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John Moores
The John Moores competition, open to artists working in the UK, has always been an open submission competition with prize money - a total of £458,350 has been awarded since 1957. Until 1967 ‘distinguished’ artists were invited to submit work, some also being eligible for prizes. Those invited included Oskar Kokoschka, LS Lowry, Francis Bacon and Barbara Hepworth.
The exhibited works and prizewinners are selected by a different jury each year. The exhibition has consistently helped to raise the profile of the artists and in particular to further the careers of its winners, including Jack Smith, Peter Blake, David Hockney andPeter Doig.
For the Walker Art Gallery it has created the backbone of its collection of contemporary British painting, reflecting some of the major trends over the past 50 years, including Kitchen Sink realism, abstraction, pop art and figuration.
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Hirst's Shark Tank (one of an edition of twenty five)
Emin's Bed (one of an edition of ten) ( both created in 2006)
The Little Artists (both born 1973) John Cake and Darren Neave.
I love these cartoon, Lego versions of each of Hirst's and Emin's work, they are fun, childlike and they would probably be playful if there wasn't a plastic casing around the work. To some extent it probably mocks the original art work but at the same time it is humorous. The artists are included as Lego in the works, this would most likely helps the viewer to realize who's work it originally is.
The artists immortalize famous artists and their artworks in un-manipulated Lego. The artists are mischievous cartoon characters, the Little artists, gallery gift shops, merchandise and popular children's culture inspire them to question what it means to be an artist in a climate where art is a commodity. Priding themselves on the integrity and accuracy of their artworks, their knowledge of Lego is comprehensive, respecting its association with learning and creativity. Hirst's Shark Tank and Emin's Bed are tributes to the iconic 'Brit Art' works of Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.
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Slump/Fear (Orange/black) 2004
Alexis Harding (Born 1973)
This painting won first prize in the John Moores exhibition in 2004.
I really love this painting just because it is messy, big and bright.
It is rather simple and looks like it has no meaning but i don't mind
i love the look of the piece i don't really care what the meaning is.
I probably love it this much because i would do something like this
in my own work.
To create the painting the artist poured oil paint
onto primed MDF board. While this was still wet, gloss, paint was poured
over it through a perforated guttering making the 'grid'. The quick-drying gloss formed a skin: the oil beneath stayed wet. Combining control with chance, he then tilted the board repetitively, and manipulated the paint with his fingers, forcing the two layers to move against each other. Harding describes this as ''a work within....limits that i can only discover by squeezing and pushing them to extremes.''
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Two Geese. Peter Kinley (1926-1988)
This painting really bothers me because it is so basic.
It looks too basic to be in a gallery like the Walker,
maybe work this simple is seen as contemporary and that's
why the Walker has included it. Because the work is quite empty
it looks childlike as though painted by a child. The artist might
have painted it intentionally in this way. ''I try to make paintings
that are strong enough to remain in the memory as coherent
images, even after a brief encounter.'' This quote by the artist
proves he wants his this piece to be remembered and his
intention of painting like a child will achieve this.
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March 1963. Roger Hilton (1911-1975)
First prize John Moores winner 1963.
This is another painting that i think did not deserve to win the John Moores prize, simply because i think to win this type of prize, the work should have had a lot of effort put into it, and i can't see this in this painting. It looks as though the artist has basically through some blue paint on the canvas and then added black lines which the artist found necessary for some reason. It slightly reminds me of Patrick Caulfields work only because Caulfield used lots of blue in his work and black lines. It probably would be much more similar if Hilton's style was more precise and planned out like Caulfield's is.
Hilton often titled his paintings after the month in which they were finished. March 1963 typifies the spontaneous, rapid abstraction which he developed in the 1950's, mixing drawing and painting. There are suggestions of the human form, a rock and a boat. Artist and juror Peter Lanyon wrote to Hilton, 'you got an absolute clear majority, a vote of four out of five...i told John Moores that it was the best painting to come out of Britain since the war.' This quote has got to be a joke i am sure there were paintings 100% better than this, in my opinion, since the war, this quote is a bit ridiculous. Even Hilton said himself 'They are Terrible pictures. No wonder mine won.'
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Mirage. Michael Raedecker (born 1963)
Won John Moores prize in 1999.
Acrylic, thread and sequins on linen.
This painting definitely deserved to win the John Moores prize as a lot of effort has been put in.
I like the piece as it has mixed media on it and it reminds me of surrealism. The image looks quite dreamy and imaginative. The piece looks like it is some sort of landscape, a bit deserted but inviting at the same time. The colours are rather neutral and calm, this makes me feel calm and it also made me stand and admire this painting the most out of all of the works i saw at the exhibition. The painting is quite long and wide, it doesn't have a grand height like the length does. This length invites the viewer to walk from one end of the painting to the other to take it all in. When i saw this painting i wanted to touch it, there seemed to be lots of texture involved because of it's materials such as wool, thick and thin paint.
