12th Wildlife Artist of the Year won by Stephen Rew

The Wildlife Artist of the Year 2019 Exhibition is currently on at the Mall Galleries until 2nd June 2019.  It contains 152 artworks for sale which were juried and selected for exhibition.

The Wildlife Artist of the Year juried art competition was established by David Shepherd CBE FRSA (1931 – 2017). It represents his vision for ‘The Art of Survival’ – using art for wildlife conservation. The exhibition is all about exhibiting the best in wildlife art and raising funds for wildlife conservation.

Below you can find:

• facts about the exhibition and how to see it
• the list of the award winners
• my commentary on the exhibition - which this year is focused on what's different

Includes two paintings by last year's winner (top right and centre)
and two paintings of an animal - the polar bear - which won the year before in 2017!

You can see online

• the shortlist of selected artworks featured in the exhibition and shortlisted for category prizes - for those unable to get to London,
• an online exhibition of those artworks which didn’t make onto the walls of the exhibition at the Mall Galleries but which the judges believe demonstrate incredible skill and creativity. These are also for sale.

50% of every sale will go directly to saving endangered species and fighting wildlife crime across Africa and Asia.

Unfortunately I missed the preview and awards on Tuesday evening as I was at the National Portrait Gallery all day watching the Final of next year's Portrait Artist of the Year 2020 being filmed. However I visited the exhibition yesterday afternoon and images from this year's exhibition can be found below.

The Wildlife Artist of the Year Exhibition

50% of the sales of all works of art also goes to the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation's wildlife conservation projects across Africa and Asia.

View of the exhibition in the Main Gallery of the Mall Galleries

Every year this exhibition attracts a lot of entries from all over the world. Many wildlife artists regard just getting selected as a major achievement given the number and calibre of the entries it gets.  It's particularly strong on wildlife art of the more exotic variety.

The competition is open to amateur and professional artists aged 17 and over and welcomes all traditional artistic mediums (excluding digital and photography).

For all aspiring wildlife artists it's an ESSENTIAL exhibition to visit. Although you can view the prizewinners online and on Facebook, you can only really appreciate the quality of the paintings and sculpture when viewed in the galleries.

The exhibition opened on Wednesday 29th May and is open as follows

• Until Friday – 10am to 5pm
• Saturday – 10am to 4pm
• Sunday – 10am – 1pm

MORE OBSERVATIONS on the exhibition after the list of awards below.....

Wildcard Artists wanted for Landscape Artist of the Year 2019

The entry for Wildcard Artists for Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year 2019 opened at 10am this morning. I found out from one of those who got an invite because she didn't make the cut for the 48 artists who will be in the pods - while watching the Final of the Portrait Artist of the Year 2020 at the National Portrait Gallery today!

Below you can find out more about

• where the Heats are located
• the dates of the Heats
• how to enter as a Wildcard Artist

Wildcards Artists for Landscape Artist of the Year 2019

You can't be a wildcard unless you can make it to one of the Heats. These are as follows

Herstmonceux, East Sussex

• Heat 1: 12th June 2019
• Heat 2: 13th June 2019

Herstmonceux is a village in the Weald in East Sussex.  It's a pretty safe bet that one of the two locations will be Herstmonceux Castle 2 miles (3.2 km) south-east of the village. It may be that this provides two locations - with a view of the Castle and Gardens and a view of the lake. See the website and the map of the gardens

Alternatively they may go for the The Observatory Science Centre which is close by and has some pretty odd shaped buildings

An aerial view of Herstmonceux Castle

Plymouth, Devon

• Heat 3: 19th June 2019
• Heat 4: 20th June 2019

My guess is potential sites are:

• Mount Edgecumbe - which is a designated film location with lots on site and views of the Tamar
• Plymouth Hoe - which has a lighthouse and another curious building
• Various docks and dockyards - including Devonport

Plymouth Hoe

Gateshead, Tyne and Wear

• Heat 5: 3rd July 2019
• Heat 6: 4th July 2019

I'm guessing here (well they're all total guesses!) but my bet is on:

• The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art - situated in the old Mills building - and Gateshead Waterfront
• Gateshead Millenium Bridge - which opens and tilts

Baltic Mills and the Bridge over the Tyne

Gateshead Millennium Bridge - when open and tilted

Invitation to be a Wildcard Artist

You have to click on your Preferred Heat to apply - and once 50 Wildcard Places have been given out that's it. Which is not to say you can't just turn up anyway - you just won't get the chance to be in the semi-final.

