Lynn Painter-Stainer Prize, Mall Galleries
Monday 6th March 2017
So called because of the merger in 2005 of two art prize funds (the Lynn Foundation and the WC Painter-Stainers Co.), the Mistress and I took advantage of the locale and drove over to St. James in easy traffic and lots of parking - a nice change! Arriving a little after 6pm, we found the Mall Galleries (next to the ICA) were packed with a huge throng. I immediately bumped into friends from several different walks of life - Daniel Preece, artist/exhibitor, serveral Painter-Stainer liverymen, many Masters (the others were at an interesting sounding lecture in St. Lawrence Jewry) and Past Masters etc., and not least our Senior Warden Ralph and his wife Maureen. This meant that there was hardly any opportunity to get near, or really see the art on the walls, but one did ones best. Around 7pm the Master P-S called order and, together with Daphne Todd OBE, one of the judges from the "Big Painting Challenge" hosted on Channel 5. She spoke about the need for figurative art we can still understand, rather than the conceptual art that our colleges now churn out - this is something I heartily endorse having long suspected modern contemporary art is little more than a vast, self perpetuating, con trick! The four prizes were announced in reverse order and were useful amounts for budding young artists - £1,500; £4,000, £5000 and £15,000. I can't recall the names of the winners now, but put three of the pics up here with this posting, I couldn't get near the fourth, the young artist prize. As the place thinned out and it was past our 8pm "end" time, us Pipe Makers accompanied by Philip Morrish, Master Environmental Cleaner, went round the corner for a light bite at Villandry in Lower Regent St. A pleasant evening, thank you Painter-Stainers'.
