2008 SELECTORS   

Fred Cuming RA 
Anita Klein 

Bob Benton 
Brenda Fenton 

Frances Carey 
Robin Morgan 

The Mall Galleries
London

Sponsored by
ING
 

The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition is unique; work is selected not by committee but by six individual selectors. This ensures that a wide range of art, differing in medium and style, is shown. Each selection is hung separately to emphasise its own distinctive identity. All the work, however, has this in common: all of it is for sale and all of it is good.

Entries for this year's David Gluck Memorial Bursary for Drawing were equally impressive: close on 100 artists submitted work of a quality that so impressed the Discerning Eye Educational Advisory Board judges that the shortlist was extended to six. Those shortlisted artists are displayed here at the Mall Galleries. The winner, to be announced at the Artists Private View, will receive £1,000 to help develop his or her art. The short listed artists are: Alexandra Blum, Kate Genever, Karen Griffiths, Marianne Holm Hansen, Alexis Soul-Gray, Julian Walker.

An important advance this year has been the revamp of our web site and the launch of our online catalogue. This will ensure that the work of exhibiting artists reaches an even wider audience and increases the chance of a sale. Work not sold during the Exhibition will remain on sale through the site until 1 January 2009.

The past year saw the death of Michael Reynolds, a supremely gifted artist and one of the founders of The Discerning Eye, back in 1990. Brian Sewell and Tony Humphreys record their memories of Michael elsewhere in this catalogue.

Thanks this year again go to ING Wholesale Banking for its continued commitment; to the selectors for their time and enthusiasm; to exhibition organisers Parker Harris; to Chief Executive Tony Humphreys for his stewardship of the charity over many years and to Bob Benton, who stepped down last year after five years as Chairman. Bob remains closely associated with Discerning Eye: he is a 2008 selector and will continue to offer a purchase prize. Special thanks are due to Brian Sewell for his support.

I have much enjoyed helping to mount this year's Exhibition. I am sure that it will delight many.

The first is the creation of an acquisition fund which will be used to start The Discerning Eye's own collection of works. Once established, this collection will be loaned to regional galleries and other interested venues which seldom have the opportunity or finance to mount their own exhibitions. To start this fund, The Discerning Eye will contribute an initial £20,000 from its own resources. Thereafter, we hope that the existence of the Collection will offer a destination to which supporters and/or artists can make donations of either cash or works, so that we can build up a touring exhibition which spends the majority of its time 'on show'.

The second initiative is the introduction of another annual prize for artists. This will be known as the Michael Reynolds Founder's Prize, in memory of The Discerning Eye's founding father Michael Reynolds. I am pleased to announce that this will be a purchase prize to the value of £2,500 and that this year it will be co-sponsored and selected by Brian Sewell. The winning work will become the first work in The Discerning Eye Collection. Subsequent prize winning works will also be acquired for the Collection.

In addition to starting the Collection with the first Founder's Prize winning work, we think it appropriate that any Discerning Eye collection has some works from Michael Reynolds and therefore we are currently in discussion with the Fillip Foundation in Holland to acquire some of Michael's' paintings. This will not only indicate the level of quality we want the collection to achieve but also provide at least some of Michael's works with a permanent and public home with a wider reach; something that we know he would have appreciated.

Since Michael first conceived the concept of an exhibition of small works, The Discerning Eye has touched many people. From the selector 'challenged' by the selection and hanging of his chosen works, to buyers finding the courage to purchase a painting for the first time and the painter whose confidence was re-ignited by having a work selected via the open submission. Many have a story to tell. Earlier this year, when our former Chairman, Bob Benton, invited Michael to exhibit in the 2008 ING Discerning Eye, the exhibition directly touched Michael, the artist, again. He was delighted and accepted immediately.

Notwithstanding Michael's death in April, I am pleased to say that, with the help and support of Peter and Anne Marie Borsboom and the Fillip Foundation in Holland, Bob is, as planned, still able to include six of Michael's works in his selection. Needless to say, these could be the last works by Michael that you will see for sale in an 'open' exhibition such as this – therefore I would urge you not only to seek them out for a viewing, but also to buy. This could be your last chance!

The Discerning Eye Special Event 2008 ~ 'The Art of Still Life'
Exhibition preview and artist demonstrations ~ 12 November 2008 6pm-8pm - admission free

 

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