I'm getting "closed" on each of the Heats which may well mean all the places have gone. Alternatively they have a GLITCH!

On a first-come, first-served basis we will be offering 50 Wild Card places at each of our heats. By bringing your own easel and materials you could join us at one of our spectacular locations around the country and paint a landscape in front of the judges. If your painting impresses them you could win the opportunity to go through to the semi-final and move a step closer to winning a £10,000 commission.

 The Wildcard page includes

• a link to the Wildcard Terms and Conditions
• the answers to Frequently Asked Questions

RECOMMENDED: There is no F in Art

Imagine you came across a book which says all the things about contemporary art that you think - but only occasionally say 'out loud'.

Imagine a book about 'art' which really makes you think about what's art and what's not.

Who says it's art and should we believe them?

You'd want to read it - or at the very least look at the juxtaposition of pictures and quotations and statements of facts about the current art market.

It's not often I come across small books which make you think about art - and the art world. This is one of them

I was sent a copy of There is No F in Art by its author Eli Castelli and found it both provoking and and enjoyable.

The book is a bit like a rather clever picture book which highlights the juxtaposition of words - often quotations - with images images of artwork and some clever graphics.

In essence it really highlights how much the importance and value of art very often lies 

• NOT in the art itself or the artist 
• but rather in the words written about it - often written by people other than the artist!

These are my comments to the author.

You love words don't you? I keep wondering what your background is - and it has to involve words....

It's thought provoking. I think the bits which hit home clearest for me was how the art is often in the words of those labelling or marketing the art and the value is often attributed by the words rather than created by the artist i.e. who makes the art - the artist or the wordsmith or marketeer.

I kept getting a sense I'd heard some things said before - but that made sense when I got to the bibliography at the back and might possibly be to do with my own reading on similar subjects.

Nevertheless it's a much more accessible way of making the essential points.

I've maintained for a very long time that Damien Hirst's real talent lies in marketing!

It turns out I was right and the author's background involved marketing and the music business in the past.

It takes a marketing person to spot what's product and what's marketing - and where the value lies!

I feel conceptual ‘art' relies on 'art speak’ to justify it as a genre, as most of it fails to speak for itself - Eli Castelli

About the book - There is no F in Art

RECOMMENDED: This is a small book which identifies what you really need to know about contemporary art and the art market.

I very definitely RECOMMEND this book

• to art students 
• to those wanting to get involved in the contemporary art market - as either an artist or art collector 
• to all those who want to write about art - mainly so they stop sounding like pretentious [expletive (plural) deleted].

The book covers:

• What is Art
• Who says it's art and should we believe them?
• Isn't Charles Saatchi the Artist?
• Is Conceptual Art a Con?
• The Art of Marketing Art to the Art Market?
• Is the Best Art the Most Expensive?
• Tate Modern - Scared Institution or Sunday Playground? 
• The Next ...Ism

Title: There is no F in Art
Author: Eli Castelli (it's a pseudonym. This and the name of the publishers is why I said yes when asked did I want to review it)

Thanks for the swift reply Katherine. You are only the second person to notice the "juxtaposition" of Eli Broad and Leo Castelli

Publisher: Sven Dali Press - note the puns continue!
Pages: 112 pages
Paperback / Product Dimensions: 17.7 x 1.3 x 12.1 cm
Price (new) £7.99
You can find it

• on Amazon UK (associate) 
• on Amazon.com (associate)
• in Foyles and Waterstones and most leading/good sellers of art books.

