For its annual art exhibition, Discerning Eye chose six selectors: two artists, Anita Taylor and sculptor Peter Randall-Page; two critics, Mark Lawson and Norbert Lynton; and two collectors, Alan Grieve, who runs the Jerwood Foundation, and me. I am an enthusiastic private collector, mainly of mid-20th-century British art; it has been one of the great joys of the past 10 years for me. But in the end, Discerning Eye needed a bit of crumpet, however old, and I suspect more people will come to see my facelift than anything else. In past years the panel has included Brian Sewell, Lord Palumbo, Lord Gowrie and the Prince of Wales.  We six selectors met on a cold, wet day last September. We were positioned behind two trestle tables in a grim basement and asked what tickled our fancies. The works, a staggering 2,400 of them, were presented to us by half a dozen quite dazzling young men, all artists themselves.  The bonus of male beauty apart, much of the art was a joy and quite often two or three of us would be trying to bag the same picture. Mark mainly wanted what I wanted. It was quite comforting to find Peter Randall-Page and Norbert Lynton wanted the same as me. And I almost never wanted anything that Mark wanted. When Mark absented himself for a couple of hours to do an interview, I helpfully chose a photograph of a fish on a women's backside on his behalf. Sadly, he was having none of it when he returned. So the lady and the trout do not appear in his list.  The exhibition opens tomorrow at the Mall Galleries in London (020-7930 6844), and of the 500 works of art on display, my collection is the largest. I've made a selection of 90, mostly by young artists. I've got a couple of installation pieces that are fantastically eclectic, by really interesting young graduates. One of my favourites is a portrait of James Lloyd by Brendan Kelly. And I've discovered Matthew Webber, who is wonderful.  Two things struck me: first, what a vast amount of unsung talent there is out there; and second, to this trader's daughter, how sweetly uncommercial the youngsters were. "Call it Notting Hill," I urged one of the young artists with an untitled work, "it will walk out the door in seconds." I want to insist that anyone going to art college must attend a three-month marketing course, preferably taught by me. It is all about getting your work known, circulated and hung.
Art: Anne Robinson discovers unsung talent for the annual Discerning Eye exhibition - and is surprised at how uncommercial young artists are.