Dazed and Refused

About

Dazed and Refused is now in its third year. This unsponsored artist run exhibition is an excellent barometer of the full range of art that is submitted to the BP Nation Portrait Competition.à‚  The National Portrait Gallery diplomatically referred to the work in the Dazed and Refused exhibition as simply 'unselected' rather than rejected. The concept behind the exhibition is based around the idea of a Salon des refuses. To date, Dazed and Refused have never rejected a painting and only stop taking entries when wall space runs out. This first come first serve approach means that the work exhibited is a random mix of entries. Some of the works exhibited were ranked in the last 100, from thousands of entries, being placed a whisker away from success.à‚  The exhibition organizers, Bob Sparrow and Adam Laurence , have never had a gripe with the BP Portrait award, seeing their own exhibition as aà‚ Secondà‚ Chance more than a rebellion. This year they have embraced the idea of competition , celebrating the promotion of success.To this end they have built a large ballot box in the Arch Gallery. Members of the public who visit the exhibition are encouraged to "Be the Judge".by focussing on lifting the à‚ 'underdog' . The artist who has their name on the greatest number of ballot cards will win a solo exhibition at Adam Laurence's own Bethnal Green Gallery 'The Gasoline Rooms'. In Addition,there is also a version of "The People's Choice Painter" on Dazed and Refused Facebook Page. Since the online post went viral, it has reached 12000 people who are voting in their hundreds. Bob Sparrow, one of the organizers pointed out that the photo realist paintings appear to be the most popular, so far.This is quite ironic because the BP judges are heavilyà‚ criticizedà‚ for appearing to favour this style of work.