Eastern Open

King's Lynn Arts Centre

The 43rd staging of this prestigious exhibition has seen a dramatic drop in the number of works selected for display but the huge variety of art on show still offers great interest.

Of 557 works submitted the panel of judges believed that just 41 would provide a 'strong coherent show of high quality'.

There must have been considerable disappointment among the 280 artists from seven counties competing for recognition and a top prize of �2,000. But they had another chance with the choice of a community panel who selected 65 works for a 'salon des refuses'.

So a total of 106 works had an airing, compared with 126 last year. The judges underlined how impressed they were with four of the prize-winners – Laura Genlloud, Ron Sims, Ben Stewart and Garry Hobbs – who each had two works chosen.

The winners represented an eclectic mix of styles and media including photographs, acrylics, oil on canvas, ink on paper and water-based media.

From the sombre to the garishly-coloured, from the miniature to the big-scale and from the immaculately-detailed to the incomprehensible there was plenty to absorb, admire and bemuse. That's the fascination of such exhibitions.

The Eastern Open continues until May 19

Alison Croose