Exhibiting

The year began with my entries into two art prize exhibitions not being accepted, but since then I have had three acceptances. One was to a fund-raising exhibition for a charity called Lifeline which offers support of all kinds through a phone call system, a broad ranging and vital service. The artwork, “Primordial” (see below) neither won a prize nor was sold, but I was happy to have it exhibited again and feel I was making a small contribution from my entry fee.

Similarly, the drawing “Exuberant” (below) was accepted into a local exhibition in a regional gallery which showcased high quality work from artists in the area. Not sold, but positive responses!

The third exhibition was organised by a local art society which runs an annual awards show. I entered two works and both won prizes, the drawing at the top of this post, “Burgeoning”, received First Prize for Drawing and the one below, “Exuberant”, was Very Highly Commended in the Abstract and Contemporary section.

This exhibition was interesting in that it appeared that there was no selection process, every work that was entered was hung, around 420 works. As a result there was a broad range of style, technique and level of expertise, from simple amateur work to high quality professional work. The judge had a difficult task! However, I think he did an impressive job, the works he chose for awards were very good – you may think I would say that, but I do think it was true. Each section winner was an excellent piece. What I was most impressed with though was the judge’s comments, insightful and thoughtful.

His comment on my drawing “Burgeoning” that won First Prize was: “I thought this was a really beautiful and simple piece, yet not simple in conception. I felt there was a wonderful sense of vertical lift consistent and parallel with the growth of the floral subject represented. I also thought it displayed a very satisfying balance in terms of positive and negative space that facilitated the feeling of well-being and equilibrium.”

The comment on “Exuberant” was: “I found this artwork to be wonderfully original and I like the weighted design enabling the eye to travel from bottom to top. What first appears to be a haphazard arrangement of shapes and colours, it is is a carefully arranged abstraction encouraging the viewer to interpret the interesting shapes and colours. I had the feeling the painting could be viewed as the infinite and undefined nature of thought and how this could be interpreted using paint. However one interprets the painting, it is indeed exuberant.”

I love his description of “the infinite and undefined nature of thought”. I think I will use that if I need to make an artist’s statement for this piece. In an earlier post I called that drawing “Circus” which seemed to fit, but through certain circumstances its name became “Exuberant” which feels more appropriate now.