The Royal College of Art (RCA) has revealed details of the eagerly awaited annual RCA Secret exhibition and sale, sponsored by Stewarts Law.
From 8 April 2016, RCA Secret will open at the Royal College of Art’s Kensington campus. The exhibition will feature over 2,000 postcard-sized drawings, collages, photographs and sculptures by some of the world’s most celebrated artists and designers, as well as by promising students from the College.
RCA Secret attracts high-profile art collectors and passionate art lovers. Each of the postcards on display is sold anonymously for £55, with the identity of the maker revealed only when the purchase is complete. All profits from the sale go towards the RCA Student Award Fund, which helps emerging artists at a formative stage in their careers by funding scholarships to the College.
The postcard-sized contributions to RCA Secret are donated by invited students as well as leading international artists and designers. Every contribution is an original artwork, produced with the same rigour as any other work in the makers’ repertoire. Last year, participating artists included: David Bailey, Margaret Calvert, Jeremy Deller, Sir James Dyson, Zaha Hadid, Maggi Hambling, Susan Hiller, Lubaina Himid, Eley Kishimoto, Mike Leigh, Richard Long, Chris Orr, Cathie Pilkington, Laure Prouvost, Paula Rego, Zandra Rhodes, Jim Shaw, Yinka Shonibare, Bob and Roberta Smith, Gavin Turk, Lawrence Weiner, Alison Wilding and Rose Wylie.
In response to a new curatorial vision that builds on the increasing popularity of RCA Secret over the past two decades, this year, new postcards will be added during the exhibition itself. Buyers will be able to buy their chosen postcards from Sunday 10 April.
This new approach provides more opportunities to buyers; visitors will be able to marvel at the diverse array of images as all the postcards remain on display until the end of the exhibition. Buyers will also be able to collect their postcards in person on the collection day, or arrange for them to be posted once the exhibition has closed.
RCA Secret started in 1994 and is London’s original postcard exhibition and sale. For the second year, RCA Secret with Art Dubai will exhibit from 16 to 19 March 2016. As in London bespoke, postcard sized artworks from t
he world’s leading creatives as well as RCA alumni, students and local artists and designers will be available to buy for 500 AED each.
Dr Paul Thompson, Rector RCA, said, ‘The annual RCA Secret exhibition provides a rare art-world moment, when a small part of the global contemporary art market is made accessible to everyone. It is thanks to the artists and designers who donate their work to this much-needed cause that we are able to stage this wonderful exhibition. In doing so, they and the buyers provide opportunities to the emerging artists and designers of the future, who – as students – are often stretched to their limits financially.’
To purchase a postcard, buyers must register for a buyer’s ID from the RCA website