About the author

My background is Marketing and when Saatchi first put a Shark on display in Boundary Rd, I said to my aspiring artists friends "this feels more like my world than yours!" I was at the Tate Modern in February 2018, looking to impress my visiting niece with some of the finest art and it felt more like a playground (adult sized swings & giant disco ball) than a sacred museum (attached). I was further 'uninspired' when we moved onto the Conceptual art room & more so, when the room guide told me the Curators wrote the wall descriptions.

I contacted Saatchi, Tate Modern curators and read several books by Sarah Thornton, Grayson Perry, Don Thompson, Georgina Adam, Sotheby's Philip Hook and watched endless interviews with Rauschenberg, Koons, Poons, Hirst, Gagosian, Richter, Murakami, Emin, Robert Hughes, Jerry Saltz... I also saw and thoroughly enjoyed the Swedish film, The Square.

When the book was printed The Price Of Everything came out soon after. There's a lot of common ground, purely by coincidence.

Art students are my main customers so far, an MA from St Martins saying "it's a beginners guide to the art market."

My aim was to stimulate some sort of conversation, the way art does and should in my opinion. I also tried to create a mirror effect within the book's layout & design and added art history references for people to discover & question for themselves.

Website: www.SvenDaliPress.com

Instagram: @NoFinART

Facebook: www.facebook.com/NoFinART

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoFinART1

Modern & Post-War British Art - Exhibition at Sotheby's

I spent more time today looking at the catalogue for the Modern & Post-War British Art evening auction taking place at Sotheby's in London on 18th - 19th June 2019

It's got a lot of interesting artworks by various artists and I very much recommend you 

• view the 5 day exhibition (see dates, times and venue address at the end) in advance of the auction
• take a look at the catalogue if interested in this period of British Art 
• click the link to Modern & Post-War British Art 
• either scroll down the page 
• or click a pic and go straight to the detailed page for that artwork - and click the pic again and get a larger image

The feet of "Beautiful Girl Lying Down" by Euan Uglow (1932-2000)
oil on canvas | 61 by 93.5cm.; 24 by 37in. | Executed in 1958-59
Estimate £300,000 - £500,000

Artists include:

• Edward Burra
• Sir Eduardo Paolozzi
• Euan Uglow - I was transfixed by the very beautiful painting "Beautiful Girl Lying Down" - do read the catalogue note about his work
• Alison Watt
• Leon Kossoff
• LS Lowry
• Walter Richard Sickert
• Henry Moore - both sculpture and shelter drawing
• Ben Nicholson
• Dame Barbara Hepworth
• Patrick Heron
• David Nash
• Graham Sutherland
• John Piper
• Roger Hilton
• David Bomberg
• Winifrid Nicholson
• Augustus John
• Duncan Grant
• Vanessa Bell
• Paul Nash
• Craigie Aitchison
• Dame Lucie Rie
• Dame Elisabeth Frink
• Sir Peter Blake
• David Hockney
• Sean Scully
• Christopher Le Brun
• Sir Terry Frost
• Gillian Ayers

The exhibition dates and times - at Sotheby's at 34-35 New Bond Street London W1A 2AA - are as follows

• Friday 14 June 9am - 5pm
• Saturday 15 June 12pm - 5pm
• Sunday 16 June 1pm - 5pm
• Monday17 June 9am - 5pm
• Tuesday18 June 9am - 4pm

Rare Lowry "Cricket March" painting - on view for 5 days in Salford and London

If you want to view "A Cricket Match" by LS Lowry - you can view this privately owned work, at The Lowry arts centre until 5pm on Monday (27 May) in their free LS Lowry: The Art & The Artist exhibition.

This rare painting - LS Lowry didn't paint many paintings to do with cricket - has gone on display in Salford ahead of its auction next month at Sotheby’s. Which means those of us who live in London can view it at the pre-sale preview exhibition at Sotheby's in June. (see details of times and dates below)

Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A. 1887-1976
A CRICKET MATCH
signed and dated 1938 |  oil on canvas  |  46 by 61cm.; 18 by 24in.

So basically if you're 'up north' you have until the end of the Bank Holiday weekend to see this painting.

