2012 Guild of Aviation Artists Exhibition

[Chas McHugh]

Now online:
http://www.gava.org.uk/2012-gallery/

For me this represents another disappointing year with regard to the mean standard of the works on display. Perhaps I have set my expectation too high but I eagerly awaited seeing this to see if a trip to London was imminent; but with minor exception (and there are always some awesome works) I feel that real justice is not being done. I wish I had an opinion as to why or indeed and idea for a solution to put the exhibition back where it belongs; but I dont. I am very interested in the thoughts of those that take the time to visit in person as it could simply be that the internet does not give credit where it is due.

[vegaskip]

Hi Charles, I think I would tend to agree with you, I think there are some outstanding paintings, however there are a lot that would give even me a chance to pass the Hanging commitee!.
Jim

[NeilF92]

Hi Charles,
I went through the twenty one pages of thumbnails - opened those that looked promising and noted the artist's name. At the end of the exercise I have 21 names , nine of which are instantly recognisable in our world , the other twelve included Chris West and Kevin Moffat.
21 out of 149 artists struck a chord with me - the rest varied between almost there and omg.
Many of the compositions you have to wonder why they bothered .
I guess it must be difficult to fill a big gallery with paintings of top quality so I assume that the Guild has adopted a slightly broader church outlook on it's members efforts and recognised that we all have to start somewhere and often the idea / sentiment means more than the execution.

[shadwell]

there are a lot of superb works chas !! but unfortunately i like you find the same

i think it is one of 2 things

1 as we get older we have seen so many top shelf works that we expect that to be the norm !! ( maybe unfairly )

or 2 painting to a high level is maybe a dying art ( pardon the pun ) as many aviation enthusiasts that would have painted years ago now have a myriad of computer based entertainments for the hobby leaving a smaller selection each year of trying artists

to be fair i looked through and some even make my c**p look good but that isn't to say they don't deserve hanging space to encourage newcommers

i mean i strive to get to the level some of these have got to ( sometimes i fear my wooden overcoat will arrive first) but hell i have used 30yrs over my predicted span now so realy in used years i'm about 80 !

as a matter of intrest i visited my local aviation societies quarterly exhibition and felt that was below par this time but maybe it may have been the theme as it is american aircraft and i am not a huge fan !!

[Chas McHugh]

I have revisited the page now several times; and my initial opinion remains extant. However I have also noted how many of the artists whose work I would traditionally admire are abscent this year. I know that the business model associated with attendance is financial suicide but that does not usually stop contributions from several key players. The GAvA must now permit pure illustration into the exhibition which would never have been allowed in the past and I wish I knew what the German Shepherd dog, however nice it is, has got to do with aviation!

It would be fair to say; having noted the price range, that there are one or two inflated ego's balanced yet again by Ronald Wong underselling himself. I suspect that the GAvA working on the principal of effectively fining people for daring to paint large canvas' and encouraging instead many, many small cheap and cheerful works is now biting them in the backside. This is where my opinion is clearly off kilter, for I would rather see one classic work of art that emotionally grabs me by the throat and demands attention (time) then a dozen average quality inexpensive works. Notwithstanding that average 'sale items' still bring in commision and therefore pennies in the Guild pot.

For all this negativeness; I am a firm advocate of anybody venturing into aviation art to become a GAvA member; for their strength is in the regional meetings and I am absolutely certain that the mentors I had (who are now sadly gone Alan Holt - Ken Aitken) made a massive difference to my own artistic development. Best of all, they were both bloody good guys rich in tales of life, and you rarely get that via any internet asset.

[shadwell]

Originally Posted by Chas McHugh

I wish I knew what the German Shepherd dog, however nice it is, has got to do with aviation!

.

i did question that myself ,, there is no explanation in the title either

[shadwell]

Originally Posted by Chas McHugh

For all this negativeness; I am a firm advocate of anybody venturing into aviation art to become a GAvA member; for their strength is in the regional meetings and I am absolutely certain that the mentors I had (who are now sadly gone Alan Holt - Ken Aitken) made a massive difference to my own artistic development. Best of all, they were both bloody good guys rich in tales of life, and you rarely get that via any internet asset.

there could lie a problem with how things are presently...

a couple of years ago i was unemployed and struggling paying my way

now i am working and have excess money to play with unfortunately the company i work for are under staffed so now time off is a rarity

as much as i'd love to both reasons hindered me

[NeilF92]

Have to agree on the price range Chas . A lot of the works appeared pretty mundane to me and not worth the money being asked .
I thought the Guild's aim was to lift the standard beyond "another green and brown Hurricane against a solid blue sky" but I see quite a few of that genre in this exhibition and am disappointed that the initial drive for interesting composition , a story or a stunning back drop seems to have waned .

In MAVAS we had many debates about exhibition standards over the years but I seem to recall we were pretty open to all levels of work . Partly to encourage others to see it wasn't some "elite" art society and anyone was welcome to have a go.

A " Guild" however indicates to me that certain high standards have to be met to gain entry. I can see a case for showing beginners works in their Regional exhibitions but not necessarily in a showpiece annual .
The Annual might benefit from a bit of hard pruning even it it means fewer works on show - make them the best of the best.

[shadwell]

hate doing it as it is unfair to pit one in an exhibition against another

but in the ones i saw it goes from stunning "the lightning in the sunset " against (understand i am only picking as my own tastes comparison and not necessarily the views of others ) " concordes tail in watercolours "

as said a lot lack good compositions and a lot amount to sketches

some of the problem could be the time we live in with people having ever shorter time to sit and paint and to give the required relaxed thinking time and just want to get something down however it is up to those choosing to whittle it down to a required standard

[Chas McHugh]

Apparently the dog is the RAF Police Dog champion.

[shadwell]

but how are people meant to work that out without a title description ??

and to be fair once you've seen one GSD you've seen pretty much all !

[shadwell]

had more time to look through this evening and to be fair there are more i like than i first thaught

on the subject of prices i went to a general art accademys exhibition and the prices there were also pie in the sky but i also feel galleries are getting ever more greedy with thier commision fees

but my thaughts are if you didn't sell last year for £700.00 it aint gonna go this year for £1500

i gues i undercharge but i get commisions and sell without galleries involvement !!

[Chas McHugh]

I have been trawling through the pages of WC; and what a source of information this place is. Busy going through the pages of 'How to sell your art' and engrossed in the comments therein of Art Gallery owners/dealers when I came across this phrase:

"Often people are really buying an autograph and not a piece of art. Just the way it is..."

...and could not help put cross polinate that here, especially with routine works that for me at least are at best 'average' being advertised for £8-12k
(12-16k-US $ ish). Are personnel & corporate customers so narrow minded as to assume high price tags represent value for money?

Is the small, cheap and cheerful a reasonable logical response to economic decay? Very few of the artists that we discuss are dependent upon artistic income to pay the bills, which is just as well because the travel expenditure, food, drink and entry fees/commision will negate anything below about £250. (Based on 500 mile round trip, overnight hotel and parking) Establishing a reputation has a value, and can be a bullet worth biting, but unless linked to the best possible work you can create is a negative.

I must try and get across to the ASAA Exhibition to compare impressions.

[Chas McHugh]

Worth a revisit to note where public demand is based upon composition, subject and price of sold works. If there is a clear conclusion, I am yet to work it out!

*obviously sold works are now annotated as such*

There will be some surprises here I think, especially amongst the Turner household.