Frank Auerbach-Paint as Earth

Drawing after Auerbach

An Exhibition of paintings at the Courtauld Gallery, London. There is a sense of the young Frank Auerbach wanting to create something totally new. There is the urge to pit himself against the painting masters of the past and to create, what he quotes Sickert as saying, 'looks like it has been torn from a page of life.' He does this in paint. Auerbach uses his drawings of London building sites to create his own world through inches thick oil paint. He has empathy with the workmen digging in the heavy soil, as he too works day in day out to move, excavate, rebuild his own painting.

The paintings from the 1950's are so unlike a painting that you sometimes wonder what it is you are looking at. The paintings are anything but beautiful, yet they have a strange and unique presence about them. Later paintings have more colour, but still the yellow only manages to be muted yellow ochre and the reds seem to have a tinge of brown. These, of course, were the cheapest colours available to the artist.

The Exhibition is well worth a visit and for the £5 entry fee you get to look at the permanent collection which has many fine Cezanne paintings

Open shows-the X-factor of art?

For some artists, having work selected for an open exhibition with a selection commitee is a right of passage. It is the time when your work must face the world and be judged. It has to, using the X-factor- metaphor stand up on stage and sing I will survive at the top of its little voice. The holy grail for some artists would be entry to the RA summer show, that yearly bazaar of everything in art. It is a chance to rub shoulders (canvases) with the academicians. Is your art up for living next to Tracey Emin RA for two months?

For me, as a painter the John Moores competition is the one you look to. Many previous winners have made a good career from painting. Peter Doig is a good example.

Upon entering your work for selection-to any level of show- you accept that there might be rejection. As a painter the work is inevitably a part of you, so does the rejection become a rejection of you the artist? At a time when art can be all things, how is a judgement made as to what is accepted or rejected?

The big question is will Cheryl Cole like my picture of her as The Venus of urbino?

Good luck to all who submit work for selection. The spirit of Tony Hart will be with you.