Here's a very informative video with Claire Stuart, Curator of the Lowry Museum plus the Lady from Sotheby's telling you a bit more about it - if like me you're unable to get to the Lowry Museum.

A Cricket Match is a wonderful example of Lowry at his very best, in what is arguably his best decade as an artist, the 1930s, where he fully establishes the rules and parameters of his unique vision. It seems at first-glance to be a simple ‘slice of life’ and yet the painting is constructed very carefully, in both the way the narrative unfolds and also in how it releases its emotion. As ever, Lowry restricts his palette to a range of colours so narrow that Mondrian would no doubt approve: the dominant white; outlines in black; a dirty green and sooty blue to pin the work to the ground and to give it its sombre timbre. It is this blue-green that also frames the picture, drawing our eye into it, across the dirty standing water and snaggletooth fence posts in the foreground and through to the ramshackle sheds in the middle ground. To this Lowry adds a few dots of red, in a scarf or a hat: another favourite trick to draw the eye in a zig zag through the composition, to ensure the viewer looks everywhere and experiences it as a whole.
It is in the 1930s that Lowry’s masterful use of white really comes to the fore. It has both a painterly function – allowing him to give a clarity to his figures and buildings, which in turn enhances their phenomenological solidity – as well as an emotive quality, as it brings a hard, brittle coldness to his work, whatever the season, that in the viewer’s mind translates into an understanding of the hardship of the world he is painting. It has a conceptual aspect, too, as it is the white that makes this Lowry’s world, something that has its root in a hard reality but also seems to exist in of itself.Sotheby's Auction - Catalogue Note

Exhibition details

The Lowry says it's only been on public display twice before

• once in 1939 when Lowry chose to include it in an exhibition in London
• briefly in 1996 at Sotheby’s as part of a pre-auction display when it set the then world record for a Lowry painting of £282,000.

When A Cricket Match last appeared at auction in June 1996, it sold for a then world record price for a painting by Lowry, prompting a plethora of cricket-inspired puns from the newspapers, both national and local to the artist’s home town of Manchester: ‘Lowry scores a record price’, ‘Cricket oil hits artist’s price for six’, ‘Painting a big hit’ etc.  Catalogue note

On display in the exhibition at the Lowry

• LS Lowry: The Art & The Artist
• The Lowry, Pier 8, Salford, M50 3AZ
• Sun-Fri, 11am-5pm. Sat, 10am-5pm.
• Admission: Free. Donations welcome.

To be auctioned by Sotheby's 

The work will be auctioned on 18 June by Sotheby’s. It's estimated it could fetch up to £1.2 million.

This exceptional painting is both a ‘classic’ Lowry, depicting the hard life of the industrial cities at the turn of the 20th century, and also quite rare in its depiction of a cricket match, even though cricket has always been very much part of Manchester life.  Simon Hucker, senior specialist for modern and post-war British art at Sotheby’s

See

• Howzat! LS Lowry's cricket match painting may sell for £1m
• Lowry cricket painting to be auctioned during World Cup

The exhibition dates and times are as follows

• Friday 14 June 9am - 5pm 
• Saturday 15 June 12pm - 5pm 
• Sunday 16 June 1pm - 5pm 
• Monday17 June 9am - 5pm 
• Tuesday18 June 9am - 4pm 

Mrs Lowry & Son

Timothy Spall as LS Lowry in Mrs Lowry & Son

The display of the painting comes ahead of the release of a feature film this summer about the artist starring Timothy Spall and Vanessa Redgrave. Mrs Lowry & Son depicts the relationship between Lowry (Spall) and his mother Elizabeth (Redgrave) with whom he lived until her death.

The film is directed by Adrian Noble, the former director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and made by production company Genesius Pictures.
Timothy Spall's recent weight loss makes him uncannily like Lowry. Spall was JMW Turner of course in a previous acting incarnation!

"We’re absolutely thrilled to be able to share this work with our visitors. With the release of Mrs Lowry & Son this summer there’s a real buzz at the moment about his story and his journey as an artist and it’s great to have the chance to display a work few people will have seen before.” Claire Stewart, curator of The Lowry Collection