Art for Heaven's Sake

The Blake Prize is for religious and spiritual art. What a great idea.

I’m not against prizes for venal and meaningless art. But we do have rather a lot of them so it’s refreshing to see something different.

My aunty Noni has a painting in the Blake Prize exhibition. I go to the website. I’ve never heard of the Blake Prize before and I’m sniffily concerned that the exhibition might have an air of Camden Market about it. But the work is terrific. I haven’t looked at all of it yet but I particularly like Devil – from the Tarot by Joy Bye; Listen to Oprah by Tom Polo; Madonna – Ascension by John McRae; Church Stories – The Altar and the Cross by Nelly Gordon; Exist by Francois Limondin; Prayers on the Westinghouse as Christ Heals the Tiles by Nathaniel Kiwi and, of course Resurrection by Naomi Howard, my talented aunt.

p.s. Naomi Howard's paintings may be purchased at Artless Gallery.