Brighton Artists Open House: a visit to the Collectors' Selection

You know what it's like when you start visiting the Open

1.  

   Karin Janzon discusses a painting by the Cuban artist Alberto Martinez with a visitor

 

Houses – you begin to wonder if you could open up your place too, fill your

walls with art you like and provide a space for your favourite artists to sell

their wares. That's what happened to Helmut Lusser and Karin Janzon, and they

are now in their fourth year with their Collectors' Selection  at 43 Hove Park Villas, and going

great guns, too.

They received around 450 visitors in their first weekend and are expecting

about 1600 before May is out. From the amount of red spots indicating sales,

business is pretty good.

'We started collecting through going to Open Houses and the

house is full of the stuff we bought,' said Helmut. 'Then we thought we'd show

new work by the artists we like, and share our discoveries. We try and show

them as if they are part of the house.'

It's a strong mix of their own collection on show, and new

artworks for sale. If you're a trompe l'oeil fan you'll appreciate the clever

porch way by Diane Brandrett, which is a permanent fixture, and there are new

examples of her work to buy in the hall.

An interesting range of styles of

paintings, sculpture and photography is on show on two floors of the house

(spacious, light, and displaying a quirky good taste) and the elegant garden is

put to good use too with sculptures and giant all-weather photographs.

No teas or cakes here – it's the art that obviously

interests Helmut and Karin and they are on hand to meet and greet every visitor

and talk about the work on display from the 15 artists showing this year.

Stand outs for us where the vibrant work of the Cuban artist

Alberto Martinez, including an extraordinary depiction of an eco-friendly

Brighton Pavilion; the fine detailed wooden artwork from John Baldwin and a

mini-exhibition upstairs of work by Cyril Mount, who has been painting for 70

years and still paints every day in his studio at the Phoenix in Brighton.

'His work is always evolving - all life is there,' say

Helmut and Karin on their website. 'He combines a sense of the serious and the

mischievous and describes himself as a life-time rebel, now "almost reformed".' Cyril Mount's canvases alone, full of people and personality, are worth the journey to

Hove Park Villas.

See our Picture Gallery of the Collectos' Selection