“A smile from across the room” at London’s Marlborough Fine Art is an exhibition of work by American-born London-based artist Jonathan Lux, winner of the 2014 The Valerie Beston Artists’ Trust Prize, which was established in 2006 in memory of Miss Valerie Beston, a former director of the gallery.

Evolving from quick sketches in small A5 notebooks executed during his daily travels on the London Tube, Lux’s vivid and textural paintings, which combine real and fictional elements, reflect his interest in the relationship between the spontaneous process and the rigors of painterly composition.

Lux describes his work as: “Paintings that begin as reorganisations of memories and my environment, with an interest in subduing the edginess of the real to the influence of my personal prerogatives and idiosyncrasies. Thematically they occupy a territory somewhere between pleasure and mischief.”

The Valerie Beston Artists’ Trust collaborates with the Royal College of Art to award an annual prize to a postgraduate student from its degree show. The winner of the prize, which is selected by Catherine Lampert and Pilar Ordovas, receives a studio for a year at SPACE, a financial contribution towards materials, tutorial support, and an exhibition at the end of the year.