ART DAILY

Chelsea Fair

This event at Chelsea Old Town Hall in London's King's Road kicks off on April 24 and continues until the 27th. Over 40 galleries offer contemporary and 20th century works including paintings, prints, sculpture, drawings and ceramics. Use the voucher in the centre spread of the April issue of Galleries Magazine to gain 2 for 1 admission. The fair's open from 11 to 7 (5 on the final day).

www.penman-fairs.co.uk

Vox Pop

The Mall Galleries have announced a new art prize with the winner to be chosen by public vote. "We have the courage to stand behind the public's choice" said Mall Director Lewis McNaught. The 'Threadneedle Figurative Prize' of £25,000 will be decided by online and in-gallery voting from a shortlist of seven, selected from open submission. The Federation of British Artists' Selectors' Choice will be a further £10,000 - which could go to the same artist if public and panel choices coincide. 60-odd works will be shown at the Mall Galleries from August 20th to 6th September. See the website for further information or there's a special open day at The Mall on April 19th (10 till 3).

www.threadneedlefigurativeprize.com

Keith Who?

Louisa Buck's column in April's Art Newspaper reports the creation of an unlikely alliance in opposition to the rolling programme of art on Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth favoured by the current Mayor of London. Such disparate figures as candidates Boris Johnson and Brian Paddick, plus Grand Old Men Tony Benn and Norman Tebbitt, it appears, favour a "12-foot bronze sculpture commemorating Battle of Britain hero Air Chief Marshall (sic) Sir Keith Patrick (sic)". Actually of course Louisa meant Keith PARK, no doubt thinking of fellow art  journalist Keith Patrick, now living in Catalonia and by no means old enough to have tackled the Luftwaffe . . .

Save the Rubens Sketch

The Art Fund Charity has chipped in half a million towards the £6m needed for the Tate (which does not own a Rubens) to save for the nation the artist's sketch for his ceiling paintings at Whitehall's Banqueting House. The work, valued at £11.5m is on offer to the Tate net of special tax concessions, and so far the gallery has raised £1m, one third of it from Tate Members. To help secure the balance a website has been launched where donations can be made (see address below). Meanwhile Rubens' sketch 'The Apotheosis of James 1 and other studies' can be seen in a temporary display at Tate Britain.

www.artfund.org/savetherubens

D'Offay's Gift

A new national collection of modern art, 'Artist Rooms', has been created, centred on dealer Anthony d'Offay's gift of over 700 works, to be administered for the nation by the National Galleries of Scotland and the Tate. Although valued at £125 million, Mr d'Offay has asked for just £26.5m - i.e. his original outlay on the works - under a part gift/part sale arrangement. The plan is for rooms devoted to specific artists to be shown at venues around the UK from next year, with art collected over 30 years ranging from Beuys to Viola at sites "right across the country, from St Ives to Stromness", as NGS Director John Leighton put it. "A gift of this magnitude will completely transform the opportunity to experience contemporary art in the UK", commented the Tate's Nicholas Serota.

Turner Gain

Thanet Council has granted planning permission for the long-mooted Turner Contemporary Gallery in Margate to go ahead - a project it is hoped will act as a catalyst for regeneration. Work should begin in the Autumn on the site of the lodging house overlooking the bay where J.M.W. stayed whilst visiting the Kent resort. Designed by David Chipperfield Architects it will be a two storey edifice clad in white glass and include six connecting spaces with exhibition galleries, education area, cafe and shop. Completion is expected in 2010 - we trust they've already booked Margate luminary Tracey Emin for the opening . . .

And the Winner is . . .

Congratulations to Adele Curry, this year's winner of the Galleries Student Award at 'Originals 08, the Contemporary Printmaking Show' at the Mall Galleries (until Feb 23), with her unique multi-plate etching That's how I feel today. And though ineligible (she is after all President of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers), Hilary Paynter made us all smile with her exquisitely engraved Fallen angel – of the Gormleian, not the celestial variety . . .

www.mallgalleries.org.uk

Norman Takes a Back Seat

Sir Norman Rosenthal, colourful Exhibitions Secretary at The Royal Academy, is to relinquish his post. The 63-year old has spent half his life in the job, but is not going to disappear from Burlington House completely. As he told the London Evening Standard: "The Royal Academy is being very accommodating. I'm going to be special adviser on exhibitions and, hopefully, curate some without going to the endlessly boring meetings." Rosenthal's current blockbuster, 'From Russia', very nearly left a nasty hole in the schedules when it became caught up in the diplomatic spat between London and Moscow and its trip to the UK was in jeopardy.

KBO

Despite the threat of imminent closure (see earlier postings and Galleries' January issue Antennae section), Sherborne House Arts keep battling on with a show of Elisabeth Frink's sculpture, prints and drawings from her archive, opening in February. There is yet a glimmer of hope as their following statement reveals:

"The Sherborne House Trust is currently pursuing options that may still see a restored House with a major art gallery and a Frink Archive Centre on site. The overwhelming show of public support has confirmed the validity of the Trust's vision and ambitions for Sherborne House. It provides powerful evidence of the real need for a high profile gallery, a demand that is also acknowledged by Dorset County Council Cultural Services and Arts Council England."

Fingers crossed . . .

www.sherbornehouse.org.uk

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