Show Me the Monet

Short-listed for BBC 2 Series Show Me the Monet.

Charlotte Mullins is an art historian, critic and broadcaster. She studied at the Courtauld Institute of Art and Sotheby's Institute in London and is currently completing her PhD. Charlotte has written widely on contemporary art and her book on figurative painting, Painting People, reveals her ongoing interest in representations of the human form. She has written for the Telegraph and Financial Times and appeared as a regular guest on BBC arts programmes such as The Culture Show and Front Row. She was a judge for the 2009 BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery and has been a selector for many exhibitions including the Jerwood Sculpture Prize, the Hunting Art Prize and the Discerning Eye exhibition. She has written two art books for children on the lives of great artists, published under the name Charlie Ayres, and is currently working on a follow-up book to Painting People for Thames & Hudson.

Charlotte says: "I don't judge art with preconceived favourite styles or media. I do have pet hates however: one is decoration masquerading as art - art should never be wallpaper - and another is when one art-form apes another for no reason."

David Lee is an art critic and historian. He is currently editor of the satirical art magazine The Jackdaw, which he founded in 2000 and produces single-handed. Prior to this he was editor of Art Review for eight years. He also contributes regularly to newspapers such as The Independent, The Guardian, The Times and the Daily Mirror and is regularly interviewed on television and radio programmes. David studied History of Art at Nottingham University and University College, London, and was a tutor in Photography at the Royal College of Art. He has judged many national and local art competitions including the Hunting, NatWest, Royal Watercolour Society Awards and was a selector of The Discerning Eye exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London.

He says of his own magazine: "By and large it's pretty critical of many things including the art establishment. It combines serious commentary and slapstick entertainment while publishing opinions other art magazines are too restrained to entertain. Contemporary art is a lot more diverse than the art establishment would have us believe.

Over thirty years Stephen Bayley's books, articles, exhibitions and London's influential Design Museum - which he created with Terence Conran - have helped frame the concept of design. He is now a critic, consultant and commentator as well as an award-winning journalist and best-selling author of titles including Woman As Design: Before, Behind, Between, Above, Below and Design: Intelligence Made Visible. His next book is Ugly - the aesthetics of everything.

He recently said: "Judgments about art are not based on snobbery but on consistent, accumulated, intelligent and sensitive observations. At least, mine are."