The start of the RCA Secret show seems to have crept up on me this year, which is probably something to do with the fact that I finished and sent off my entries for the exhibition so far in advance. It wasn't until I started seeing tweets about the chaos of the new queuing and entry system to the show, which opened on the 9th September, that I realised it had already started.
I can't remember exactly how many RCA Secret shows I've donated work to but it's definitely been all of the last ones for well over a decade. So here are a few of my entries from years gone by.
In previous years, potential purchasers of the postcard-sized artworks from this annual sale at London's Royal College of Art (where all the artwork, donated by artists, designers and students, is displayed anonymously, until the point of sale) would queue up outside the gallery space for hours, if not days, in order to be one of the first through the doors when they opened on the morning of the sale. And all the postcards would be for sale on that day only. In later years a raffle was introduced, that enabled a few lucky people to jump to the front of the queue, but even so, most of the people who queued early still managed to get some pieces from their list of favourites.
However, this year a new system was put in place that saw an end to people camping out in front of the gallery, nights in advance, and that spread the sale over several days (from 9-15th September). Also, the purchased cards will not be available for collection until the 16th September, at which point the buyers will be able to find out the names of the creators of said cards. Ooh, the suspense! I suppose it's only fair that I wait until then to reveal which are my two cards from this year's show.
As you can see from the unofficial RCA Secret Blog Twitter page, a lot of people were not happy with this new incarnation of the college's secret postcard sale, and with the chaos of the queuing system once they got into the exhibition space itself. But hopefully all these issues will be ironed out ready for next year's show.
Dyson Gallery
Royal College of ArtDyson Building
1 Hester Road
Battersea
London SW11 4AN
Exhibition and Sale
9–15 September9am – 6pm
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