Reactionary painter puts money where his mouth is

Well-known Scottish landscape painter John Lowrie Morrison, speaking in National Gallery of Scotland on the Mound, has launched the second Jolomo awards, which offer a �20,000 first prize to the best young emerging landscape artist in Scotland. Morrison, whose own prolific output ensures that he earns about �2million a year from the sale of his original works, said that drawing and landscape painting was no longer taken seriously by Scottish art schools. Instead, colleges were in thrall to conceptual art, epitomized by Hirst’s jewel-encrusted skull and Emin’s unmade bed.
�It’s about making a name for yourself, about celebrity; it’s not about art. But in 20 years time, none of that will be looked upon as good art,� said Mr Morrison, who is best known by his signature, �Jolomo’. He singled out Emin’s installation, ‘It’s Not the Way I Want to Die,’ a representation of the roller coaster at Margate, for particular criticism. �Her work will not stand the test of time. The thing in the National Gallery of Modern Art just now – a pile of wood against a wall? I don’t see anything in that. It does not excite me in any way. It doesn’t even make me angry. …A lot people don’t want to be seen to be uncool. So they won’t say anything bad, but a lot of the time this stuff is rubbish.” (Via Mike Wade in The Times)Applicants must be painters who:
a. Are currently living or working in Scotland and are aged 18 or over on 1st January 2009.
b. Have studied at one of the Scottish colleges of art, or in an art discipline at one of the Scottish universities or further education colleges, or at an independent Scottish art college, within the last five years.
c. If more than five years have passed since studying art at a Scottish university or college, or if the applicant has no formal qualifications, a body of work can be submitted which is proposed and approved by a suitably qualified referee, e.g. art lecturer, teacher, gallery owner.
d. The Jolomo Awards welcomes entries from artists with special needs.
e. Although entrants to the 2007 Awards may enter The Jolomo Awards 2009 for Scottish Landscape Painting, the winners of the 2007 Awards may NOT enter the 2009 Awards.Deadline for submission is January 31, 2009.