of the Rest
My commiserations to all those reading this who entered but were not selected for the exhibition
My BP "Best of the Rest" will be published on Sunday (subject to receiving enough images of portraits)
At the end of the post, you can find links to my posts about selected artists in previous years. Taken together these are an excellent method for studying the type of portraiture which gets selected for this award.
Today I must congratulate all those artists who have been selected for the exhibition.
LINKS TO THEIR WEBSITES are embedded in their names in the list below (where available).
Previous prizewinners are highlighted in red
Those previously selected for the BP have a link to previous portraits (unless they were in those years of the very irritating exhibitor listings where you have to go through all portraits one by one from the beginning and/or there were a lot!)
The Websites of Contemporary Painters in the UK- Get your website sorted BEFORE you enter a juried art competition or miss out on the traffic when the names of selected artists are announced!
The photos below are a mix of
portraits sent to me of work selected for this year's exhibition and
images of artists with their portraits due to being selected for previous exhibits.
