Pick up an original painting for a pound … or two

A Norwich artist has created 120 unique works of art in 120 minutes for a new exhibition in the city.

For What it's Worth is the brainchild of artist Brian Korteling who aims to challenge the way art is valued.

The freely-expressive oil and charcoal artworks will be on display at Nunnsyard Gallery as part of Norfolk & Norwich Open Studios.

Prices of original artwork are usually decided by a mixture of things - complexity, size, cost, supply & demand and gallery opinion, but Mr Korteling has priced his 120 works from £1 to £120 according to his artistic judgement.

Mr Korteling decided to create the works after being asked by audiences how long his works took to paint and how he priced his work.

The 42-year-old said: “The value of art is such a beguiling topic for a lot of people and this piece is intended to be a fun way of exploring the subject.

“As a painter I often find that I have overworked a piece, it is easily done. One brush stroke too many can destroy the delicate balance of something that you felt was near completion, and suddenly it becomes a million miles from that. Time can sometimes kill a painting.

“I created For What it’s Worth mainly because I wanted to force myself to paint quickly without the possibility of fiddling and fussing over the results.

“In the life drawing sessions that I run, the images produced by the artists that I like the most are almost always the ones created quickly. The pressure of such a short time scale requires you to draw in a direct and un-contrived manner, relying on subconscious muscle memory not conscious thought.

“For this piece I wanted to create freely expressive artworks while challenging the way art is valued.”

The works that form What it’s Worth are semi abstract and have been painted with vague memories of coastal scenes.

Mr Korteling’s paintings have developed immensely since he began painting plein air when he found his style embraced the freedom and pace of painting in situ. His open energetic brush marks and limited palette often reflect the ever-changing sceneries in front of him and his work has broadened and abstracted.

Mr Korteling said that the challenges this piece has brought, besides the actual painting of 120 paintings in two hours, were mostly the preparation, the judging and post production. He said: “The two hours of painting are only a small percentage of the actual time it will take to carry out this piece and this reflects the reality of the creative process of a painter.

“From the time spent thinking and planning, to the buying, collecting and preparing the panels, to setting up the cameras in order to film the event, to deciding on colours, doing tests, to mixing the paint and cleaning brushes, to finishing and photographing the pieces, to marketing and finally to exhibiting and hopefully selling the work.”

Mr Korteling has lived in Norfolk for most of his life and has been a full-time artist since 2009 after a career in graphic design.

Working mostly with oil paint, Mr Korteling has recently started to explore ideas in 3D with pieces shown in Cley Contemporary 2016 and 2017 and the Waveney Valley Sculpture Trail in 2016, where he won the Judges prize for Waveney Glitch. He has also won prizes in the Norwich Paint Out plein air competition and has work currently on show at the Buckenham Gallery in Southwold.

For What It's Worth will be on display from 2nd - 11th June at Nunnsyard Gallery, 23-25 St Augustines Street, Norwich. The exhibition will be open 10am – 3pm Monday – Friday and 10am- 5pm on Saturday and Sunday.

For more information and to see or purchase the artworks online visit www.briankorteling.co.uk

See a time-lapse video of Mr Korteling producing the 120 paintings below.