Raedecker's distinctive paintings employ an inventive range of media, influenced by his study of fashion as an undergraduate. He wittily uses threads for areas where paint would be expected: horizontal lines of thread create shadows, and balls of looped, painted thread add texture. His combination of a flat painted surface with intricate tactile embroidery, all in murky earthly tones, results in an unsettling atmosphere. The warped land curves back in on itself enveloping a sky, futher adding to the bleakness of this desolate landscape.
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Blotter. Peter Doig (Born 1959)
John Moores prize winner 1993.
Oil on canvas.
This painting deserved to win as it is amazing. This must have took some time to create. The painting is quite big. I love the reflection in the water it makes the painting more realistic. Blotter is based on a photograph of Doig's brother standing on a frozen pond in Canada, where the artist was brought up. Therefore the piece is quite personal to the artist. Doig pumped water over the ice to enhance the reflections. The title, Blotte, refers to how a person can become absorbed in a place or landscape. The figure is looking down into his reflection to suggest inward thought. Blotter also refers to the paint soaking in the canvas.
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Broken Bride 13.6.82
John Hoyland (born 1934)
John Moores prize winner 1982
This is another painting that i strongly agree should not have won the prize. It is too quick, basic, rough, and childlike. The painting just consists of colours and basic shapes. In my opinion it looks like a complete mess and should not have been entered into the competition. It's as though the judges know that a lot of viewers will be uproared by certain works and thats why works like this probably get entered into the competition and win.
The artists abstract paintings develop as a series, their forms and colours evolving from one to the next. He believes firmly that colour conveys human emotion and his paintings therefore express and aim to provoke emotions. In Broken Bride 13.6.82 his harmonious integration of shapes, textures and colours upon a flat canvas, without recognisable imagery, is spontaneous yet disciplined.
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Cow Mutations
Tim Head (born 1946)
Won John Moores prize in 1987.
Acrylic and sandtex on canvas.
This work is very different to most of the John Moores winners at this exhibition, as most of the works are paintings. This is totally different, it is a fun, illusional piece which is made a painting but as it is so precise and flat you would think it is a print out of some sort of illusion. The idea of the cows mutating gives the viewers eyes the impression it is a illusion. Because the piece consists of two colours, black and white it attracts the eye more as it is not flooded with colour. Black and white combined in any piece has the opportunity to trick the eye. The piece is also busy with fun imagery.
His paintings are based on found motifs, enlarged by photocopying then projected onto the canvas. Here, the artist borrowed the imagery- much like earlier Pop artists- from an everyday source: Sainsbury's milk-cartons. By using a stylised image of cows, remote from how they actually look in real life, Tim Head emphasises the gap between our materialist, 'packaged' society and the natural world on which it depends.
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Cross. Mary Martin (1907 - 1969)
Joint first prize, John Moores 1969.
Stainless steel and painted wood on Formica and wood.
This is another piece that is illusional. Although it is titled cross i think it looks more like a star than a cross. And it shines like a star would. This piece is 3D and sculptural, it is encased in a frame. I think it would of looked three dimensional without a frame and you would be able to see different angles better. The black background is a great choice of colour for the silver 'cross' as it stands out. This piece makes me realize that the John Moores competition should include not only paintings but 3D work, more variety would attract more viewers.
This sculptural work won joint first prize (with Richard Hamilton) in the 1969 exhibition. It was one of Martin's last works, she died before the exhibition opened. It is the culmination of a series, begun in the mid- 1960's, in which she arranged small half- cubes, cut diagonally, on a square base. She placed them according to her own complex but regular permutation system, feeling that this enabled effects to emerge that she could never have imagined for herself. The sequences of diagonal planes massed against each other reflect both inner surfaces and outside light sources. They create a rich, vibrant effect somewhere between relief sculpture and a Cubist painting. Mary Martin was the first woman to win the John Moores prize.
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Oriental Garden, Kyoto. Bruce McLean (painted 1984)
Won the John Moores prize in 1985.
This is similar to the geese painting in the way it is basic and
it looks like it took no longer than 20 minutes to paint. The Geese
painting was not a John Moores prize winner, but i can't see how
this won. Probably many people would agree and disagree with me.
It could of won because it is so simple but it may have a strong
meaning or maybe it won because the judges wanted to cause
a debate and rage with the viewers.
The painting is of a Japanese ornamental garden painted almost the same size as an actual garden. A celebration of big fish in small ponds. At the time, McLean was better known as a sculptor and performance artist, known particularly for his parodies of the art world. Oriental Garden, Kyoto contains many elements of 'a performance' including its rapid, spontaneous technique and confident handling of scale.
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