WITH tongue firmly in cheek but with good intentions the popular UK magazine The Oldie, unashamedly aimed at the older generation and determinedly unpolitically correct, has teamed up with fine art insurers Ecclesiastical to launch the annual Oldie British Artists Award.
The OBA is open to all UK artists aged 60 or over and as an antidote to the antics of the contemporary brigade it specifically celebrates figurative work.
Veteran satirical journalist Richard Ingrams, founder and editor of The Oldie, says: “We are all familiar with rooms full of fomaldehyde and rotting meat so we thought it high time the art world was encouraged to produce a spot of painting.”
The impressive judging panel is chaired by sculptor Maggi Hambling CBE and entries must be in by July 31.
And still mischievous at 75 Ingrams, a co-founder of Private Eye, announced his award as Damien Hirst’s retrospective opened to much ballyhoo at Tate Modern.