ART SAVES HUMANITY: My Work Is In Top 100 Artworks Of This International Virtual Exhibition

'Walking Towards a Shared Future,' acrylic and oil on canvas, 120 x 160 cm 2018

I submitted 2 paintings to this global online exhibition organised by the SeeMe team, as it says below:

'We asked artists to share their perspective on the human condition...

Art Saves Humanity will be a global virtual exhibition bringing together the SeeMe community, Sotheby's Institute and its global network, Community Access to the Arts, the 1KNetwork.org and artists from all over the world with other corporate sponsors.'

(quoted from their website)

The judges were Brendan Clecko, Christine Kuan, Marine Tanguy, Poppy Simpson, Ariel Adkins, Jerry Saltz and the Sotheby's team.

The theme was to be about hope and reflection during the pandemic.

While I did receive 2 emails informing me of the results of my 2 submissions, I had not during an exceptionally busy week opened them! So when the exhibition opened online on May 21st I went to see which paintings were in the Top 100 selected artists and as I scrolled along I came across my painting (above)! To have made the Top 100 was amazing! There was also a link to my website.

So then I opened the 2 emails. I found that both my paintings had been put in the top 100 but only one is shown. This is the other one.

'A Global Connection,' oil on canvas, 100 x 140 cm

The other wonderful thing to find out was that I'd won a signed copy of the new book by Jerry Saltz called How to be an Artist.  He was one of the judges. I'm really pleased about this!

Most of the time as an artist you work alone and there's very little to guide you through a vast terrain of bumps and unlit territory so it's nice to get some positive feedback.

This is the link to the website:

https://www.artsaveshumanity.com/artist-selection

(Scrolling along to the right or left brings up my art.)

Spring Fever

As Spring unfolds day by day, painting ideas are bursting into my mind at fever pitch. In 10 days I stretched up 8 canvases, primed them and scrubbed on a thin layer of acrylic colour - usually a grey, lilac or pale brown. I like to work into a colour, as it gives me something definite to react against, and often I allow the colour to become mottled or uneven as I tend to carve my shapes out of this colour. But Spring fever threw white onto my fresh canvases and I'm working directly into wet white paint. It gets pushed around with my biggest palette knife, softened with my fingers, and scribbled on with all manner of brushes. The energies of Spring translate themselves into paint, and I believe that even the most abstract of artists are affected by this sudden flow of light and splatters of colour.

I always work at a restless, fever pitch, as I squeeze my painting hours between being a Carer for a disabled child. I manage to paint between 20 to 25 hours a week, and draw at any hour of the day. My time as a Carer tends to occupy the early mornings and evenings and nights. The ideal is to be a full-time artist, and I have just put my work for sale on several websites as prints and originals, and updated my own website with a view to selling work there. Self-marketing also has to be fitted into my day, as I search the internet for exhibition opportunities and join new websites.

The painting 'A Landscape of Choices' refers to the choices made about paint, marks, and colour, and is about my inner landscape, and reactions to the paint. The traces of my choices are left on the picture. I wanted the painting to suggest the passage of time - the time between each brushmark and choice, the choices we make in our lives.

('A Landscape of Choices,' Oil and acrylic on board, 91cm by 61cm, 2012)

Van Gogh's Artist Community

Van Gogh always dreamed of creating an artists' community, where artists could work together and exchange their ideas. Unfortunately, his dream was never realised, and one attempt to live with Gauguin and share a studio had disastrous results. I was thinking that he might have found social networking sites invaluable, if he lived now. I am an avid Facebook user. It has opened up a very wide connection with artists around the world, and given me great support and inspiration. Most of my 900-plus friends are artists, ranging from very figurative painting to totally abstract, and we comment on each other's paintings, give tips, and join in discussions on aesthetic issues, new work, exhibitions, and ideas.

