On 8th April we asked the UK representative for Château des Réaux’s art exhibition and competition for more detailed information because we had been contacted by the president of an artists agency in the USA and some artists expressing their concerns about the legitimacy of this exhibition. Since then we have also been contacted by a journalist who is curious about the way in which this exhibition competition has been advertised. We hope that this is a legitimate exhibition and competition that will be of benefit to artists but we have a number of reservations that prohibit us from offering it on our opportunities for artists page with a link to them. This is what we know or do not know so far :

• The exhibition competition is being run by Mr. Evgeny Yukhnytsya, the owner of Castle Reaux, who is apparently a well-known poet from the Ukraine. However, a Google search on Yukhnytsya gives nothing on him that was not written by his own staff. He is supposedly a well-known patron of the arts in France who has won a medal for his work (see below) so why is there nothing independentally written about him? Is there a valid reason or is he just what would be described in London by the technical term “a dodgy geezer”? We wish we knew!
• Ms. Nadia Ovchinnikova is our contact at Château des Réaux. She contacted us on 3rd March 2008 with respect to posting their art exhibition competition details on Artists UK DotNet. She has only been there for a few months and initially reacted angrily to the questions we asked about the art exhibition competition. We did a check to ensure that the telephone number given was actually registered to Château des Réaux and this does appear to be the case.
• Then she sent us an image of the award Mr. Yukhnytsya won from Academie Mazarine for his patronage of the arts (in the music field last time apparently). We have looked at Academie Mazarine. Although the Mazarines are an old order this appears to be a commercial website and it is difficult for us to assess the true value of this award. It doesn’t seem to compare to any such award we would have in the UK. It does not appear to be endorsed by any Governmental body for instance. Again, with no record elsewhere of him being awarded this and nothing on his poetry etc it is hard to substantiate the claim. That doesn’t mean he was not given this award for being a patron of the arts but what this award really signifies is uncertain.
• Ms. Ovchinnikova became vague about who the judges would be, claiming it was being kept as a surprise. Who for? Surely any artist submitting work would want to know in advance who is going to judge it and what their credentials are. wouldn’t they? We wonder if anyone is ever going to know who the judges are. After promising to send more information she has done nothing at all so far.
• There is no information regarding any independent accountants being involved to audit the competition and the giving of awards. Château des Réaux do not even state how and where the winners details will be published.
• Their contract clearly states what the agenda is. The artist agrees to sell them their original oil painting with full title transfer for 305 Euros. This means that the artist retains no rights to the painting and Mr. Yukhnytsya can sell it for whatever he likes and also get royalties on the sale of reproductions, income from licensing etc forever afterwards. Is this really in the artist’s best interests or is it mostly in Mr. Yukhnytsya’s best interests? Is 305 Euros for full title transfer on an original oil painting a reasonable offer? Sounds very low to us. They say on their contract that this isn’t for everyone. Does that mean it is only for the really desperate? Isn’t that a form of exploitation? If you are an artist you will have to decide for yourself how you feel about this.
• The legal contract also appears to give Mr. Yukhnytsya the legal right to display or sell a painting without acknowledging the artist. It only gives the artist the right to assert that they painted it. These two are very different and if this is correct we cannot see how this promotes the artist at all. Château des Réaux have not replied to clarify this point either.

If you are an artist who has submitted a painting to Château des Réaux we want to hear from you. Whether your feedback is positive or negative please contact us by email by clicking here. If you have not submitted work then you can leave your comments at the bottom of this post. We still hope to clarify the situation but unless Château des Réaux are prepared to provide more information this will not be possible.

Our recommendation based on what little we know is that any artist submitting a painting should be very clear about the contract they are entering into and be very aware that they are trusting a man who does not seem to be mentioned on the Internet other than in what has been written by his own staff at Château des Réaux. Will the competition awards really take place? Anyone’s guess right now. What do you think?

No, it’s not some kind of new exercise regime or new brand of cosmetic. It is the study of why art affects us the way it does … amongst other things. It is to do with appreciation of qualities like beauty and how to define these effects. There are some big puzzles. For instance, if a forger paints a copy of a Van Gogh that is indistinguishable from the original why is it of lesser value? Let’s say the difference can only be known by carbon-dating the materials used for instance. That means that the original and the fake as you look at them are absolutely identical and yet one is worth a fortune while the other one isn’t for reasons that have nothing to do with what it looks like. So; the aesthetic value of the painting is not just in the appearance of the art or even the technical merits of the artistic talent put into creating it but in the facts of the history of it. Now, isn’t that bizarre? Because it is the first one, painted by a particular person at a particular time it is worth much more, even if it looks identical to a copy. How can two pieces of art that look identical be of a different value? In the end, you see, it is all in the mind - the value we choose to give to something and the values by which we decide that even if they look identical they are not of identical value. It only goes to show how subjective the experience of art really is. Possibly there are as many versions of the Mona Lisa as the number of people who have looked at it

Way back in the hippy days of the sixties a monster of an album burst forth on an unsuspecting world in 1968. Robert Fripp, a guitarist of no small talent and a penchant for originality, had put together a new and unusual group fronted by a singer called Greg Lake who was destined to go on to dizzy heights later with ELP. The lyrics for the first album were oddly enough by someone who wasn’t in the band and whose own singing abilities (to be kind) were less than wonderful. But as a poet he was way ahead - reading the words to 21st Century Schizoid Man and then reading the newspapers today it is hard not to think of him as some kind of prophet. But we’re here to talk about art so here are both the outside cover and inside cover of ‘In The Court Of The Crimson King’ painted by Barry Godber -

The front is the schizoid man and the inside is the Crimson King with his jolly smile and very sad eyes. The artist Barry Godber was in fact a computer technician who the lyricist Pete Sinfield knew. In fact, he was the only artist he knew so the choice of who to ask was easy! Sadly, Barry Godber barely survived to see his artwork printed on the cover as he died in 1970 from a heart-attack at the tragically young age of 24. The cover and the album went on to become hugely venerated icons of art and music name-checked as influences countless times over the years. The raw emotion portrayed in the front cover and the way that the face is almost bursting out of the frame of the cover attracted many people to the album even if they hadn’t heard a single note of it. Strangely enough, given his tragic early death, the painting was based on a distorted reflection of the artist’s own face. The album itself was remastered for the final time in 2003 when they finally found the original master tapes, which is a bit like finally remembering you left the Rembrandt down in the cellar

From painting to photography. The first Black Sabbath album has this classic photo on it. The place is Mapledurham Watermill but the odd thing is that nobody knows who the woman was who modelled for the cover. Bit spooky eh? Not so spooky was the record company cashing in on the satanist hype in the media by putting a reversed cross on the inside cover much to the annoyance of the band who actually weren’t satanists. Made on a shoestring budget in a a couple of days it turned out to be one of the most influencial albums ever made. The title track is probably almost single-handedly responsible for the births of the genres of heavy metal and goth music. So now you know who to blame … or praise

Sadly it emerges that Ed Org is not capable of bi-location and has not been cloned. Mind you, with a few more of him running around producing those amazing works of art (and identically!) it wouldn’t be so special (and possibly a bit creepy too ). So; on the downside it means he won’t be at both places and a friend of his will be running his stall at one of the events on the duplicate dates. On the upside it means he is still unique!

…… finally here is what he says -

“I will be in person at Ludlow Medieval fair (24/25 Nov) and Knebworth (8/9 Dec)”

So; if you want to meet the great Ed Org go along with all your clones and ENJOY

If you have no idea who he is or want to buy prints then click here.