Prize-winners as Chichester’s Oxmarket enters new era

Lancing artist David Brown won the Stride cup and £500. His acrylic painting entitled Push Bikes Lancing was described by the judges as both ‘edgy and unique’.

New Oxmarket chairman Richard Shord said: “In fact the whole exhibition was a triumph of originality, diversity in composition and technique, and a bold approach to colour. Yet the judges awarded the abstract prize to Chichester artist Michael Heywood’s Shattering, a study in black and white, saying of his work ‘that it needed no colour’ to convey its strength.

Local artist Raymond White entered the winner’s enclosure too, in the drawing category with a study of racehorses.”

Richard added: “We were very pleased with the strength of entries and the large geographical area on which we drew. Over a thousand visitors have seen the works and as always opinions are divided over the judges’ decisions. I was taken with the imaginative cropping of Sarah Louise Thomas’s portraits and David Meeking’s impasto approach, while the visitors’ choice votes are ranging across a wide spectrum of entries. That’s what makes for entertaining viewing. That’s what you get at the Oxmarket.”