For anyone not familiar with Facebook, you can create albums of work and your friends can leave comments. So in theory you can end up with hundreds of comments below each photo, from all your friends. You can read comments left by other artists on other artists' work, and respond or debate with them within that comment 'thread.' I have learned from more from this than I can ever say. Technical and aethetic merits are almost always discussed, and many of these people are international artists, curators, gallery owners, so their comments are always very focused. Over 2 years I have gradually been able to make friends with the friends of artists I really admire, and now I'm part of a very active online community. I post new work every week, as do many of my friends, and I look forward to their reactions. I'm always very excited when my closest artist friends post new work, and join in the discussion on it - and this way gain new friends, as anyone reading the comments can send you a friend request. When one of my favourite artists leaves a positive comment on my latest painting, I approach my canvases with renewed faith in myself. Artists are rarely nasty, their comments are always helpful and enable you to see aspects you had never considered before.

The quality of the artwork is incredibly high! I know artists whose work puts the Royal Academicians to shame! Some of my friends are headed for international recognition, and all are very generous and supportive. Being an artist can be very isolating, and like many of my friends, I am not living in a major city. But this exchange makes you feel part of a large, evolving circle, you can get exhibition invitations through it (galleries check out artist's work), and best of all, it keeps your standards high! I believe that Van Gogh would have greatly appreciated this kind of intense worldwide communication, all at the click of a mouse. I enter artist's lives, studios, aspirations, vision, in a matter of a few minutes of page navigation.

('Looking Through,' Oil and acrylic on canvas, 14ins by 18ins, 2012)

Axis update: public stand

Axis's new policy has resulted in a number of artists voicing their grievances after being refused membership renewal. As I said earlier, I have been with them since 1999. My complaints to the Charity Commission and a Trustee led to another letter from the Chief Executive at Axis, which said exactly what I expected, and of course justified their review of artists. What unsettled me was the implication that I was one of a few artists to be turned away, but in an article in the Guardian today it is clear that one third of artists were rejected, which is no small number.

I doubt that there will be any changes to the review. One of my grievances is that the criteria changed in 2005, yet it is only now that they decided to do a cull. I believe that art cannot be judged in this way, it can not be labelled and defined as a handful of this or that, like a box of pick and mix sweets.

The article should be in today's Guardian. It is can also be read at the Guardian online, at www.theguardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/feb/20/axis-art-database-culls-members?

(painting: 'Entrance.' Oil and acrylic on wood, 61cm x 41cm, 2012)

Axis artists database

If you Google Axis, you will find this description: 'Axis is at the forefront of presenting artists' practice on the web and connects with other organisations to run events, exhibitions and initiatives that benefit artists...'

I joined Axis in 1999. At the time it was neutral and the criteria were that you needed a formal art qualification and a CV showing exhibition history. I have been a member all these years. My subscription was due to expire on 31st January so I went to my account pages to renew it, and to my disbelief there was a message saying that I had been declined as a member as I had failed the new review process.

After clicking on the link to their revised list of criteria, I realised I had failed on the last of five - namely that I fitted the term 'modern' but not the term 'contemporary.' They made it clear that they had decided to review all artists who joined before 2005 (when certain extra criteria were introduced). Their new remit implied that they would still accept certain traditional or figurative based works. So where, in the end, was the dividing line? It seemed, in my opinion, that the organisation was no longer a neutral showcase for a diverse range of art, but had become a reflection of the selectors' tastes or ideas of what art should be. I had noticed that increasingly it showcased digital/photographic or video based media.

I put out a message on Facebook, and have had a large number of responses from other artists, and I am now pursuing the matter with letters to various art magazines. My complaint to Axis brought no positive result, so now I am fighting for the right of all kinds of art to be reinstated on this website that was started with public funding and still gets public funds. It is a fight for the individual's voice rather than collective opinion, and for the rights of the website's visitors to find a cross-section of art rather than a reflection of market place values or trends.

http://www.axisweb.org/

('Afiromeni.' oil and acrylic on board, 61cm x 31cm, 2012)

Second Day

Yesterday morning I took this painting up to the Royal Academy for yet another attempt at the Summer Show. How many of us try hopefully each year, knowing that the odds are not favourable? I hurried through the Burlington Arcade, with its gleaming shop windows and neat little boxes of sparkling jewellery, pastel knitwear, expensive shoes in a variety of striking colours, and an aura of hushed exclusivity. I wondered where the other artists were, why no one was struggling with large paintings through the narrow walkway filled with shoppers.

