2002 SELECTORS   

Graham Crowley 
Daphne Todd OBE 

Crispin Odey 
Griff Rhys Jones 

Anthony Lester 
Richard Littlejohn 

The Mall Galleries
London

Sponsored by
ING
 

As you will see from your visit to our annual exhibition, artists submitting their work to Discerning Eye, and those whose work is chosen by the selectors, represent a wide range of styles and offer a variety of subjects using conventional as well as more experimental media. You will see the work of painters in oils, watercolours and acrylics as well as pencil, pen and ink and charcoal drawings. Potters and sculptors are represented, and the exhibitors are drawn from across the country. Some are well known artists, others enjoying their first opportunity to show their work in a major London exhibition. However different the media or the choice of subject matter, all of the works on show have one feature in common. None of the exhibits is larger than 20 inches by 20 inches. The restriction on size is one of the defining conditions of Discerning Eye and has been since its inception some ten years ago. This restriction is debated almost every year and arguments are put forward for and against its retention. Some consider the imposition of the "20 inch rule" to be arbitrary and inhibiting, and there is no doubt that there are some artists who will not submit their work because of it. On the other hand, I have talked to many painters, sculptors, and potters who have exhibited at Discerning Eye, and who have been challenged and stimulated by the need to work to smaller dimensions than they would otherwise have considered.

Discerning Eye is unique. It is an exhibition with no single curator, its content dependent on the personal tastes of six selectors – two artists, two collectors and two critics – free to choose the work that they like; provided of course that their chosen pieces measure no more than 20 by 20 inches.

Discerning Eye is unashamedly an exhibition of domestic sized art, and there is a well-documented history of antagonism between twentieth century art and architecture, and the values associated with domesticity. Perhaps the most quoted modernist against domestic art was Le Corbusier. He railed against what he described as, the sentimental hysteria surrounding the cult of the house, determined instead to create the house as a machine for living in.

Writing in 1904 the German critic, Julius Meier Graefe claimed that the 'retrogression' of popular painting was due to a decline in church patronage and a concomitant rise in art made for houses.

Art under such conditions ceases to be divine, she is no longer the enchantress … but rather a gentle little housewife, who surrounds us with tender attentions, and eagerly produces the sort of things that will distract tired people after a day’s work.

In his introduction to a book called 'Not At Home', published in 1996 and sub-titled 'The Suppression of Domesticity in Modern Art and Architecture', Christopher Reed strongly defended the relevance of 'domestic art' forecasting that, "the domestic is returning to a position of cultural prominence."

I think you will agree that the integrity and vitality of the work which makes Discerning Eye 2002 one of our most successful exhibitions, speaks as powerfully as any expert words on the true value of domestic art.

And for that we owe our thanks to all of the artists who took the time and trouble to submit their work for selection, as well as to those whose work was selected. We are also grateful to our six selectors who spent many hours carefully evaluating the hundreds of works from the public submission.

The exhibition itself would not be possible without the generous support given by ING. This is the fourth year of their sponsorship of Discerning Eye – and theirs is sponsorship in the true sense of the word because their support extends beyond money.

John Caine MBE FRSA

organisation

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directors
John Caine MBE (Chairman)
Tony Humphreys (Chief Executive)
Gillian Thalassinos
Malcolm Wright (Finance Director)
 
educational advisory board
Sally Bulgin
Tom Coates
David Gluck
Justin Mortimer

exhibition

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main sponsor
ING
 
exhibition organisers
Parker Harris Partnership

The Discerning Eye Debate 2002
"Corporate Collections:
The Saviour or The Death
of Contemporary Art"
Wednesday 13 November 2002 - 6pm

 

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