169th annual open exhibition

I always enjoy going to the RWA’s Annual Open Exhibition… but I always do so with a certain reservations and, yes, with something of a chip on my shoulder! I’ve previously submitted work on a couple of occasions and have been duly rejected each time (the same has happened to some of my brilliant artist friends!) – although I was accepted for the ‘Drawn’ exhibition in 2013. The result is that I go around the exhibition feeling ‘highly critical’ of some of the work that ended up actually being accepted!!
This year’s exhibition (8 October-8 January) is no exception (although I didn’t submit anything!) and I’ve already made two visits.
One of the things that particularly struck me with this year’s exhibition was its overall rather monochrome character. Yes, there were several colourful offerings, but also entire walls of black+white submissions.
Yes, I fully agree that art appreciation is a very subjective business and, don’t get me wrong, there are LOTS of EXCELLENT art on display this year… but there are also LOTS of work that I found myself really puzzling as to how they had been given the ‘thumbs up’! And the slightly scary thing (and, for me, this seems to happen EVERY year!) is that there are always half a dozen or so works submitted by the RWA’s own Academicians (“Practising artists or architects of exceptional ability and experience with a proven track record of exhibitions… creators of art works judged to be of a consistently high standard”) that in my view fall well short of what constitutes a ‘high standard’ of art.
What, ME out of step with the rest of the world? Surely not!!
PS: There’s part of me that thinks the RWA simply uses the exhibition as a great way of raising funds. Artists have to pay a fee for each submission (and it’s not cheap!); applications are strongly encouraged and LOTS are rejected!
Photo: Just a few of the pieces that caught my eye.