It was the Second Day. I realised with a shot of panic that possibly most people deliver their work on the first delivery date. Do people believe that you have more chance if your painting passes along in the line of thousands on that First Day, while the selectors' eyes are still fresh and open to excitement? It's something I've always believed, but this year I was forced into the Second Day. As I reached the end of the arcade, and turned towards the Royal Academy back entrance, I noted the empty street. First Day delivery ensures a long wait in an ever-growing queue which frequently disappears out of view. Each foot of forward motion is wedged between interminable bands of non-movement. A sense of triumph follows the handing over of your work, and a quick exit passes the still-growing queue.

Yesterday I breezed down the long, narrow entrance to the Royal Academy, and unwrapped my small painting. Television cameras were there, filming an artist who was unwrapping a large canvas of purple flowers. As I left, small groups of artists were arriving, but the atmosphere was very different to First Day. The long queues seemed to emanate a sense of urgency and energy.

Afterwards I reasoned with myself that if one's chances are so small anyway, First or Second Day probably makes almost zero difference!

('One Among Many,' oil and acrylic on canvas, 41cm x 51cm )

Paths Long Travelled

September 25th Saturday.

This date was circled in my diary many months ago. Scrawled in red was, 'Don't forget APT Open Studios!' These open studios showcase the work of artists working at the APT studio complex, in Deptford, London. I was really looking forward to this event because several of the artists were my tutors at college (Mali Morris - newly elected to the Royal Academy - Clyde Hopkins, Geoff Rigden), and one artist, Nicola Rae, was in my year at college. I was also curious to see what they are doing now, and hoping to re-open connections. Being an artist is a lonely business, and having artist friends is of great value. They are among the few people who are able to understand one's daily obsessions and preoccupations.

I ended up spending nearly 4 hours going around the studios - there are 37, plus a gallery - and I was in heaven, being able to talk art! There was a great variety of approaches and themes, from abstract through to figurative, and after lots of animated discussions about paint and aesthetics, I had a lovely talk with Nicola. We reminisced about our student days, and I suddenly had an inner vision of paths long travelled. Far from being a painful reminder of the passage of time, the visit highlighted a luminous path stretching into the future.
('Park, Night Paths,' Oil and acrylic, 61cm x 45cm. 2010)

Some examples of my paintings/website

As a follow up to my initial entry, I am including some examples of my work. I paint landscapes, cityscapes, and have ongoing themes based on subjects I painted in Nicosia, Cyprus. One of these is the 'Women in the Turkish Baths,' series, and I also paint images of women with various subject matter - the first image on this page is from my 'Predators,' series.

My First Entry as a Blogger!

(Edited October 2017)

(Some negative events were the original trigger for this blog and I am leaving them intact because my feelings were a true reflection at the time....)

I have just been thrown out by my London gallery. I waited many years to find one that would accept and understand my very colourful, verging on abstract work, and though initially they were very enthusiastic about the paintings, and sold one in the first week, now I have been vaguely told to go by email. Though really devastated by this, (and in the early stages of my shock I even began to see all my 100's of joyful canvases as being part of a delusional idea that I am an artist), I bounced back today by stretching canvases ready for the next 9 paintings I have in mind.

It really felled my trust in many things art, and art market related. At one point I had a very well known celebrity interested in 2 of my works. Subsequently he came to view my  works and we agreed that he could take one of my largest works (a large Baths painting) - on the understanding that my work would be included in a huge show of his Art Collection at possibly (his words), The Tate or Kensington Palace. I found out later that he only wanted my bright colourful canvas to put into his glass pyramid in his garden, where I believed it might become mouldy and be damaged by sunshine! I'm still waiting to hear about the exhibition at the Tate!

This blog will follow my changing fortunes, the highs and lows that all artists go through as they seek that ever elusive perfection in their work. It will also include some excerpts from my as yet unpublished novel, 'Living on the Edge,' about my life in Cyprus, where I was a practising artist for 14 years. I'm always positive and believe that if I push onwards with my work, at some point I will get the rhythm and opportunities I had in Cyprus.