Clear choice for Blur bassist (From Witney Gazette)

Clear choice for Blur bassist

8:19pm Tuesday 15th January 2008 in Witney By Fran Bardsley

BLUR bassist - and west Oxfordshire cheese farmer - Alex James has been casting his eye over the pick of Oxford's artists.

Mr James, who lives in Kingham, was the first guest selector for the Oxford Open, an exhibition at Modern Art Oxford, in Pembroke Street, for which anyone could submit a piece of artwork.

He said: "They asked me if I wanted to come down and have a look at some art and I said absolutely, definitely.

"I am very impressed. The thing with art is it is worth precisely how much someone is prepared to pay for it.

"This is getting into the food chain for the artist and it's wonderful."

Mr James chose three pieces to be displayed in a separate gallery, John Rushton's Portrait of Rachel Yorke, Pierre d'Alancaisez's Goodbye, Neighbour and John Grieve's NFS, a sculpture featuring a dustbin which emits a strange noise when you press a button on it.

'Art is the most powerful elixir there is - and artists are cooler than rockstars and chefs'

Alex James

Mr James, who is also artist in residence at Oxford University's astrophysics department, said: "It's absolutely amazing, people go to an art gallery now in the same way they think about going to the cinema.

"Art is the most powerful elixir there is - and artists are cooler than rockstars and chefs."